THIAGI GAMELETTER: August 2010

Tool Kit

Thought Experiments

Thought experiments are independent mental activities that increase a player's self-awareness. Some thought experiments involve guided fantasies in which participants visualize new patterns of behavior or hold a silent dialogue with their alter ego. When combined with self-reflection, ideas and emotions generated through these mind games provide valuable insights.

Losses: A Sample Thought Experiment

You are one of 15 managers who have been selected to receive special training in change management. At the beginning of the two-day workshop, Almita, your facilitator, explains that she is going to conduct a guided-visualization activity that will involve personal information. This makes you slightly anxious. However, Almita reassures you by emphasizing that there will be no interaction among participants; nor will anyone be forced to share their thoughts and feelings.

Almita asks everyone to tear a piece of paper into eight smaller pieces. She asks you to write the names of two people who you enjoy working with, each name on a separate piece of paper. You write the names of your manager, Kathy, and your coworker, Dinesh. Following further directions from Almita, you write two each of these items on separate pieces of paper:

• work activities that you enjoy
• personal competencies that you bring to your job
• equipment that you enjoy using

Almita begins to tell a story: Your company has hired a high-priced re-engineering consultant to recommend work-process improvements. As a result of implementing these changes, you lose two of your favorite items. To simulate this, Almita asks you to examine your pieces of paper and remove any two that you are willing to sacrifice for the sake of improved productivity at work. After some struggle, you decide to give up your desktop computer and your weekly team meetings. You put aside the two pieces of paper.

Almita's story continues. After 3 weeks, the consultant returns with additional recommendations. As a result, you have to give up two other favorite items from your remaining set.

As you anticipated, during the next segment of the story, you lose two more items.

During the third round, Almita changes the procedure slightly. She explains that due to increasing global competition, your company has launched an aggressive cost-reduction campaign. Your decision-making authority has been reduced significantly. Almita now asks each participant to reach over to the two remaining pieces of paper that belong to a participant seated nearby and randomly remove one to simulate this situation.

You are now left with a single piece of paper with “creative problem solving”, an important competency that you bring to your job.

Almita asks everyone to look at the item on the last piece of paper and cherish it for a few moments. She then tells everyone: “Crumple this piece of paper and throw it on the floor. You have been downsized and your branch of the company has been moved to Mexico.”

After a break, Almita talks about unanticipated personal losses that always accompany change initiatives in large organizations.

Benefits

As a training strategy, thought experiments have several advantages:

• Higher level objectives. Thought experiments enable participants to achieve objectives in the intrapersonal domain through increased self-awareness. These playful strategies sometimes enable participants to achieve objectives in the spiritual domain.
• Any number can play. In a coaching situation, you can conduct a thought experiment with a single participant. At the other extreme, you can conduct this type of activity with a large group of participants by having individuals go through the activity in a parallel fashion, without interacting with each other (as in the preceding sample).
• Anytime, anywhere. Most thought experiments do not require special supplies or equipment since they merely involve thinking through a structured set of situations.
• Proven techniques. Studies from different schools of psychology give empirical support to this type of activity. For example, behavioral therapists have long established the effectiveness of mental roleplay (which they call behavioral rehearsal). Psychologists who study creativity have repeatedly demonstrated the positive impact of visualization.

Limitations

Thought experiments have their share of disadvantages and limitations:

• Extreme skepticism. Most managers reject this type of activity because it smacks of new-age thinking, Eastern religion, and pop psychology. Reacting to their earlier experiences with eccentric activities conducted by overenthusiastic trainers, participants may disbelieve the efficacy of what you are attempting to do.
• Extreme gullibility. Equally dysfunctional is the mindless acceptance of the outcomes of a thought experiment as validated data about personal weaknesses and strengths by naïve participants. Such participants may take some interesting (but trivial) insight out of context and blow it out of proportion.
• Peer pressure. An important requirement for the success of a thought experiment is the preservation of privacy. Even when you discourage unnecessary sharing of personal information among participants, some people's spontaneous self-disclosures may place unnecessary peer pressure on others.

Types of Thought Experiments

All thought experiments share these two key features:

• Structure. The activity may require you to visualize freely and come up with imaginative ideas. However, all of these tasks are accomplished within a prearranged structure.
• Focus on the individual. The activity safeguards the privacy of the individual so that she may think thoughts and feel emotions without the fear of having to disclose them to others.

Different types of thought experiments vary in two key aspects: how instructions are presented and what types of responses are required.

