The Big Book of Leadership Games: Quick, Fun Activities to Improve Communication, Increase Productivity, and Bring Out the Best in Employees: Quick, Fun, Activities to Improve Communication, Increase Productivity, and Bring Out the Best In Yo
160
The Big Book of Leadership Games: Quick, Fun Activities to Improve Communication, Increase Productivity, and Bring Out the Best in Employees: Quick, Fun, Activities to Improve Communication, Increase Productivity, and Bring Out the Best In Yo
160eBook
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Overview
Dozens of engaging ways to forge good working relationships between managers and their staffs
This book offers managers 50 fun, illuminating experiential activities for building a positive, open, and productive relationship with the people they manage. Unlike ropes courses and other off-site management activities, The Big Book of Leadership Games features activities that can be used in the workplace during staff meetings, as a part of training sessions, or even in the course of daily work. This empowering guide shows leaders how to:
- Tap employees' creativity and boost their self-confidence
- Create and sustain a mutual trust with employees
- Break down communication barriers and increase collaboration
- Bring about a positive climate in the workplace
- Encourage higher productivity
- Solicit constructive feedback
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780071785570 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | McGraw Hill LLC |
| Publication date: | 08/05/2004 |
| Series: | Big Book Series |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 160 |
| File size: | 948 KB |
About the Author
Vasudha K. Deming is a director at Impact Learning Systems, a California-based training and consulting firm that specializes in helping organizations master positive management techniques and core communication skills. She has been active in the field of training and development since 1992 as an instructional designer, author, trainer, and consultant.
Read an Excerpt
The BIG Book of LEADERSHIP GAMES
Quick, Fun Activities to Improve Communication, Increase Productivity, and Bring Out the Best in Your Employees
By Vasudha K. Deming
The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Copyright © 2004 Vasudha K. DemingAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-07-178557-0
Excerpt
CHAPTER 1
A Great Moment
In a Nutshell
Employees describe great moments in their personal or professional lives. This activity serves both to inspire the employees and to give the manager valuable insights into their personalities and values.
Time
About 10–15 minutes (or slightly longer if the group is large). This should be done in a group session.
What You'll Need
A small trophy (usually available in toy stores or party goods stores). Each employee will need a pen and a copy of the handout.
What to Do
Tell employees, "All of us have had great moments in our personal and professional lives, but I'll bet many of us have never heard what great moments have been experienced by the people we work with day in and day out. Now is our opportunity to share those highlights with one another."
Distribute the handouts and give employees about 5 minutes to complete them. Choose someone to start, and hand that person the trophy. Once the first person has finished telling the group about his or her great moments, that employee should pass the trophy to someone else. Continue until everyone has had a turn.
Tip for Success
* You can start the game by sharing great moments from your own life. Since you are at least one notch above your employees on the professional ladder, be careful to share an experience that comes across as inspiring—rather than arrogant—to them.
A Great Moment
Take a few minutes to reflect on two great moments of your life—one personal and one professional.
1. Briefly describe your great moments.
Personal: __________________________________
_________________________________________________
Professional: __________________________________
_________________________________________________
2. Name at least three emotions that you felt strongly at each of those moments.
Personal: __________________________________
_________________________________________________
Professional: __________________________________
_________________________________________________
3. How did you celebrate or otherwise honor your great moments?
Personal: __________________________________
_________________________________________________
Professional: __________________________________
_________________________________________________
4. How have your great moments changed your direction or your perspective?
Personal: __________________________________
_________________________________________________
Professional: __________________________________
_________________________________________________
CHAPTER 2
Alphabet Improv
In a Nutshell
In this variation of a popular party game, manager and employee have a spontaneous conversation by beginning each statement with a particular letter of the alphabet. This game is very unpredictable and always fun. It stimulates quick thinking and helps to establish an easy rapport.
Time
5–10 minutes
What You'll Need
Nothing
What to Do
Decide on a suitable scenario. Here are some suggestions:
* You play the role of a customer, and your employee plays the role of an employee who has direct contact with customers.
* The employee plays the role of a manager while you play the role of an employee.
* Both of you play the role of customers who are talking to one another about your company's products or services.
Alternatively, you can choose to entirely remove the scenario from the workplace environment. Following are a few additional ideas:
* You can be an entertainment journalist interviewing an actor (the employee).
* You can both be historical figures (not necessarily from the same era).
* You can be side-by-side commentators for a sporting event, a dog show, or a live news event.
Once you've decided on a scenario, decide who goes first and then begin. Encourage the employee to play quickly and spontaneously rather than to think too much about what to say. The same goes for you!
Here are a couple of examples:
Salesperson: All next week, our products will be on sale. Customer: Bet that will be a busy week! ...
Manager: Attuning ourselves to the needs of our customers is crucial.
Employee: But how exactly do we do that? ...
Additional Ideas
* Have employees play this game with one another. It works well as an energizer and as a stress reducer.
