Such as: You canread more about this exercise and the debrief here. This really focused participants on the rationale for the day and allowed the groundrules to be discussed in a way that wouldn't have happened otherwise. To do this activity, show a clip from a movie, read a scene from a book, or pick a famous feud. You'll Need: A single apple (or other type of fruit) for your participants to see. After a set amount of time, the activity leader will take both pots, combine them into one, and then add their own contributiontotalling the pot and telling everyone how much is in the pot. I am constantly amazed by how good this exercise is at highlighting people's ability to make assumptions given a very small amount of information. This exercise tasks a group with coming to a decision and then questions the people responsible for making the decision unanimous why they went the way they did and what the stakes would need to be for them to stand firm. Pages Updated On: This is a really great activity, either for a Listening exercise or for going down the Assumptions route. Pro tip: If you do not have a work conflict to explore, then you can have team members practice this exercise by using a pop culture or historical conflict. Time:This exercise will take about 10 minutes to complete. I work for a small voluntary sector organisation with 5 full time and 2 part time staff. Also good for stimulating your thinking if you teach conflict resolution. Notes:If reading the story to participants, we suggest that you rehearse reading the story aloud a few times prior to delivery. It was a great time-saver. Fantastically effective exercise. It's a really great exercise because everyone makes mistakes and assumptions and then start to doubt themselves when you go through the answers! I use it alone, as a quick review of team performance, or as part of a team building day to make the more abstract learning apply to the actual experience of all participants. Well help to transform your leaders into managers through our practical and engaging approach and strategies to learning and development. Have everyone start on one side of the room. Ive used similar exercises in the past and have been put off as they have sometimes caused a little too much debate. Aims: To identify things participants have in common with each other. To explore the impact on relationships of finding common ground. Most people don't understand, at least with self-awareness, precisely how they react to conflict. The Conflict Strategies Assessment is our solution. Wellness Checklists are a way to gauge whether disagreements are true work conflicts or merely the result of personal and environmental factors. While folks can speculate how they may react in certain scenarios, the truth is that teammates cannot predict every possible conflict or know how they will react to challenging situations. Each group will start its own pot of money. Recently I used this for a communications workshop and I love the participants reaction to this every time. Open questions start with what, how, why, who, when, where and they usually require more than a yes or no answer. - Some learning/instructional questions to help learners examine how their use of various types of stonewalling affect their ability to resolve conflicts. Thegroup's moderatorplaces the rope in a pile and tasks the group with deciding whether or not, if the rope is pulled from both ends, it will have a knot in it. As a manager you should certainly be able to handle conflict. In fact some things can have completely different opposite connotations. Dress Up. Google+ For instance, you might pretend that players are the HR team for the Avengers, trying to settle the tension between Iron Man and Captain America from the Civil War film. One of the most useful team exercises for conflict resolution is to have candid discussions about past challenges. 1. Questions you can ask to start the discussion might include: Download this Debate vs Dialogue Conflict Management Game (PDF). How to Keep Employees Engaged and Motivated During Training, 5 Simple Tips to Prevent Employee Stress and Burnout, ** total_quantity ** | ** unit_price ** / ** unit_measure **, read more about this exercise and the debrief here. Notes:A small prize for the winning team would be nice, though not essential. Sometimes, a conflict is beyond control in the moment, and teammates merely need a way to vent aggression over the situation instead of taking frustrations out on teammates. Conflict Management training is always a worthwhile course in any business. Want to "give" their $1 out in exchange for a promise of a favor later. What would you do if two teammates refused to speak to each other and used you as an in between? Two truths and a lie | 4. Guest Contributions - Conflict Management and Conflict Resolution, How Fighting Dirty At Work Can Be A Career Stopper. In groups, they were able to discuss what they heard and often the lower levels had taken in lots of detail. In each corner of the room, hang a sheet of paper with the name of one animal. Pick a topic that is controversial in nature. Use hypotheticals and genericized stories instead. Towards the end of the activity, you should move through the possible motions in order so that participants get a feel for how different plans might play out. to be viewed during the training. What a simple idea and so effective. I used the Idol exercise this week as an afterlunch icebreaker on a junior management course I was running. Fun is guaranteed! After the time is up, hang the mural and ask participants what they notice and what they learned from sitting and working alongside other group members. These modules worked extremely well and prompted lots of interest from the participants and also some key learning points were easily identified. Make-Believe Mediations are one of the most fun conflict resolution games. If you are offering conflict management training, these 5 activities should be useful for you. Another great exercise. It has allowed us to use a fun exercise to identify the pitfalls of assumptions and stereotypical situations. Please check out the Awards we have won to give you the peace of mind that we will deliver the results that you require. As well as using this exercise to illustrate assumptions and stereotypes, I use it in my 'Minute Taking with Confidence' course. I have used this in call handling training as well as to reception staff. 