Instructions to participants may be presented in the following forms:

• Written instructions can be presented in the form of a questionnaire or a worksheet. This approach removes the need for an external facilitator and provides total freedom and privacy to the participant. However, it may result in intentional or accidental peeking ahead. Also written instructions will obviously be useless if the participant is asked to close her eyes and visualize imaginary events.
• Audio recordings are especially useful with visualization exercises. While it helps to have a professional voice recording the instructions, I have sometimes asked each participant to record their own sets of instructions using a written script.
• Facilitators may present instructions using a script. An advantage of this approach is the flexibility for the facilitator to adjust the sequence and pace. A disadvantage is the inhibiting presence of an authoritative outsider.

Thought experiment participants may be asked to respond in any of the following modes:

• Thinking. Some thought experiments simply require participants to imagine, visualize, fantasize, recall, analyze, evaluate, or rehearse—all in their heads. This pure form of thought experiment can be conducted in any situation. (I frequently indulge in such thought experiments in the midst of boring meetings even while maintaining eye contact with the speaker.)
• Writing. Some thought experiments encourage participants to write down their ideas, insights, and action plans. An advantage of this approach is a permanent record of the outcomes. A disadvantage is the interference with the thinking process.
• Drawing. Some thought experiments require participants to draw (and interpret) their ideas and insights. This approach can be effectively used with people with limited language skills. However, this approach requires paper and suitable drawing materials.
• Speaking. Some thought experiments may encourage participants to talk out their ideas and feelings. I sometimes encourage participants to record their thoughts on tape for future review. I have had many thought-experiment conversations with myself in crowded airports without having strangers stare at me simply by holding a fake cellphone to my ears. In a coaching situation where a high level of trust has already been established, you may encourage your coachee to think aloud—and probe for further clarification.
• Computers can provide game instructions—and accept typed responses. You may have read about computer programs being successfully used to provide simple therapeutic interventions. These programs use artificial intelligence to carry out a non-judgmental but probing “conversation” with individuals. With improvements to voice-recognition technology, the time is not far away when participants can have a real chat with the computer.

More Samples

Here are some sources of thought experiment activities along with additional examples:

Have you been cubed yet? One of the oldest thought experiments is The Cube. This game, popular in the coffeehouses of Eastern Europe, is reputed to be of ancient Sufi origin. The game involves participants imagining a desert landscape with five specific elements. According to a current book about this game, your answer is a “soulprint” that provides a profile of your inner life. You can interpret the answer to discover unconscious truths about how you define yourself. If you are intrigued, you can get detailed directions and interpretations from either of these two books written by Annie Gottlieb and Slobodan Pesic:

• The Cube: Keep the Secret (ISBN: 0-06-251266-8)
• Secrets of the Cube: The Ancient Visualization Game That Reveals Your True Self (ISBN: 0-7868-8257-3)

Made in Japan. Kokology is a current fad in Japan that was created by Isamu Saito, a professor of psychology at Rissho University. Kokology activities ask you to answer questions about seemingly innocent topics and then reveal what your answers say about you.

Here's a sample activity from the paperback book, Kokology: The Game of Self Discovery (by Tadahiko Nagao and Isamu Saito published in 2000 by Fireside, ISBN 0-684-87148-3): Your task is to return to your childhood perspective and draw a design on a piece of paper using a single circle and any number of triangles and squares. After you have completed the task, you turn the page for instructions on how to interpret your design: The circle represents you while the triangles stand for work and study and the squares reflect society and its rules. The book suggests the significance of the size and the location of the circle, and the number, size, overlap, and locations of the triangles and squares. Even if you don't agree with the interpretation, the activity encourages you to think about your sense of self and your relationship with the world of work.

Beyond chicken soup. Forty of my most favorite thought experiments are contained in Drew Leder's brilliant book, Games for the Soul: 40 Playful Ways to Find Fun and Fulfillment in a Stressful World (published by Hyperion, ISBN 0-7868-8331-6). Surprisingly, this is a book on spiritual growth written by a professor of Western and Eastern Philosophy. However, the author does not believe in hard labor and self-sacrifice and suggests that fun, joy, and creativity can help you explore such basic values of generosity, gratitude, love, and forgiveness. In this truly inspirational book, Drew Leder draws from different religions to present his “way of play” without ever preaching or pontificating.