* Solicit ideas for different scenarios from your employees.
* Use this game whenever you suspect an employee is having difficulty broaching a particular subject with you. It breaks the ice and inevitably serves to "safely" convey some of the employee's feelings about the topic.
CHAPTER 3
Emotional Review
In a Nutshell
In this activity, participants use a range of emotions as prompts to share information. It works well as an icebreaker and can be used to introduce the manager to the group or to share information among all participants.
Time
10–20 minutes
What You'll Need
A flip chart and a marker
What to Do
Ask the group to brainstorm several emotions, and write each one on a flip chart. Typical responses are happiness, anger, sadness, fear, and surprise, but the game will be more interesting if you can also get some less generic emotions (exhilaration, confusion, pride, etc.). Be sure to get a mix of positive and negative emotions.
Alternatively, you can choose the emotions and prepare the flip chart ahead of time. You might want to draw a face to accompany each emotion.
Go down the list of emotions and tell participants what specific event has caused you to feel that emotion in the last few weeks or months. If the group is small, have everyone take a turn. If there are more than five employees, however, draw names or ask for volunteers. (After about five rounds, the excitement of the game tends to diminish.)
Tips for Success
* Use this game during new employee orientation.
* Use it when you're new to the group.
* Rather than have everyone go one right after another, spread the "emotional reviews" out over the course of a long meeting or training session. Before and after each break, for example, have someone take a turn.
CHAPTER 4
Facts of My Life
In a Nutshell
Employees take turns telling stories about themselves—only parts of which are true. This is a great icebreaker for a group whose members are not very familiar with one another; it also works well as a fun energizer for employees who do know each other fairly well.
Time
About 10–20 minutes, depending on the number of employees. This game is designed for a group session.
What You'll Need
Flip-chart paper, markers, masking tape, and one copy of the handout for each participant
What to Do
Give each employee a piece of flip-chart paper, a copy of the handout, a marker, and some tape. Go over the directions with the group:
The aim of this game is for everyone to have some fun telling his or her "story," some of which will be true and some of which will be false! You'll have 5 minutes to write down five to seven interesting facts about your life, but be sure to make at least some of these "facts" false. There's no rule about how many have to be true and how many have to be false—just be sure to put at least one of each in the mix. Write down your interesting "facts" on the flip- chart sheet and post it on the wall. But keep your page covered by taping the bottom to the top until it's your turn to reveal "the facts of your life."
After about 5 minutes, go around the room and have each person share his or her "facts," while others try to guess what's true and what's not. Once everyone has guessed, the person should reveal which ones are the true facts.
Tip for Success
* Create your own "facts of my life" flip chart before the group session and reveal it before asking employees to reveal theirs. Employees will likely have a lot of fun guessing about your life.
Facts of My Life
The aim of this game is for everyone to have some fun telling his or her "story," some of which will be true and some of which will be false! You'll have 5 minutes to write down five to seven interesting facts about your life, but be sure to make at least some of these "facts" false.
There's no rule about how many have to be true and how many have to be false—just be sure to put at least one of each in the mix. Write down your interesting "facts" on the flip-chart sheet and post it on the wall. But keep your page covered by taping the bottom to the top until it's your turn to reveal "the facts of your life."
CHAPTER 5
Autodidacts Anonymous
In a Nutshell
Employees share information about what they have taught themselves in the past and what they plan to teach themselves in the future.
Time
Typically, about 10–15 minutes, but possibly longer if the group is large. This is a great activity for a group session, but it can also be done as part of a get-to-know-you-better conversation between manager and employee.
What You'll Need
Nothing
What to Do
Tell employees: "All of us are autodidacts to some extent. Who can tell me what that term means?"
Field answers. The simplest definition is "a self-taught person." Continue by telling employees: "Throughout our lives, we've taught ourselves many things—both consciously and unconsciously. Take a few minutes to reflect on when you've been an autodidact in the past and also what you would like to teach yourself in the future. Then each of you will take a turn sharing with the rest of us."
After about 5 minutes, choose one person to start. He or she should stand up, face the group, and say, "My name is _____________ and I'm an autodidact." Then the participant should share his or her autodidact experience from the past and autodidact plans for the future. Continue until everyone has had a turn.
Additional Idea
* Ask if anyone knows of any famous people who were self-taught.
CHAPTER 6
Good Enough
In a Nutshell
This is a simple game that illustrates the point that sometimes it's OK to settle for "good enough" rather than to hold out for perfection.
Time
About 15 minutes. This is a group activity.
What You'll Need
A watch with a second hand (or a stopwatch), a flip chart, markers, and tape. Participants will need pen and paper.
What to Do
Note: You can decide whether or not to tell participants to remove their shoes for the first activity. It tends to be a little more effective without shoes because participants can really feel how the muscles in their feet brace against the floor in order to balance. However, be aware that in some groups it may not be appropriate to ask people to remove their shoes.
