SERIOUSLY FUN ACTIVITIES FOR TRAINERS, FACILITATORS,
PERFORMANCE CONSULTANTS, AND MANAGERS.
Mission
To increase and improve the use of interactive,
experiential strategies to improve human performance in an
effective, efficient, and enjoyable way.
Editorial Roster
Author and Editor
: Sivasailam (Thiagi) Thiagarajan
Assistant Editor
: Raja Thiagarajan
Associate Editors: Tracy Tagliati and Jean Reese
Contributing Editors: Brian Remer and Matthew Richter
Copyright Info
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Thiagi Group. However, they may be freely reproduced for
educational/training activities. There is no need to obtain
special permission for such use as long as you do not
reproduce more than 100 copies per year. Please
include the following statement on all reproductions:
For any other use of the content, please contact us (
thiagi@thiagi.com ) for permission.
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Feedback Request
Thiagi believes in practicing what he preaches. This is an
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email to thiagi@thiagi.com . Thanks!
For participants (and facilitators) who are not too excited
about lengthy roleplays, we recommend this brief roleplay
activity. It gives equal opportunities for every participant
and uses a variety of roleplay scenarios.
Purpose
To practice—and to evaluate—behaviors related
to giving feedback.
Participants
Minimum: 3
Maximum: Any number, divided into groups
of three.
Best: 9 to 30
Time
10 to 15 minutes
Supplies
4 roleplay cards
Timer
Whistle
Preparation
Each roleplay card contains a primary role, a secondary
role, and a brief description of a situation.
Here is a sample set:
Bad Boss
Primary Role: Manager
Secondary Role: Your Manager
Situation: Your manager has been going
around you and giving orders to your employees without
checking with you. Provide constructive feedback.
Bad Code
Primary Role: Manager
Secondary Role: Programmer
Situation: Your programmer just
delivered software code with lots of bugs. You were
expecting higher quality. Provide constructive
feedback.
Bad Service
Primary Role: Customer
Secondary Role: Store Manager
Situation: You just experienced bad
service from a sarcastic and rude clerk in a store. You
decided to give feedback to the store manager about your
experience. Provide constructive feedback.
Bad Timing
Primary Role: Project Director
Secondary Role: Employee
Situation: Your employee has
consistently failed to meet deadlines for delivering
important data related to a project. Other team members
are impacted by the delay. Provide constructive
feedback.
Flow
Brief the participants. Explain that you
will conduct three brief roleplays, each lasting for 2
minutes. Every participant will have a turn to play the
roles of the observer, the primary player, and the secondary
player.
Walk through a roleplay card. Give a copy
of the Bad Boss roleplay card to each
participant. Point out the key components: the primary role,
the secondary role, and the situation.
Set up for a demonstration. Invite two
participants to the front of the room and ask them to stand
on either side of you. Explain that you will be the observer
for a demonstration roleplay. Read the contents of the card.
Tell the player on your right to play the primary role. The
player on your left plays the secondary role. Explain that
your focus will be on the behavior of the person playing the
primary role. He or she should use best practices for giving
feedback for the person playing the secondary role. This
person should present the feedback as quickly as possible
without wasting time on setting up the conversation. The
other person should behave naturally in response to the
situation and to the behavior of the primary roleplayer.
Conduct the roleplay. Ask the two
participants to have an appropriate conversation in their
assigned roles. Listen carefully to the conversation. Blow
the whistle at the end of 2 minutes.
Explain the evaluation process. You will
give a piece of positive feedback (what was done
effectively) and a piece of constructive feedback
(what could be improved) to the primary
roleplayer. After you have done this, ask the secondary
roleplayer to give the same types of feedback to the primary
roleplayer. Finally, ask the primary roleplayer to identify
what he or she did effectively and what he or she would
change the next time in a similar situation.
Organize playgroups. Thank the two people
who participated in the demonstration and send them back to
their seats. Divide the participants into triads. Give a set
of the three other roleplay cards to each triad and ask each
person to take a card. Ask the members of each triad to
choose one person to be the first observer. Ask the
observers to read the roleplay details from the card and
assign the roles. However, ask the participants not to get
started until you blow the whistle.