Here's an elegant mind game based on Leder's Time Traveling that I play almost every day. Whenever I get flustered, I enter into my imaginary time machine, set the dials for 20 years into the future, and observe what is happening from this distanced, detached perspective. Invariably I stop whining when my current disaster shrinks down to a small inconvenience. For playful instructions on how to use this activity as a TUD (Trivia Unmasking Device) and MUD (Meaning Unfolding Device), get a copy of Leder's book.

What Next?

Review the sample thought experiments and create your own versions to suit your needs and your audience. Get copies of the books mentioned in this section and play the games and play with the ideas. Create your own thought experiments. Read the instructions for The Grid in the following section. Follow the instructions and play the game. Then modify it for use in your training sessions.

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Thought Experiment

The Grid

Here's a structured activity that encourages introspection and increased self awareness. You can “play” The Grid by yourself by following the instructions, taking care not to read ahead before completing each task. You can also facilitate someone else through the activity by giving these instructions while the other person follows them.

Work through The Grid before helping others to use it. You may be able to use this activity as a closing exercise in many of your training programs by limiting and relating the scope to your objectives.

Purpose

• To examine personal likes and dislikes.
• To come up with a personal plan for attaining valuable outcomes, cherishing existing outcomes, preventing undesirable outcomes, and accepting things beyond your control.

Participants

This is primarily an individual activity. However, you can conduct the activity with large groups of participants by asking them to work individually, without interacting with each other.

Time

30-45 minutes.

Supplies

A copy of the grid for each participant. To create the grid, fold a piece of paper in half and then fold it in half again in the other direction. Open the folded paper and lightly number the four quadrants thus:

4	1
3	2

Flow

Write different items in each of the four quadrants.

• In Quadrant 1, write a list of “things” that you want and you currently have. For example, I have a laptop computer that I like. I also have a sense of humor and a few nice friends.
• In Quadrant 2, write a list of “things” that you want but currently you don't have. For example, I want a complete collection of all Agatha Christie mysteries, a reliable doctor, and a trip to Western Australia.
• In Quadrant 3, write a list of “things” that you don't want and you currently don't have but people in your situation seem to have. For example, some of my age cohorts have several extra pounds and some of my fellow trainers have a great need to lecture.
• In Quadrant 4, write a list of unpleasant “things” that you don't want but you currently do have. I have a cataract in my left eye and a habit of making sarcastic comments that hurt other people.

You can write anything that pops into your mind, as long as you write it in the appropriate quadrant.

So start writing. Stop when you feel that have run out of steam.

Don't read the next section until you have completed this task.

Enhancements

Did you really complete the task of writing items in the four quadrants before reading this section? If you did not, that's okay. Your behavior merely indicates that you are dyslexic or incapable of following directions or capable of making up your own rules.

Review the following list of Thought Triggers. See if these categories suggest more items that you can add to your grid:

• People
• Objects
• Books
• Activities
• Attitudes
• Beliefs
• Celebrations
• Climate
• Mentors
• Competencies
• Competition
• Consultants
• Peers
• Crises
• Customers
• Equipment
• Events
• Experience
• Facilities
• Furniture
• Location
• Managers
• Negative feelings
• Personality traits
• Physical abilities
• Positive feelings
• Previous history
• Professional reputation
• Rejection
• Acceptance
• Relationships
• Skills
• Strengths
• Supervisors
• Tools
• Values
• Weaknesses
• Work environment
• Work relationships

Add more items to the grid as suggested by these thought triggers.

Do this before reading the next section.

Debriefing

Think back on what you did earlier in completing your grid.

I am going to ask you a series of questions. Think of the answers (you don't have to write them down or share them with anyone else) and figure out what they suggest about you.

Process check

• Did you enjoy the process or did it make you uncomfortable?
• Do you enjoy or dislike thinking about yourself?
• Did you feel calm and centered or hassled and distracted?
• Did you work in a systematic manner or did you jump around among different quadrants?
• Did you work at the same pace or did you work fast some times and slow down at other times?
• Were you self conscious about what you were doing or did you feel detached as if you are analyzing someone else?
• Were you conscious of the time or did you totally forget it?
• Do you know how much time you spent on this activity? Was it more time than you anticipated? Or less time?
• Did the thought triggers suggest more items than your earlier set of items? Or did they add only a few more?

Content check

• Which items came to you quickly and spontaneously? Which items did you have to drag out slowly?
• Which quadrants have more items and which ones have fewer?
• Which items have you been thinking frequently throughout your life? Which items appeared from nowhere?
• Which items are about you and which ones are about others?
• Which items are about people and which ones are about objects?

