Effective Communication Skill Exercises

Word Ball
The word ball game encourages spontaneous communication and helps relax a group of people. You'll need a ball and enough participants to form a rough circle. Someone throws the ball and says a word. The next person has to catch the ball and say a related word. For example, the chain might go: SKY - BLUE OCEAN - WATER and so on. Once comfortable with this process, try doing the same thing but building a story. This makes people focus on what the previous person says and make fast connections.

Body Language
Body language can communicate as much or more than your words. An exercise from the University of Illinois Extension suggests focusing on negative body language. Work in pairs. One person should talk about something they enjoy doing, such as a hobby. The other person, without speaking, should use body language to convey a negative response, such as crossing her arms, looking at something else, fidgeting, and rolling her eyes. After a minute or two, switch roles and repeat. At the end, discuss how it made the person speaking feel. Focusing on negative nonverbal responses helps you to become aware of them in your own behavior and to avoid them when communicating.

Speaking Mirror
It takes concentration to really listen and understand what someone is saying. The speaking mirror is an exercise for two people to try and demonstrate real attention and understanding. Nominate one of you as person A and one as person B. Let A tell a story about his last holiday. While A speaks, person B should silently act out what he is saying. This helps on two levels. First it forces person B to really understand what's being said so she can act it out. Person A, on the other hand, has to speak clearly and slowly enough to be understood.

One-Way and Two-Way Communication

This is a blindfold exercise that shows the difference between one-way and two-way communication. Participants pair up and label each other A or B. The "A" people leave the room and put on blindfolds. "B's" are told that when the A people return, they must guide them around an arranged route, such as out to a nearby tree and back. However, A people cannot talk. B's explain this to the A people. When they return, A and B people swap roles and decide on a new route. However, this time they are both allowed to speak. This is a free effective communication skill exercise you can use to build trust and foster teamwork. Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/306574-free-effective-communication-skillexercises/#ixzz2KOV9g65T

Verbal Communication Training Games

Back-To-Back Drawing
Split the group into pairs and seat partners back-to-back. Give one person in the pair a drawing of a shape, and give the other person a clipboard with a piece of blank paper and pencil. The person with the drawing must give a verbal description of the picture for his partner to replicate on a piece of paper. Once completed, pairs should compare the provided shape with the drawing. Discuss whether or not communication was effective and if the message was received correctly.

Blind Square
Assemble the group in a circle with each participant at an arm's distance from the next. Seat participants and instruct them to put on blindfolds. Place a rope in the center of the circle, and instruct all participants to hold onto the rope while forming a square. Members of the task must communicate with each other to move into proper position.

Building Blocks
Assemble groups of three participants each and ask them to assign roles of director, runner and builder. Each team is given a set of building blocks and construction paper. The directors from each group are taken to another room to view a tower constructed from building blocks and construction paper. Directors are the only team members allowed to see the tower. The director will give building instructions to the runner, who passes the information along to the builder. The runner is allowed to take as many trips to the director and builder as needed within the given time. Once the allotted time has elapsed, allow participants to see the original tower and ask them to make comparisons to the team-built towers. Discuss difficulties in conveying information between participants and how instructions could have been better communicated.

Shoe Tie
Split the group into pairs and assign one person in each pair to give instructions on tying a shoe to his partner. The individual receiving directions must follow instructions exactly as stated. While tying a shoe is an everyday skill, this activity reminds participants that specific directions and guidelines in even the most mundane tasks are required to be successful.