Keep time. Set the timer for 2 minutes and
blow the whistle. Ask the participants conduct the roleplay
and ask the observers to listen carefully. Watch the timer
and blow the whistle again at the end of 2 minutes.
Ask everyone to give feedback. Focus on
the behavior of the person playing the primary role. Begin
with the observer. Ask him or her to give a piece of
positive feedback and a constructive feedback. Then ask the
secondary roleplayer to give his or her positive and
constructive feedback. Finally, ask the primary roleplayer
to identify a behavior he or she is happy about and a
behavior he or she would change the next time in a similar
situation.
Repeat the roleplays. Ask another person
to assume the role of the observer. Repeat the roleplay
activity as before. Finally, ask the third player in each
triad to act as the observer.
Debrief the participants. Point out that
each participant had four opportunities to give feedback:
once as the observer, once in the primary role, once in the
secondary role, and once for himself or herself. Ask and
discuss the following types of questions:
What were the differences between giving positive
feedback and constructive feedback?
What was the most enjoyable positive feedback you
received?
What the most useful constructive feedback you
received?
What were some effective techniques for giving
positive feedback?
What were some effective techniques for giving
constructive feedback?
What were the differences between giving feedback in a
roleplay situation and in the “real”
situation?
What were the differences between giving feedback to
others and giving feedback to yourself?
Roleplay cards
You can use this brief roleplay activity with a variety of
soft-skill topics. You can create your own roleplay cards or
you can purchase ready-made cards from our online store. We
have 20 different decks dealing with different topics. The
sample roleplay cards used in this activity are from the
Fluency Cards deck for Feedback Techniques. Each Fluency Cards deck in
our online store includes 13 roleplay cards and 13
each of cards that require the participants to list,
compare, and draw different concepts.
This jolt makes an interesting follow-up activity to the
earlier one (Anagram Expert) published
in the previous
issue of TGL. It can also be used as a
stand-alone jolt.
Purpose
To explore the relationship between a difficult task and
perceived competency.
Participants
Minimum: 4
Maximum: 50, divided into teams of 3 to
7.
Best: 15 to 30
Time
15 to 30 minutes
Equipment
Timer
Whistle
Room Setup
Round tables with chairs around them to facilitate
teamwork
Handouts
Sample Mini Sudoku Puzzle, one copy for
each participant. This is page 1 of the PDF.
Mini Sudoku Puzzle-D, one copy for each
participant, except for the members of a selected
team
Mini Sudoku Puzzle-S, one copy for each
participant of the selected team
Prepare Sample Mini Sudoku
Puzzle. Download the pdf document and
reproduce copies of the first page, one copy for each
participant.
Prepare Mini Sudoku Puzzle-D.
Reproduce copies of the second page, one copy for each
participant, except for the members of a selected team.
Prepare Mini Sudoku Puzzle-S.
Reproduce copies of the third page, one copy for each member
of a selected team.
Practice solving the Sample Mini Sudoku
Puzzle. If necessary, cheat by referring
to the solution here:
4 5 3 2 1 6
2 1 6 3 5 4
6 3 5 1 2 4
4 2 1 5 6 3
3 6 2 5 4 1
1 4 5 6 3 2
Flow
Organize teams. Divide the participants
into two or more teams. The teams should be the same size,
but it does not matter if a few teams have an extra
member.
Specify the task. Distribute copies of the
Sample Mini Sudoku Puzzle to each
participant. Explain that the task is to place the numbers 1
through 6 in the empty squares in such a way that each row,
each column, and each 3 x 2 rectangle contains one and only
one of the six numbers.
Solve the puzzle. Walk through the process
by identifying different empty spaces and working out which
number goes in that space. Encourage the participants to
help the other members of their team to understand how to
solve the puzzle.
Distribute the other puzzles. For one of
the teams, give copies of Mini Sudoku Puzzle-S
to all its members. Give copies of Mini Sudoku
Puzzle-D to all other participants. Ask everyone to
place their puzzle printed side down.
Solve the puzzle. Tell the participants to
turn the paper over and begin to solve the puzzle as soon as
you blow the whistle. Encourage the participants to work as
a team. Also ask the participants to stand up when they have
solved the puzzle.