Paired comparisons

• Compare the number, significance, and type of items on the right (“want”) side and the left (“don't want”) side of the grid. What does this tell you about your comparative focus on positive and negative aspects?
• Compare the number, significance, and type of items on the top (“have”) half and the bottom (“don't have”) half of the grid. What does this tell you about your comparative focus on current status and future status?
• Compare the number, significance, and type of items on the two diagonal quadrants 1 and 3 with the other diagonal quadrants (2 and 4). What does this tell you about your comparative inclination toward optimism and pessimism?

Think about the grid. Add more items whenever you feel like it.

Please proceed with the next section of debriefing only after you have done this.

More Debriefing

So what implications does your grid have for future action? Here are some suggestions for you to think about. Feel free to write down the action items.

Quadrant 1

Review the items on the first quadrant. These are items that you want and have. Take one item at a time and think about the following action steps:

• Cherish this item. Are you enjoying this item as much as you should?
• Avoid taking it for granted. Guard against its loss. Do maintenance activities to keep it at the current level.
• Avoid a feeling of letdown. Sometimes when people strive hard and achieve an item, they go through a feeling of letdown. Do you still have the same positive feeling that you had when you recently acquired or achieved this item?
• Leverage this item. Add items to the quadrant below to help you fully utilize, exploit, and market this item.
• Share this item. Give it to others without any strings attached. You will enjoy the item more and gain some important things.
• Be ready for potential loss. Sooner or later, in spite of your best efforts, you may lose this item. Are you ready to cope with this loss?

Quadrant 2

Review the items in the second quadrant. These are items that you want but currently don't have. Take one item at a time and think about the following action steps:

• Plan. What steps should you undertake to acquire or achieve this item?
• Explore. You may come up with a systematic plan to achieve this item. But perhaps there are also some intuitive approaches for doing this.
• Sacrifice. You may not be able to move an item up from this quadrant without moving something down from the first quadrant. Think about what you have to sacrifice.
• Evaluate. Conduct a cost-benefit analysis: How much time and effort do you have to spend to obtain this item? What potential benefits are you likely to get from this item? Is the cost worth the benefit?
• Avoid obsession. Don't become so focused on what you don't have that you don't have time to enjoy what you already have.
• Ask for advice. Other people may give you useful suggestions, but remember you are unique and your learning and working style may be different from those of others.

Quadrant 3

Review the items in the third quadrant. These are items that you don't want and don't have—but there is a chance that you may get them. Take one item at a time and think about the following action steps:

• Prevent. Identify and take appropriate precautions to prevent yourself from acquiring this item.
• Avoid brooding. Don't spend so much time and energy on preventive measures, anxiety, and worry that you forget to have fun in the other quadrants.
• Remember your choices. Sometimes, all you have to do is to simply say “No” to this item.
• Avoid denial. You cannot avoid this item by denying possibilities and pretending that it will not affect you.
• Invest. Spend the necessary time and energy to safeguard your future from this item.

Quadrant 4

Review the items in the fourth quadrant. These are items that you have—but don't want. Take one item at a time and think about the following action steps:

• Remove. If it is within your control, do whatever is needed to get rid of the thing that you dislike. Add an opposite item to the second quadrant.
• Reduce the impact. Do what it is needed to make sure that this item does not drag you down.
• Compensate with technology. Use suitable tools to help you minimize the impact of this item.
• Accept reality. If you cannot change this item, accept it with wisdom and maturity.
• Stop feeling guilty. Avoid blaming yourself for your past behavior. It is time to move on.
• Take time to grieve. If a new item appears in this area, give yourself time to accept it.

Additional Suggestions

Here are some additional thoughts about The Grid as a self-assessment tool:

• Keep adding items. Throughout this day, this week, and this lifetime—keep adding items to the grid.
• Retirement scenario. Try a time-travel activity. Imagine that you are retiring from your professional career. What would the items in the grid look like?
• Role-playing. Pretend you are your manager or your mother. How would she or he fill out the grid for you? How would your significant other fill out this grid for you?
• Narrow the scope. Take one specific aspect of your life such as your career as a consultant. Complete the grid with items that are relevant to only this aspect. Review the items and come up with an action plan.
• Happy Birthday! Fill out the grid on the eve of your birthday. Review the differences between last year's grid and this year's. Are you headed in the right direction?

May the items on your grid keep moving toward the top right. However, may new items keep popping up all around the grid to keep your life exciting.

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Guest Gamer

Interview with Grace Oreña

TGL: How did you get into designing and using games?