The Tallest Tower

Assemble packets of supplies for groups of four to five participants, with materials such as paper cups, Popsicle sticks, construction paper, cardboard, masking tape, etc. Do not equally distribute supplies; keep supplies concealed so participants can't immediately recognize the imbalance of materials. Groups are asked to build the tallest freestanding tower with supplied materials. Groups will begin to notice the difference in supplies and will barter, steal, or resign to the fact that material distribution was unfair. Once the given time allotment is up, bring the teams together and discuss how participants communicated within their team, and how teams communicated with each other to accomplish the task. Read more: games/#ixzz2KOVNw7PU http://www.livestrong.com/article/179622-verbal-communication-training2

Exercises on Barriers to Effective Communication

Inattentiveness
Effective communication requires the listener to concentrate on the speaker and comprehend his message correctly. The listener's mind may wander, which puts up a barrier to comprehension and understanding. Reflective listening is an exercise that can break down the barrier by forcing the listener to pay attention. He must focus on the speaker well enough to be able to repeat what he believes he heard. The speaker then confirms or makes any needed corrections to the perception.

Strong Opinions
Strong opinions often form a barrier to effective communication. Two people who have conflicting opinions often get hung up on who is right or wrong. This can be remedied with empathy, which doesn't mean agreeing with the other person. It simply means understanding and acknowledging his viewpoint. Empathy can often be achieved through an exercise in which the two opposing parties temporarily change side. Each person argues the other person's position. This forces the two parties to put themselves in their opponent's shoes and may give them valuable insights that facilitate communication.

Lack of Focus
A conversation may start off with a particular goal, but it often gets lost if one or both parties keep bringing up other topics. This barrier can be removed through an exercise in which the parties agree on a goal and write it down before beginning to communicate. Either person may point to the goal and redirect the conversation if they perceive it is wandering in another direction. This is an objective way to keep the focus where it belongs.

Focus on the Past

Communication is often obscured by bringing up past events that were not resolved. Suddenly the conversation isn't just about one issue. It's about everything that has gone wrong for the past several months or years. A simple rule can remove this barrier: Neither person is allowed to bring up any past events. If one person does, the other is allowed to use a predetermined code word to stop and redirect him to the current discussion point. If certain past issues keep cropping up, schedule a time to address them in a specific conversation. Read more: communication/#ixzz2KOVh3fhx http://www.livestrong.com/article/97647-exercises-barriers-effective-

Exercises for Verbal Communication Skills

Giving Directions
This exercise encourages the speaker to choose precise language, provide adequate detail and logically order steps when giving instructions. Make a list of activities that require a series of steps to execute, such as tying a shoe, wrapping a gift and planting a flower. Write each task on a separate index card. One person in the group draws an index card and instructs the rest of the group on how to complete the task, without the use of any gestures and without saying what the task is. Ask one member of the group to act out the directions exactly as stated. Other members of the group listen and try to guess what the task is.

Checking Perceptions
By checking perceptions when you are engaged in a conversation, you affirm the person you are listening to. This perception-check exercise helps with developing good listening skills. The activity is for pairs, so if you want to do it in a group, have everyone find a partner. The first person needs to talk about any subject, stating about four to five sentences. The other should listen and, when the speaker is finished, repeat back to the speaker what he or she has heard, beginning with a phrase such as, "It sounds like..." or, "What I think I heard you say was..." If any misunderstandings exist, the speaker corrects and clarifies and the listener asks additional follow up questions, if needed. Then, the two switch roles and repeat the activity.

Eyewitnesses
This exercise shows how a story changes or gets distorted depending on the teller. How the activity plays out confirms research that indicates eyewitnesses to crimes view events filtered through their own past experiences rather than with an objective eye, according to the University of New Hampshire. Prepare for this role-playing exercise by typing up the following story so you can project it on screen at the end of the activity: 'A southbound truck was turning right while a northbound sports car was attempting to turn left. When the two drivers figured out they were trying to turn into the same lane, they both honked but continued to turn without slowing down. In fact, the sports car seemed to speed up just before the crash.' Send four witnesses and a "police officer" out of the room and then read the scenario above to a witness in the room, who is not allowed to take notes. Witnesses outside the room should have no knowledge of the story. Call in one of the witnesses from outside the room and ask the witness who has just heard the story to tell it to the second witness. After this, call in a third witness and ask the second to tell the story to the third. Continue until all the witnesses have heard the story. Finally ask the police officer to come in and record information from the last witness on a white board or chalkboard, if possible. Compare the story the police officer records to the original story. Ask participants and observers to describe how they felt during this exercise. Discuss what conclusions they have drawn from this activity. Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/154739-exercises-for-verbal-communicationskills/#ixzz2KOVqBeGR 4