Ask the group to stand up and face the front of the room. They should keep their legs together, ankles and knees touching one another. Tell them that you're going to time them for one minute as they try to balance perfectly on their two feet and hold absolutely still—they should try not to sway even a millimeter. To help them concentrate, they should remain silent for the minute. Time them for one minute and then briefly discuss the results. No one is able to remain perfectly still for one minute! Nevertheless, if someone had walked by the room and looked in, the viewer would have gotten the impression that—for whatever reason!—the participants were all standing still.
Next, tell participants to take out a piece of paper. They should draw a circle—small or large. Ask them if anyone drew a perfect circle. It's impossible! Yet, if they were to show the drawing to anyone and ask what it is, everyone would say it is a circle.
Tell participants that both of the activities they've just done illustrate the point that sometimes we don't need to be perfect; we only need to be good enough. Divide the participants into small groups and give them 10 minutes to discuss what aspects of work in your department or company have to be only "good enough" rather than perfect.
After 10 minutes, debrief each group as you capture their responses on a flip chart.
Additional Ideas
* Expand the small-group discussion (and the debrief session) to determine when they should not settle for "good enough." What things in the department/organization need to be excellent (or perfect)?
* Briefly discuss with the group the probable results of doing work that's "good enough" but not perfect (when it's appropriate to do so). Typical responses include less stress, higher productivity, better time management, and the like.
CHAPTER 7
Made to Order
In a Nutshell
This is a fun, creative activity in which employees write their job descriptions in the style of a retail catalog. The activity helps employees to focus on the positive aspects of their jobs and on the value that they bring to the organization.
Time
15–20 minutes. This can be done either in a group setting or as an individual activity. If employees complete the activity on their own, get everyone together at some point to share the results.
What You'll Need
Several mail-order catalogs. Be sure to get ones that describe the merchandise in detail and that are aimed at a broad consumer base (e.g., a catalog for software will probably be too specialized). Catalogs for clothes, home furnishings, and general gifts tend to work best.
Make photocopies of the handout (one per participant). Participants will need pen and paper.
What to Do
Distribute the catalogs among your employees and tell them to use the product descriptions as a guideline for writing descriptions of their own jobs. Tell them to imagine their jobs as tangible goods—machines or objects—rather than people. They do not have to copy the catalog text; it's just to give them some ideas.
They should write as if they were looking to attract "buyers" to their job. Let them know that, of course, you are not looking to replace your employees. This is just a fun game to remind employees of the positive aspects of their jobs and of the value each person brings to the department and the organization. Encourage them not to be modest; they should highlight the key contributions of their jobs.
Distribute the handout with the sample job description to all employees. After about 10 minutes, ask employees to read out their job descriptions, one at a time.
Tip for Success
* Do this activity yourself—describing your own job—ahead of time and share what you wrote with your employees.
Additional Ideas
* Allow extra time for employees to draw a picture to accompany the written job description. Have enough colored pens for everyone to share.
* Collect the job descriptions and bind them together so you'll have a lighthearted catalog of "jobs" in your department. Who knows when this might come in handy?
(Continues...)
Excerpted from The BIG Book of LEADERSHIP GAMES by Vasudha K. Deming. Copyright © 2004 by Vasudha K. Deming. Excerpted by permission of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc..
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
IntroductionHow to Use This Book
Part One Getting To Know You
1 A Great Moment
2 Alphabet Improv
3 Emotional Review
4 Facts of My Life
5 Autodidacts Anonymous
Part Two A Great Place To Work
6 Good Enough
7 Made to Order
8 Meeting Meddlers
9 See it and Believe it
10 Verbology
Part Three On The Same Team
11 Common Values
12 Secret Buddies
13 Testimonials
14 Show and Tell
15 Puzzle Masters
Part Four Productivity Boosters
16 The 10-Minute Solution
17 Grid Luck
18 Nothing New
19 Tell Me How to Treat You
20 Priority Pie
Part Five Help Them Help You
21 Problem Solvers
22 Information Relay
23 The Absolutes
24 We Hold These Truths
25 Here’s What I Would Do
26 Brick by Brick
Part Six Out of The Clear Blue Sky
27 Phictional Philanthropy
28 Job Aid Jamboree
29 Colors for Sale
30 All the News
31 Never Been Played Before
Part Seven Knowing When To Follow
32 Leadership Haiku
33 Every Which Way to Lead
34 Quotation Quest
35 Remembering Greatness
Part Eight What You Say And What You Don’T
36 Three-Way Communication
37 A Better Way to Say it
38 Attitude Charades
39 Nix the Negativity
40 Five Seconds to a First Impression
Part Nine Just for Fun
41 Before the Sun Goes Down
42 Name Droppers
43 Job Titles in Jest
44 Humor in the Air
45 Flip-Chart Frenzy
Part Ten On Your Own
46 Walk the Talk
47 The Practice of Praise
48 Boss’s Blueprint
49 Me, Myself, and My Leadership
50 To Be or Not to Be
About the Author