Grechie: In 1990, when I worked for an airline, I was tasked to design a course for the senior team members of our department. Our trainees were 5 to 20 years older and more experienced than us. In this context, we decided to use games because they were non-threatening and less invasive.

TGL: How long have you been designing and using games?

Grechie: Twenty years. My co-facilitators and I did not know what we were doing when we started using games. I knew some buzzwords and techniques (such as Integrated Learning and Accelerated Learning) when I joined our training department in 1996. Later, I learned about the design and use of training games on the job.

TGL: Where do you use games?

Grechie: Everywhere. I definitely use games at the beginning of a training session. This approach enables me to establish credibility and to build rapport. For my openers, I usually use kinesthetic polling activities. I ask a question and tell participants to line up (or cluster) to indicate their response. Then I join the line or the cluster at the appropriate location.

I also believe that games are a must for recaps, reviews, and for closing the training session with an impact.

TGL: How do your participants respond?

Grechie: They expect all training providers to be like us. Our methods produce high engagement and result in application at the workplace. They start a buzz and future participants look forward to attending our courses.

TGL: What was an embarrassing moment you had in conducting games?

Grechie: Last week I opened and closed a training session using a rope activity. I asked groups of participants to use the ropes to create a graph that represented where they were in relation to the training objectives. I was happy when the closing graph showed that the participants had moved closer to the objectives. I thought it was a successful and impactful training session with an effective opening and closing. However, during a focus group discussion after the session to assess its value, a number of participants told me that they did not see the relevance of the rope activity. They decided to create the positive graph just to make sure that the workshop ended on time.

This piece of information was disheartening. The lesson I learned was to stress the relevance of the activity during the initial instructions and during the debriefing discussion.

TGL: What advice do you have to newcomers about interactive training?

Grechie: Here is a set of guidelines that helps me:

Begin by conducting a single training game that is tried and tested. Practice conducting this game to develop expertise in giving instructions and conducting debriefing discussions.

For your first game, use a familiar game as it is or deconstruct it and use the frame for your own content. Keep asking questions that will stretch your creativity: How can you use Scrabble tiles in an activity that involves dance? How can you use the number and suits of playing cards in a collaborative story-building activity?

When you develop your first game, always be guided by your training objective. Focus on the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that you want your participants to acquire. Think about what will be different about the participants from the time they start the game and the time they end it. Also specify what you will be able to observe during the play of the game.

When you are designing a training game, keep these factors in mind:

• Number of participants
• Energy level and physical capacity of participants
• Time limit
• Time of day
• Room set-up
• Materials available
• Number of facilitators
• Time required for debriefing

Believe that there is always an activity behind something you want to lecture about. Find this activity.

Make sure that your game involves sensory elements: Does it have visual, auditory, and kinesthetic components?

Always be learner-centric. Keep monitoring energy levels of your participants so you can rapidly re-design your game to respond to exhaustion or boredom. Be ready with an alternative game for use when the first game fails.

TGL: What supplies do you pack in your trainer's toolkit?

Grechie: Here are the essential tools that I carry with me whenever I conduct my training workshops:

• Letter-sized envelopes for playing the Envelopes framegame
• Index cards for playing Thirty-Five, Envelopes, and dyad or small group sharing
• Pieces of rope for activities that I learned from Nick Smith and from Roger Greenaway's website
• Tossable Beanies for spontaneous sharing
• Large playing cards (from Michelle Cummings) for use with Roger Greenaway's Facts, Feelings, Findings, Futures and the Hello framegame

TGL: What types of games do you use most frequently?

Grechie: I use a number of interactive lecture activities that I learned from Thiagi and his associates. I also use the Envelopes game and other structured sharing activities along with textra games. In addition I use a number of improv activities that I learned from the Applied Improv Network people.

TGL: Who are your favorite game designers?

Grechie: Thiagi, Tracy Tagliati, Chris and Becky Saeger, Kat Kopett, Roger Greenaway, Michelle Cummings, Matt Weinstein, and Sue Walden.

TGL: What is your prediction about the future of games?

Grechie: We are getting close to real-time gaming: Just-in-time activities for immediate application in the workplace and in personal life. We will also see increased use of rich multi-media environments, both online and offline, virtual and face-to-face.

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Framegame

Full of Beans
by Grace Oreña

I enjoy using beans for keeping score in training games. I use red, white, or black kidney beans and give each participant a transparent plastic cup to hold them. This arrangement permits visual monitoring. You can see which player needs to participate more and who needs coaching. This arrangement is also auditory. You can ask the participants to shake their cups to cheer their teammates or to give you feedback.