Activities for Nonverbal Communication

Follow the Leader
Mix up a follow the leader game by changing leaders frequently, suggests the website creativekidsathome.com. Choose the first leader, then let her initiate actions which the rest of the group must follow. However, she may designate the next leader, by eye contact or gesture. Changing leaders democratizes the game and also encourages players to observe an array of different leadership styles.

Human Knot
Within a group of people, entangle your limbs, then try to unravel them, suggests Winona State University. If the group size warrants, divide the group into two smaller teams. Have each group sit in a tight circle, whereby they can extend their arms and grab hold of a person not directly seated beside them. You can become tangled at any speed that feels appropriate, but detangle carefully, to prevent injury. Refrain from speaking during the entire process, encouraging players to use gesture.

Acting Out
Dramatize a text using just your hands, face and body gestures, recommends the website teachingenglish.org.uk. For dialogues or conversations requiring multiple characters, let students work together to try to embody and convey the text. You should encourage observers to guess the content and context before using words to discuss the challenges the group faced and their specific intent.

Group Drawing
Divide the group into teams and challenge them to collaborate on drawings based on a specific idea or theme, recommends the website businessballs.com. Keep a firm five-second time limit and cue each person to contribute to the drawing, then pass it on. Make sure all individuals contribute to the picture, then create a second image, changing the order of the contributors. Alternatively, you should request that teams exchange unfinished pictures or swap artists mid-way through the process. Read more: communication/#ixzz2KOZjbaZV http://www.livestrong.com/article/159440-activities-for-nonverbal-

Games for Effective Communication

Building Blocks
This game develops descriptive and instructional skills as well as teamwork. The game works best with small groups--a minimum of three people, up to six or seven--and requires two identical sets of building blocks. Four roles are involved: director, runner, builder and observer. One person is the director, one the runner 5

and one the builder. Everybody else is the observer, but if the group has only three people, all share the observer role. Put the director and builder on opposite sides of the room, with their backs to each other, each with their own set of building blocks. You, as the facilitator, are to build something with the directors blocks. The director must then give instructions to the runner, who must relay those instructions to the builder in an attempt to have the builder create an exact replica of the directors blocks. Limit the activity to 10 minutes, then compare the builders construction with the directors. Have the group reflect on the exercise. Take feedback from all four roles, then run the exercise again--make sure to create a new original model for the director--to see how the team improves.

Phrase Ball
The goal in phrase ball is to encourage rapid-fire thought and communication to help prepare for the moments when you might be put on the spot and have to speak without preparation. Organize your group--you need at least five--into a circle. In the first round, group members take turns throwing the phrase ball--a small, soft ball--back and forth. As each member catches the ball, he must say a simple descriptive phrase, such as the friendly kitty or the funny movie. When everybody is comfortable with creating phrases on the fly, change the game slightly for the second round. The person who holds the ball must start a phrase--"the happy puppy, for example--then throw the ball to the next person, who must finish the phrase--"barked with excitement--and start a new phrase. Game play continues until everybody seems comfortable speaking extemporaneously. At that point, stop the game to discuss the activity: how each participant's feelings changed throughout the game and which round was easier.

Get It Together
This game builds your team's descriptive, listening and voice-recognition skills and helps develop trust amid confusion. Divide your group into pairs. One person in each pair should be blindfolded. It is the job of the blindfolded person to retrieve specific items from the center of the circle based on the cues given by his partner. This exercise seems simple enough when it starts, but it becomes more complicated as more blindfolded people enter the circle and begin trying to find items. At the end, discuss the methods people used to tune out others' noise and confusion and focus on working as a team.