6. Response 2 Yes, you are. Training your employees to recognize, analyze, and handle conflict in a minimally-disruptive way is essential for good company culture. Great article. You'll Need: A piece of string/rope that is approximately 4 metres long. Just because they look scruffy doesnt mean that they may be poor. Its like a teacher waved a magic wand and did the work for me. Each pair will pair up with another pair and the process goes on again. You'll Need: Pens and paper for every participant. The audio recording of the story, which can be streamed from Trainers Library if you prefer not to read it aloud yourself. To find out more about the great work this charity is doing to educate against racism, visit www.theredcard.org. No-one has ever got all the questions correct yet! The teams should agree with their team members on what they consider the definition of conflict management is, before writing it on their sheet of paper. Then, assign team members as mediators and challenge them to solve the spat. Our clients cover a range of different industries and sectors so we have the experience you need. Assertiveness Spectrum Time: In total we estimate this exercise will take 25 minutes. This is great to use for Presentation skills, Train the Trainer, Assertiveness and Selling Skills. I have recently used this exercise to introduce a session on cultural differences as the organisation was transferring its HR shared service to another country. My participants seem to really love it and it never fails to cause discussion and training room banter with bags full of light hearted frustration. No one knows how much the activity leader contributed either. Group Size:Suitable for use with groups of almost any size. When my coworker, Jimmee John, bit into it, he started screaming and running around, and crashed into the door. Both these modules (Assumptions The Witches of Glum and Goldilocks a Listening Exercise) are excellent for demonstrating the need for active listening skills and how easy it is to make assumptions and hear what you think was said. Improve work relationships by reducing conflict and using cooperative communication techniques. Have the same debrief as before. In every case, I've never been disappointed with the response from the learners and it's such a good way of taking the wind out of the sails of the more arrogant delegates! You can also include spaces for variables or what ifs.. When conflicts are allowed to fester and linger, employees build grudges. Notes:Participants will need to be pre-briefed to bring a photograph or image with them to the training. Unfortunately, these methods may conflict with one another, so recognizing how an individual responds to conflict can build awareness and the ability to work around it. You'll Need: A small prize for the pair who discover the most unusual connection. Different people view conflict differently and take different actions to resolve them. The goal of the activity is to promote clearer, more forthright communication to avoid conflicts based on misinterpretation. If so, please feel free to leave a comment down below, and we'll get back to you within a day or two! Thus, you can promote appropriate means of handling conflict. Respondents typically give reasoning behind their judgements. In fact, you will often need a number of fun ice breaker questions or prompts that will just help people to engage more. Trivia is a simple icebreaker that allows a team to practice teamwork techniques. Split up into groups and nominate a leader for each group. Luckily, rage rooms are all the rage these days. Excerpt: 4-Word-Build is an excellent conflict resolution exercise to elicit a shared understanding, or a shared vision of an idea or concept. You want as many points as you can get and don't care about anyone else. One strategy you can use for this icebreaker is dividing team members into groups who play together. For example, if you ask: What drinks do you like? the person who answers can say a lot of things and elaborate. Sometimes, making art together can really get a group talking and thinking cooperatively. (Added: 15-May-2012 Hits: 9287 ) 4-word-build, A Conflict Resolution Exercise and Teamwork Exercise The Team Conflict Strategies Inventory is another assessment meant to help train teams to assess and resolve conflicts between groups without leaving individuals feeling left out of the conversation. You should also be cautious if you pickactual AITA posts. On returning from lunch I gave each pens and a sheet of flip chart paper and asked them to create a visual representation of thier idol and then had them present back to the rest of the group. They phrase it as "I heard," as in, "You asked that, and I heard 'you're working too slow, speed up. The first speaker begins with a statement. Group Size:Suitable for use with groups of almost any size. While we often suggest playing this game with real money, you can take some sort of play money to use instead. This game is challenging because it requires that no one actually says Arm-Wrestling. The main content of the day was more fruitful once this had happened. Copyright 2000 - 2016 Robert Bacal. How would you define conflict management? 6. 2. Everyone knows the Goldilocks tale and this existing knowledge really helps drive the learning points home. (function() { I would probably give the activity a 4.5. Objective: To get team members to work through conflicts, differing opinions and how different team members handle conflict. Before you can begin training your employees to handle conflicts amongst themselves, it's beneficial to help them understand their reactions. Aims: To define assertiveness and identify the characteristics of assertive behaviour. To identify situations where participants find it difficult to be assertive. This activity is great to disarm all participates from a we know it already stance to actually join in and actively participating. And Am I the A**hole? Use the same style of debrief questions as above. Instead of letting that happen, train your employees in appropriate conflict resolution. 1. I read the story and encourage delegates to take notes (perhaps after a session on speed writing). Useful For:Anyone attending a course or workshop that focuses on dealing with conflict. Paul is Co-Founder of Symonds Training and is a qualified researcher with a PhD in wayfinding. Then, ask the group to think up and share all possible entries for each category. Facebook As such, what a great way to get people to listen actively, consider why people don't always 'get-it' first time, stops them tutting at each other, and maybe (just maybe) helps to improve communication by considering the ears half of the equation. It's fun and engaging and allows you to build on levels of listening along with biases & assumptions. It is possible to use this exercise in conference situations as well as more usual training interventions like courses and workshops. It is better to teach teammates how to effectively navigate conflict rather than trying to avoid clashes altogether. Ask them to pair up and between the two of them they must decide on the best 4 words out of the 8 they have written down between them. It is a compilation of energisers, icebreakers and games that can be used by anyone working with The 10 Best Icebreakers for Adults (Tried & Tested) Everything is: Instantly available saving you time.