Full of Beans is a framegame that can be used for providing practice in applying skills related to your training topic. In the description below, I use business writing as the sample topic.

Purpose

To become more fluent in business writing competencies.

Participants

Any number, divided into teams of three to seven members.

Time

20 to 45 minutes, depending on the number of rounds and the number of items in each round

Supplies

• Slides with suitable items (sentences with blanks, words, and incorrect sentences)
• Equipment
• LCD projector
• Screen

Flow

Brief the participants. Explain that you are going to conduct contests related to business writing skills. Participants will earn a bean for each correct answer. In addition, the team that has the highest total score will earn 10 beans as the team score.

Round 1. Fill in the blank

Explain the activity. You will project 10 sentences on the screen, one sentence at a time. These sentences will represent typical sentences from business writing, and each sentence will contain a blank for a missing word. Participants should work independently and write down an appropriate word that goes in the blank.

Project a sample sentence. Use this sentence as an example:

Invite the participants to supply a suitable word for the blank. Give feedback. Point out that “meet” is an acceptable word, while “exceed” is a better alternative.

Project the sentences. Project one sentence at a time and pause for a suitable period of time to permit participants to write down their response.

Score the responses. Give appropriate words that could be used to fill in each blank. Invite participants to tell you any other word that they used and decide whether the word is acceptable or not. Work through all 10 sentences, giving each participant one bean for each correct answer. Determine the total number of beans earned by all members of each team and identify the team with the highest total score. Place 10 beans in the cup of this team.

Round 2. Use a word in a sentence

Explain the activity. You will project 10 words on the screen, one word at a time. Ask participants to write a sentence that uses the word appropriately.

Project a sample word. Use this word as an example:

Invite the participants to write a sentence that incorporates this word in a business context. Invite participants to read their sentences and give feedback.

Project the words. Project one word at a time and pause for a suitable period of time to permit participants to write down their sentence.

Score the responses. Invite participants to read the sentences they wrote and decide whether each sentence is acceptable or not. After going through all 10 words, give each participant one bean for each acceptable sentence. Determine the total number of beans earned by all members of each team and identify the team with the highest total score. Place 10 beans in the cup of this team.

A bean is given to each participant who is able to write a sample of each part of speech—they get 8 beans when they get all perfectly.

The winning team for this round is given 10 beans in the team cup.

Round 3. Correct the sentence

Explain the activity. You will project 10 sentences from business writing, each with one or more errors. Ask participants to rewrite the sentence with the error corrected.

Conduct the activity. Project the sentences, one at a time. As before give a bean to each participant who has identified the error and revised the sentence. Give 10 beans for the team with the highest total score.

Adjustments

You can adjust the time requirement by increasing or decreasing the number of rounds and the number of items during each round.

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Say It Quick

Being Verbose
by Brian Remer

In this issue, I'll examine the value of telling a story for teaching, teambuilding, and creating rapport. But first, let's look at this 99-Word Story for some ideas about what makes a good tale in the first place.

Being Verbose

Katherine Sharpe edits her 400 Words Magazine at www.400words.com . Each essay is written in 400 words or fewer. In December of 2006, Newsweek magazine brought her to my attention by asking, “Can something significant be said in 400 words or less?” Well, can something meaningful be said in exactly 99 words or in a sonnet of fourteen lines? Can a bumper sticker ring true? Is there wisdom in a fortune cookie?

Let's be even more succinct. What about a caress or a kiss?

Meaning comes from the investment of the listener, not the quantity of the verbiage.

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Discoveries

Chat Pack Stories
by Brian Remer

Big stories come in small packages. At least that's the case with Chat Pack Stories, a deck of 156 tiny cards each with a question designed to spark a full-size conversation. Open the pocket-sized plastic box, pull out a card at random, and read the question. Whether you are trying to break the ice, be the life of the party, invigorate your family dinnertime, or take advantage of a teachable moment, you'll find plenty of inspiration.

Chat Pack Stories are one of several conversation starter products from The Question Guys ( http://www.questmarc.com/ ), Bret Nicholaus and Paul Lowrie, who began their business by writing a book of original ice-breaker questions. That book evolved into four different Chat Pack collections. Besides a standard version, there is one for kids, one about Christmas, and one for telling stories.