Bull Ring
Bull ring is a physical challenge that reinforces effective communication and teamwork. Tie several pieces of string or twine--one for each member of the group--to a 1.5-inch metal ring. The groups mission is to carry a ball, such as a tennis ball or softball, through, over and around a series of obstacles and place the ball on a goal--perhaps a water bottle or a piece of pipe. If the team drops the ball, it must start again from the beginning. When the team has reached its goal, discuss the challenges, what team members learned and how people took the lead. Read more: communication/#ixzz2KOa2YZn5 http://www.livestrong.com/article/167054-games-for-effective-

Teamwork Exercise Games for Employees

Group Juggle
"Group juggle," from corporate trainer and motivator Kirk Weisler, is designed to help employees release stress, improve time-management skills and conflict resolution skills. Three different kinds of balls or other soft objects are needed. This is a 30-minute exercise that uses a facilitator to introduce new balls into the exercise. Group juggle starts with all the employees standing in a circle with only a small amount of space between each person. The first ball represents primary tasks. The ball is thrown to someone in the group. That person then must state what his primary work tasks are and then throw the ball to another person in the group. Each person who catches this ball must also state his work tasks. While the first ball is still circulating in the group, the second ball is thrown. The second ball is the "curve ball," things in life that people have no control over. As with the first ball, the person catching this ball must state one item he has no control over. The third ball follows the same pattern and represents distractions. All three balls will be circulating in the group at one point. When everyone has caught each ball once, the game is over.

Ten-Dollar Auction
"Ten-dollar auction," from corporate trainer and international business consultant Gregory P. Smith, teaches employees the positive and negative effects of workplace competition. An auction is set up with a gavel, auctioneer and a $10 bill. The employee group is told that a $10 bill will be auctioned and the winner will have to pay the auctioned amount for the bill. Immediately after the first auction, a second auction is held for a single $10 bill. This time, both the winner and second place bidder must pay the bid amount; however, only the winning bidder gets the $10. Typically, the auction becomes competitive and the bidding goes beyond the $10 amount. Often, employees get caught up in the frenzy of competition and lose sight of the real value of the item being auctioned. Employees then examine how workplace competition can increase imprudent decision-making that may lead to fiscal irresponsibility. The positive side of competition is the increased excitement and energy that healthy competition can provide.

Mine Field
"Mine field" is a teamwork exercise that builds communication and relationship building through trust. Objects are scattered about the center of a room. The area is taped off in a square. Employees are paired up with one employee blindfolded, while the other is the guide. The challenge is for the blindfolded employee to make it from one end of the course to the other through the mine field, being guided verbally by the other employee.

Day-Colors Exercise
The "day colors" exercise is an employee exercise that illustrates how people see the same things differently. This helps build employee empathy, to help in conflict resolution. Understanding another person's point of view helps reduce confusion that can lead to conflict because of a misunderstanding. Each employee will need a pen and pad of paper. Everyone closes their eyes and is told to imagine the days of the week. They are then asked what color they see for each day and to write them down. A discussion follows where everyone compares the days of the week and their color choices. 7

Read more: employees/#ixzz2KOauFzgL

http://www.livestrong.com/article/376595-teamwork-exercise-games-forCurrent Articles

Reading Body Language: Sitting Positions

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Leadership, Training Articles, Negotiation, Body Language, Personal Impact, Attention and Focus, Meeting Skills, Persuasion Skills

Humans are predictable. Magicians have taken advantage of this predictability for generations. Knowing how to read people helps you significantly in your negotiations, persuasions and overall communications. This ability to predict human behaviour is often related to our evolutionary past. As we have evolved to survive in our environment, we have acquired a lot of hardwiring in our brain which now simply dictate our behaviour. We are all too familiar with some of the common behaviours such as seeking water when thirsty or wanting to leave the meeting room when we can no longer hold it. However, some of these hardwiring and their consequences are more subtle and a careful observation can give the observer a significant advantage in predicting the eventual behaviour. It's all about reading non-verbal signals, where people are looking, their body orientation, their posture, their eyes, their legs and other gestures. 8

In this article, a particularly useful body language technique is presented that helps you read people and understand what people are likely to do before they do it and to use this knowledge to your advantage. This also helps you to improve your communication skills as you don't have to rely primarily on what people say and can read other non-verbal signals to understand them.