Conclude the puzzle-solving activity. The
participants in the team that has Mini Sudoku
Puzzle-S should solve the puzzle quickly and stand
up. If time permits, wait until at least one of the teams
with Mini Sudoku Puzzle-D stands up. Ask one of
the participants who is standing up to read the numbers of
each row of the completed Sudoku puzzle.
Debrief
Conduct a discussion. Ask the following
types of questions and encourage the participants to share
their ideas:
How do you feel about your ability to solve the
puzzle?
How do you feel about the collaboration in your
team?
How do you feel about the other members of your
team?
How do you feel about the team that solved the puzzle
quickly?
What could have helped your team to do a better job of
solving the puzzle?
Explain what happened. Confess to the
participants that you gave one of the teams a simpler
version of the Mini Sudoku Puzzle with more spaces already
filled in. Ask the participants for their reactions to this
confession.
A collection of photographs is a very useful tool for an
interactive trainer. You can use these photographs as
metaphors to encourage the participants to brainstorm ideas,
clarify concepts, share feelings and emotions, and explore
controversial issues.
For example, instead of talking about customer
satisfaction, I can ask the participants to select a
picture that is a metaphor for the concept. Let's say that you
select a photograph of two women having a pleasant
conversation. When I ask you how this picture represents
customer satisfaction, you say, “The essence of customer
satisfaction is to make the other person feel that he or she
is listened to. If the customer smiles, we can be sure that
we have done our job.”
While facilitating a group of employees from a corporation
that has recently installed a new computer system, instead of
asking the participants, “How do you feel about this
change?”, I can ask the participants to select a
photographic metaphor. You select a photograph of a man trying
to push a large rock. When asked for an explanation, you
suggest that the rock is the new system and that you feel
frustrated because you are about to handle it.
While introducing the idea of forming cross-functional teams,
I ask the participants to select a photograph that reflects
controversial aspects of this idea. You select a mother monkey
holding tightly to a baby, and baring her teeth. You explain
that every manager is fiercely protective of his or her
department.
Photographic metaphors have an amazing ability to erase the
participants' anxieties and to encourage people to talk. You
may be reluctant to talk about your feelings but you will be
eager to expound at length about how a photograph reflects
different aspects of your emotional reactions.
In these days of global classrooms, photographs have the
additional advantage: Your participants do not need to have
high levels of reading ability to interact with the content
and with each other.
It's in the Cards
What are the qualities of effective photographs for use in
image-based training activities? In addition to technical
quality and durability, here are two things that I look
for:
Varied. We need a large number of
photographs showing a wide assortment of objects and
events. We need simple and complex pictures depicting
familiar and unfamiliar scenes. We need pictures from
different locations and different cultures. This diversity
ensures an immense selection of metaphors to choose
from.
Ambiguous. We need photographs that
invite alternative interpretations. We want the
participants to react positively and negatively to the
same picture, using it to project their own moods and
perceptions. We want these photographs to act as Rorschach
inkblots to some extent.
Several collections of photo cards are available for use by
trainers. I wrote about them in the July 2012 issue of
TGL, and Brian Remer wrote about them in the
June 2010 issue.
Photo Jolts!
My friend Glenn Hughes (who appeared as our August 2012
Guest Gamer) is a global nomad,
a talented photographer, and an award-winning facilitator.
He has recently created a deck of photographic cards called
Photo Jolts!
Each card in this deck of 52 cards displays a
high-resolution, high impact, immersive, varied, global,
sturdy, and intentionally ambiguous photograph. They are
used in a variety of engaging activities (demonstrated on
YouTube) that start conversations to provide clarity and
creativity to the participants.
You can immediately begin using the Photo
Jolts! deck by watching brief demonstrations
of effective training and facilitation activities on
YouTube. (For more details, see Check It Out later in this issue.)
It's Not the Cards
At the risk of contradicting myself, the cards are just one
part of the package. Your success as a trainer or a
facilitator depends on the activities that incorporate these
cards.
Glenn and I have designed hundreds of activities around his
set of photographic cards. We have selected 51 of these
activities and published them in a book. These activities
can be used to explore such topics as coaching,
communication, creativity, diversity, design, leadership,
problem solving, and teamwork. In this book, you will find
useful background information along with detailed
instructions for conducting each activity. The book even has
a template for creating your own Photo
Jolt! activities.
You can read a review of the book in Brian Remer's September 2013 issue of
Firefly News Flash.