Sample cards from the Stories Pack include:

• “Got a story to share about missing a great opportunity because you were just a few minutes too late? Tell your story!”
• “Got a story to share about getting caught in a deluge of rain with nowhere to hide? Tell your story!”
• “Got a story to share about being somewhere so remote you lost all sense of civilization? Tell your story!”

Now, I'll admit a minor concern I have about this product by raising a question: What does it say about our ability to engage one another in meaningful conversation if we have to tote around a list of questions as a cheat sheet? That said, I do find Chat Pack cards engaging as well as effective for sparking discussions and sharing little-known stories among even those who are long-time friends. They work well with groups of any size. You could even use them to inspire your own personal journal writing. And who knows, using Chat Pack Stories might even teach you and your friends how to become better conversationalists!

When that happens, please let me know (email Brian)!

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Ideas

Multifunctional Stories
by Brian Remer

As the 99-Word Story for this month suggests, much of the responsibility for effective communication belongs to the person receiving the message. Yes, communication is a two-way street. Books have been written about how to tell a good story and deliver an effective message. But there is always the great unknown: What happens inside the head of people who hear your carefully crafted story?

Terrence Gargiulo has done a great deal of research and study about the effective use of stories. At his website, Makingstories.net ( http://makingstories.net/ ), he talks about the many uses of stories, identifying nine functions a story can have:

1. Empower a speaker
2. Create an environment
3. Bind and bond individuals
4. Require active listening
5. Negotiate differences
6. Encode information
7. Act as tools for thinking
8. Can be used as weapons
9. Medicine for healing

In his chapter Storytelling in The Handbook of Experiential Learning (Mel Silberman, editor, Pfeiffer, 2007) Gargiulo says, “These nine functions [of stories] are essential aspects of leading any learning experience. On the surface, we use stories to warm up a group, entertain them, and / or create an environment. …if we are a little vulnerable, circumspect, or reflective, and if we don't take ourselves too seriously, our intentions will spread through the group and positively affect its behaviors.”

Gargiulo's emphasis is on using stories to tap into the inner dialogue of listeners. Stories should be told in such a way that people are invited to share their interpretation and add to the group's understanding. He cautions, “Steer away from using stories to encode information. Stories that encode predigested messages such as allegories offer the weakest form of learning.” They miss this opportunity to invite others to weigh in with their ideas.

His preference is to open the room to the stories of everyone. “When people listen actively to one another, they enter the world of another person. Our understanding of another person's story is gained by working with bits and pieces of our own stories to find common connections between the story being shared and our own experiences.”

In other words, tell a story to get a story. That's the idea behind Chat Pack Stories and it's also the basis of the Activity for this month featured below.

(Terrence Gargiulo is author of Stories at Work, The Strategic Use of Stories in Organizational Communication and Learning, and In the Land of Difficult People. For more information about these and his other books as well as how to use stories effectively, go to www.makingstories.net .)

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Activities

Double Exposure
by Brian Remer

When my daughter was very young, I noticed that she was most enthralled when I told the simplest stories. She seemed interested in hearing tales of the quotidian activities of my boyhood self back in the “olden days.” And I realized too that these simple stories were really a great opportunity to share my perceptions, fears, hopes, expectations, mistakes, and successes—exposing my “less perfect” side and making me as the “adult” a bit more “human.”

Being vulnerable by sharing a bit about oneself became the basis for a game I invented to celebrate my parent's fortieth anniversary. I created a deck of cards each with the inspiration for a personal story. Sample cards included, “Tell about a time you went to the dentist,” “Tell about a time you were jealous,” and “Tell about a time you tore something apart.”

To play the game, each person would role a die and move their marker on a game board to land on a picture of another family member. The game was called Double Exposure because both people would tell a story for the card that was drawn. To my surprise and the delight of everyone, the game held the attention of all sixteen members of our extended family from ages six to seventy-six for two hours. And, we learned so much about each other!

Later, I adapted the game for use with board members in a business setting who wanted to integrate new people into their team. This required only the modification of a few questions. Instead of a game board I used a token for each player. Role the die and move your token around the table. Wherever it lands, that person becomes your partner and you both tell a story about the card that you pulled from the deck.

If you'd like to try Double Exposure with your group, you can download the CARDS and DIRECTIONS. Just print it on perforated laser business cards available at stationery stores. Like the Chat Pack series, you can also pull a card at random and let several people tell a story. However you modify the game to suit your group, I'm certain you'll be pleased that you tried this simple technique to deepen relationships by sharing experiences. And, of course, when you do, please let me know the results (email Brian)!