Body Language
Body language is a vast field, especially considering the differences between various cultures that use different gestures to express themselves. A particularly interesting area within body language is sitting positions. How do people choose a particular seat? What parameters influence their decisions? You may wonder why we should care about sitting positions. In certain situations, knowing where someone is going to sit when they have a free choice can help you position yourself accordingly perhaps for attention or to stay away from them. Sitting positions are particularly useful in negotiations, meetings, coaching, training, appraisal, interviews and so on. Remember, if there is only one seat available or if it is obvious where someone must sit either by design or from standard norms in society, then this particular observation of body language doesnt apply. The technique explored here is useful when a subject has a free choice in choosing where to sit.

Sitting Preference Example

Suppose a person, say a client enters a room which is full of chairs. Where would he choose to sit? Is there a pattern? What is the most important factor that defines their choice? There can be several parameters that influence a persons choice of sitting, but one parameter is more critical and usually overshadows all others. Lets consider the setup shown above (see image at the start of the article). Which seats are the most common places for people to sit? If people incrementally enter the room, is there a particular sequence of chairs that they choose? Is there a pattern? Think about this before reading further. It is a nice puzzle to ponder over. You can then see the results in the illustration provided at the end of this article.

What Make People Choose a Particular Seat?

As you can see from the illustration (provided below), the most common seats are those that are circled in red. The reasons are as follows:

People dont like to have their backs exposed. Hence, they often choose a location with their back to a wall if they can. This comes from our natural defensive tendencies. If we have a choice, we choose the safest path. People want to sit where they can see other people who enter the room or the environment. People prefer to have maximum view of the environment. People are also slightly wary of windows. They like to be next to them, but not too close, just in case. Hence, in this example the most common seat is the one on the right. The one on the left is slightly too close to the window and when people have a choice between the two (and all else 9

being equal) they will choose the one on the right. People in countries with less sun usually want to sit in the sun. Chairs with better sun may have a preference, unless the sun disturbs them because they have to look at a computer screen or something similar. In this example, if the circled chair on the left was in the sun (and this room was in a north European country such as UK), it is more likely to be taken first than the chair on the right.

What Seats Are Avoided?

There are also some seats that people would avoid unless there is absolutely no choice left. In this example, people would never choose to sit in seats circled in black unless all other seats are taken. The problem with these seats is that they strongly expose the back to others. A person sitting in one of these chairs will be unconsciously vulnerable and would have limited view of what is going on behind him. When confronted with such a choice, a person may even prefer to stand (and spend more energy) while others are sitting. This helps him to be in a position of advantage since standing over others will allow him to feel more in control and remain aware of his surroundings.

Is There a Pattern?
Humans are territorial and like to keep their personal space private. As a result, when sharing an environment with others, we tend to divide the area in our head and give as much space to others as we can while claiming as much space as possible ourselves. Lets illustrate this with an example;

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If a series of people who dont know each other enter the room shown in this picture, they are likely to choose the following sequence of chairs; the first person chooses the best seat (1). The second person aims to be as far away as he from the other person, effectively dividing the space by two. The third person chooses a seat away from the other two and this sequence continues. Remember, the general rule of protecting the back still applies and can have a significant influence. Sitting next to another person is tolerated so long as it has the best protection for the back even if seats are available further away.

Test Your Body Language Knowledge

To become more familiar with this technique, choose a particular room with a series of seats and analyse it to see where most people might sit. Good choices for such rooms are reception rooms, libraries, university/hospital common rooms and similar public environments. Wait until people start to use the room and see if your observation matches the reality. Expect to be amazed at the clear pattern that emerges and gives you a warm feeling of being in control. Who knows, you may even feel much like a true magician. Enjoy.