You can purchase the Photo Jolts!
book for $30 (plus $8.50 shipping in the USA) from our online store. And if you place your order before
November 30 2013 and enter the coupon code
TGL-PJBFS, we'll give you free shipping
in the USA (or $8.50 off shipping elsewhere).
You can purchase the deck of Photo
Jolts! cards for $49 (plus $9.45 shipping in
the USA) from our online store. And if you place your order before
November 30 2013 and enter the coupon code
TGL-PJDFS, we'll give you free shipping
in the USA (or $9.45 off shipping elsewhere).
Want both? You can purchase the combo, which contains one
deck of Photo Jolts! cards and one
copy of the Photo Jolts! book, from
our online store. The regular price for the combo is
$72 (plus $12.50 shipping in the USA). This month
only, we'll lower the price to $65 and ship it to you
free! That's $19.50 off the usual postpaid price!
To get this special offer, use the coupon code
TGL-PJC when you check out. This coupon expires
November 30 2013.
To prevent passive listening and to reinforce your recall,
here's a quick task for you:
Create a suitable title for this podcast episode.
Use the “Comments” link below to post your response.
In case you forgot what you heard on the podcast, or in case
you are not an auditory learner, or in case you find Thiagi's
accent to be grating, or in case you want to cheat, here's a
transcript of the podcast.
Let's reflect on the two critical aspects of training:
content and activities.
Effective training requires a smooth integration of content
and activities.
Content is information, facts, demonstrations,
explanations, stories, and so on. A trainer can deliver
content through lectures, reading assignments, video
recordings, text on the Internet, podcasts, slides sets,
charts, and other such things.
An activity is a training exercise that requires the
participants to interact with each other, with the content,
and with the facilitator. A trainer can conduct games,
simulations, roleplays, discussions, debates, experiential
exercises, group projects and other such events.
As I said earlier, effective training requires a smooth
integration of content and activities.
Content without activities produces inert knowledge. The
participants store facts and information in a passive manner
and recall it verbatim. They lack the ability to apply it to
the challenges in their workplace and in the real world.
Activity without content is like requiring the participants
to roleplay headless chicken. The room is full tumult and
shouting, with people working intensely in teams and having
heated debates. At the end of the activity, the participants
are confused, wondering “What was that all about?”
Content is not enough. You need to apply it to real-world
situations.
Activity is not enough. You need to reflect on it and learn
from it.
How exactly do we integrate content and activity? Where
should we begin? What comes first: content or activity?
Chicken or egg?
Here's a simple prescription for effective training: Don't
present any content that is not incorporated in a training
activity. Don't conduct any activity that does not
incorporate relevant content.
You can present training content before an activity. We
call it briefing. You present facts, principles, and
procedures that can be immediately applied to an ensuing
activity.
You can present training content after an activity. We call
this debriefing. You encourage the participants to reflect
on their experience from the activity, gain personal
insights, and share it with each other.
And you can present training content during an activity. We
call this coaching. You place the activity on pause and
present just-in-time, just-enough content so the
participants can use new tools, new mental models, and new
levels of competency.
My prescription has severe limitations. It requires you to
present the content only before, during, or after an
activity. Unfortunately, you cannot present the content any
other time. Alas!
Here is a puzzle format that we have used in earlier issues
of TGL.
We wrote a question and added a letter to each word. Then we
scrambled the letters of each word and the extra letters. This
is what we ended up with:
AAHTW CEENRSSU CEEEFFITTV AEGIILNNR FMORV AI
AGIINNRTT EINOSSSY?
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
To find the first word in the question, unscramble the first
set of letters. Cross out the extra letter and write it in the
first blank below the question. Continue with each set of
letters, writing the extra letters in one blank at a time.
Once you have unscrambled all words and filled in all blanks,
you should be able to read the question and the answer.
You can use this type of puzzle as a review or follow-up
exercise for your training session. Here's how you create
the puzzle.
Write a question and the answer. Select a question that
lends itself to a fairly short answer.
What motivates people? Mastery.
Here's the tricky part: Rewrite the question so
that the number of words in it is the same as the number
of letters in the answer. Type the question and answer
in ALL CAPS.
WHAT IS ONE FACTOR THAT MOTIVATES
PEOPLE? MASTERY.