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Single Topic Survey

Instructional Motivation
by Tracy Tagliati

One of the biggest problems we continuously hear from trainers and educators is “My participants aren't motivated.” The fact is that everyone is motivated to move by something. It may not be the way we want them to move, but that does not mean that they are not motivated. It just means that they are motivated to move differently than we expect.

For example, a participant that is continuously texting messages on her cell phone during a workshop may be seen as an unmotivated learner. Yet that same participant is motivated to expend the energy necessary to pretend to be paying attention, hiding the cell phone under the table, and communicate with others. When we complain that this participant isn't motivated, what we are really saying is that this participant is not behaving like we expect them to perform.

The question is what is the best way to motivate participants to perform the way we expect? Should we use external motivators (money, attention, candy) based on the carrots and sticks principle, or should we subscribe to the intrinsic motivators (autonomy, mastery, and purpose) that are described in Daniel Pink's new book Drive?

Poll Question

What form of motivation do you think is the most effective to get participants to perform at their best?

• External Motivators — Rewards and Consequences
• Intrinsic Motivators — Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose

(The poll opens in a new window.)

Open Question

(The survey opens in a new window.)

Send us your thoughts and ideas. You may choose to include your name along with your response, or if you prefer, keep it anonymous.

We asked some facilitators and trainers during our last workshop, and here is what they had to say:

Rick: I like using incentives and rewards. While I know it is important for my learners to find intrinsic motivators, I also think that sometimes incentives are a tangible expression of caring. In my opinion, learners are much more open to social influence than we may want to admit, and I find that letting my learners know I care makes a huge difference. I may not be able to buy them with incentives and rewards, but I can certainly acknowledge them and care for them.

Regina: I work in a competitive company in a highly competitive industry. We don't have time to run enlightenment camps.

Debbie: Extrinsic motivators may work initially, but in my experience, once an extrinsic motivator has been removed, participants revert almost immediately to their previous behavior patterns. A perfect example is that more than two-thirds of all prisoners are rearrested within three years of their releases!

Giovanna: I think you need to choose the appropriate motivator depending on the task. Some incentives work well for algorithmic tasks (tasks with specific steps and processes) but don't work well for heuristic work.

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Survey Results

Friends at work
by Tracy Tagliati

Last month we asked if you had a best friend at work. Here's how you responded:

(Percentages reflect votes received by August 1, 2010.)

We also asked you what are the benefits and pitfalls to having a friend at work, and you had some interesting things to say.

Here are some of the common themes:

Response 13) I had a best friend at work and she recently left. While here, I felt more engaged, collaborative and proud of my workplace. I feel her absence immeasurably now that she's gone. It's hard to fill that gap.

Response 6) While I answered “no” to the survey question, I appreciate having a best friend at work. In the past, I have had 2 friends at work. I looked forward to seeing them and collaborating with them. In a sign of the times, they both were laid off during economic down times. When they left, it greatly impacted my productivity.

Response 4) Benefits - Being able to bounce ideas off of each other. Support when things get crazy and you need someone to listen. Provide laughter, which helps you get through the day.

Pitfalls - Too much personal time together, during working hours. If the friendship goes through a rough patch, work is difficult.

Response 26) Pitfalls: Performance is critical in the work environment and if a friend is not performing, and that feedback is provided, it is not always taken well and can ruin the friendship. Or, if there are layoffs and one of the two of you is let go, that can cause problems too.

See more of the reader's responses or add your own.

Thank you for your responses.

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Webinar

Bend Your Brain with Thiagi and Tracy

Tracy and Thiagi are doing a monthly webinar series, sponsored by Training Magazine Network. You can attend for free, but you must register.

Here's the description of this month's webinar:

In this session, we set out to prove that you don't have to be in a state of denial in order to be happier.

Here's how we do it:

• First, we teach you how to use validated instruments to measure your current levels of happiness.
• Next, we use the interactive lecture technique to explore key topics related to happiness.
• Then (and most importantly), we teach you a set of activities that increase your level of happiness in a sustainable fashion.

These activities, based on ideas from ancient philosophers to modern researchers, have produced measurable results with thousands of participants. You can prove it for yourself by using the measuring instruments to monitor your levels of happiness.

This month's 60-minute webinar will take place at 1pm Eastern Daylight Time on Wednesday, August 4, 2010.

For more information, see the webinar's page at http://www.trainingmagnetwork.com/topics/show/1977 . You may need to register (and log in) before you can view the webinar description.

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