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Group Problem Solving Exercise: Re-Zoom

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Leadership, Exercises, Team Building, Communication Skills, Exercises for Kids, Decision Making, Problem Solving, Questioning Skills, Listening Skills, Memory

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Purpose
This is a creative exercise which can be used to explore topics such as communication skills, leadership, problem solving decision making and perspective taking. Effectively, delegates must work together to sort a sequence of images by enquiring from each other and collectively decide on the best outcome.

Objective
Collectively sort a sequence of images without being able to see each others images.

What You Need

You need a series of images that form a sequence. A great source is Re-Zoom by Istvan Banvai, ISBN: 978-0613961684. The images move from small details to larger and larger which sets the tone of the sequence. If you use this book, separate the pages and prepare them as cards. Timer.

Setup

Distribute one picture to each person. Delegates should not show their images to each other. On your mark, the group as a whole should start working together to sort the series of images. The challenge is to sequence them without looking at each others images. Generally, you expect the delegates to start obtaining information from each other so each person can form an idea of the content of the images. Sometimes a person emerges as a leader which greatly facilitates the process. Time the activity so you know how long it takes the group to solve the problem. You can use this to collect statistics as you deliver the exercise in different courses. The activity stops when the group decides that they have finally got the full sequence. This usually takes about 15 minutes. Ask everyone to reveal their images and see if they had identified the correct sequence. Follow with a discussion.

Timing
Explaining the Exercise: 5 minutes Activity: 15 minutes Group Feedback: 10 minutes

Discussion
How well do you think you performed, especially in comparison with other groups in the past? Where you effective in making group decisions? What worked well? What did not work well? Did you have a leader? How did the leader emerge? What was the effect of having a leader? Did you think of having a system to increase the efficiency of your group communication and information exchange? If so, what was the effect of such a system? What did you learn from this exercise? What would you do in a future group discussion to benefit from what you learned here? 13

Memory Exercise: Andy Says

Purpose
This exercise helps delegates to memorise physical moves and also improve reaction times when a command is heard. The basic concept is very simple and can be easily applied to a variety of exercises, especially sport exercises. This activity is ideal for memorising specific moves or allowing participants to focus and concentrate.

Objective
Execute a particular move based on a specific command while avoiding the execution based on a wrong command.

What You Need

An area large enough for carrying out physical exercises An optional prize

Setup

Ask participants to line up. Explain that you are going to teach them a series of moves. Make a specific move. For example, raise your right hand and point forward. Call this move 1. Make another move. For example, put your left leg forward and then return to standing position. Call this move 2. Present 4 more moves. Now, state a move number and expect participants to correctly execute it. Randomly go back and forward between the various moves and expect participants to correctly follow the corresponding move. Next, explain that you are now going to add a twist. Lets assume that your name is Andy. Explain that from now on if you say, Andy says move 1 then participants must follow that move. If you say Move 1, then no one should move because you didnt say, Andy says. Let the fun begin by randomly saying Move X, Andy says move X where X is from 1 to 6 and expect participants to move only when you say Andy says and at no other time. After a warm up session when participants have made a few mistakes but got the idea, explain that you now want to do a little competition. From now on, if anyone makes a mistake, he or she is dropped out of the game and should leave the rest to stand on one side. The remaining participants would carry on until only one person is left which would be declared as the ultimate focused winner. Carry on stating the command until only one person is left. While going through the commands use challenging remarks that can catch people off-guard. For example, after a while when a few participants have dropped out, point to participants who are a bit further away from the others on the line and say, Can you move closer a bit?. Anyone who follows this command has made a mistake because you didnt say, Andy says can you move closer? There will be lots of Ahs and oohs, but this will make the exercise more entertaining and memorable. You can optionally give a prize to the winner at the end. 14

Timing
Explaining the Exercise: 2 minutes Activity: 10 minutes Group Feedback: 0 minutes

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