Add the first letter of the answer to the first word of
the question, the second letter to the second word, and
so on.
WHATM ISA ONES FACTORT THATE MOTIVATESR
PEOPLEY?
Arrange the letters of each word in the question
(along with the extra letter) in alphabetical order.
AHMTW AIS ENOS ACFORTT AEHTT AEIMORSTTV
EELOPPY?
Your puzzle is now ready. Add appropriate instructions
at the top of the puzzle.
Now create your own puzzle and post it in the comments
section below.
We like to think of ourselves as being calm, collected,
confident, competent, and in control. Our ability to be all
those things is a result of the work of our subconscious. In
other words, much of our effective functioning occurs
subliminally, below our conscious awareness, and, therefore,
beyond our control. Learn about the interaction between the
conscious and unconscious functions of your brain and what it
means for your interpersonal effectiveness in the October 2013
issue of Firefly News Flash. Power
Tip: To gain insights about other people, learn to
identify your own blind spot.
In the October 2013 issue of TGL we ranted
about the obsession with creating and presenting content in
training sessions. We conducted a poll asking how you
allocate your training design time between content and
activity.
Nineteen people responded to the poll. Four (21%) of them
spent more time on content while 15 (79%) people spent more
time on activities.
Open Question
As a follow up to the poll, we asked this open
question:
What are your thoughts about the relative importance of
training content and activities? What factors influence
the amount of time you spend in content creation and
activities design?
Here's a fairly elaborate and extremely useful response to
this question:
Expertise in a topic can be a barrier to being a good
teacher. Once we master a subject or skill, we think in
terms of our mastery, and forget what helped (and impeded)
us during the process of acquiring the abilities that we
now take for granted. How can we overcome “the curse of
expertise” when teaching people who are just starting
out? We can overcome it by remembering our experiences as
learners.
Identify what you want the learner to be able to do after
the class that he or she cannot do now. Next, think back
to when you had to learn how to do it. Do not think about
training content yet; just remember when you were a clumsy
and nervous learner. What did you have to do to become
skillful in this realm? What happened the first times you
tried to use your new knowledge and skill? What mistakes
did you make, why did you make them, how did you feel when
you goofed up, what motivated you to keep trying in spite
of those mistakes and embarrassments?
Now, think about what you wish that your teachers had
done to make the learning process more effective for you.
You are now ready to construct learning activities for
your students, because you are looking at class content
from their point of view, and in light of their needs, as
opposed to just dumping your expertise on them, and
leaving them to muddle through it as best they can.
Try it; you might be surprised at what happens.
Here's another response from Philippe Petit, a regular
reader from Ciudad Obregón, Sonora, Mexico:
Just as nobody wishes to be sold anything, nobody wishes
either to be told content at school or at a seminar.
People are by far more satisfied when taking the final
decision in purchasing any product. They are usually
equally satisfied whenever they feel actively involved in
the learning process.
I do my best to integrate as many creative activities,
videos, and game frames in the classroom. I sometimes find
it difficult to do so due to the amount of time
preparation involved, but it is well worth the effort and
time investment!
Thanks to everyone who responded.
You Can Still Participate
This survey is still open. Feel free to add your comments
by visiting the survey page.
The video collection includes a set of brief videos
explaining background concepts:
What Are Photo Jolts Activity Cards?
Why Use Photo Jolts Activity Cards
Which Photo Jolts Are Best for Me?
How Do I run a Photo Jolts Activity?
Photo Jolts Activities
The YouTube collection also includes several how-to videos
for conducting different Photo Jolts activities. You can
find them by typing “photo jolts” followed by the name
of the activity in the YouTube search box (for instance
“photo jolts black sheep”).
A Christmas Carol: Explore the
past, present, and the future of a situation
Emotional Rescue: Increase your
empathy and accurately communicate and identify
emotions
Black Sheep: Discover
similarities and differences
And Then…: Tell an
interactive story based on random photos
Optimist and Pessimist:
Discover the positive and negative aspects in any
situation
User Experience: Find out how
others experience your product or service
Visual Memory: Improve your
ability to remember details
Author and Editor
: Sivasailam (Thiagi) Thiagarajan
Assistant Editor
: Raja Thiagarajan
