A resource kit you can use to apply creative collaboration and unleash potential in your team or organization.
Tools to inject energy into the process, get people moving, and have fun.
Tools to unleash creativity, discover valuable insights, and develop new products and services.
Tools for personal development, reflection, self-awareness and how to integrate learning and grow.
Tools focused on implementation, and driving and supporting change in organizations.
Tools to build effective teams - foster trust and openness for better collaboration.
The purpose of this exercise is for a group to discuss, define, and come to agreement around key principles of effective feedback. Participants discuss examples of effective and ineffective feedback in pairs, then work together to define “effective feedback.” Then, as a group, they create a list of principles that they will aim to work by.
Explain the purpose of the session: for the group to come to agreement around key principles of effective feedback. If relevant, briefly discuss as a group what feedback is and why it is a useful practice.
Put participants into pairs and ask them to discuss examples of when they have received effective/helpful feedback, and ineffective/harmful feedback. Give them 5-10 minutes before bringing the group together to hear some examples.
Explain that now that the group has heard some examples from experience, they will work together to extrapolate some criteria or principles for “effective" and “ineffective” feedback.
Write “effective” and “ineffective” as headers on each flipchart. Invite suggestions from the group while you write them up, covering “effective” first, then moving to “ineffective”.
Your role is to accurately capture the suggestions from the group. You can paraphrase suggestions for clarity and ask participants to clarify if a suggestion is unclear. If a suggestion comes forward that might not meet agreement from the group (for instance, “critical feedback is best delivered via text message”), open up for brief discussion with the group before writing it on the flipchart. Remember to be clear and bold with your writing. If necessary use multiple flipchart sheets.
Support the completion of the group’s brainstorm by adding principles from the list below. Generally, most of these principles will be expressed in one way or another. Only add principles that have not been voiced by the group already.
Ask the group how they are going to ensure that they work by these principles. Invite suggestions from members of the group. Close the session when you feel that it has reached a natural resolution.
This exercise should be combined with a tangible experience of giving and receiving feedback. Use an exercise like Strongest Current Impression or I Appreciate… during the same day so that participants get both the conceptual principles and the tangible experience.
The purpose of this simple exercise is to demonstrate three key principles useful for creativity and idea generation: quantity is a condition for quality; building on the ideas of others; the ideas we come up with are usually all the same. The format is simple, with small groups standing and drawing apples. At the end of the exercise the whole group reflects and draws out learnings and reflections.
IDOARRT is a simple tool to support you to lead an effective meeting or group process by setting out clear purpose, structure and goals at the very beginning. It aims to enable all participants to understand every aspect of the meeting or process, which creates the security of a common ground to start from. The acronym stands for Intention, Desired Outcome, Agenda, Rules, Roles and Responsibilities and Time.
A short activity to run early in a program, focused on sharing fears, anxieties and uncertainties related to the program theme. The purpose is to create openness within a group. The stinky fish is a metaphor for "that thing that you carry around but don’t like to talk about; but the longer you hide it, the stinkier it gets." By putting stinky fish (fears and anxieties) on the table, participants begin relate to each other, become more comfortable sharing, and identify a clear area for development and learning.
A team-building activity in which a group is challenged to physically support one another in an endeavor to move from one end of a space to another. It requires working together creatively and strategically in order to solve a practical, physical problem. It tends to emphasize group communication, cooperation, leadership and membership, patience and problem-solving.
This workshop aims to help participants define, decide and achieve their goals. By supporting participants to envision where they want to be in a number of years on a holistic level, and defining the steps that will take them there, participants get a clearer picture of the action they need to take.
This exercise is useful for bringing groups together, to create interpersonal bonds, and to build trust. Participants stand opposite each other and have 30 seconds to give appreciative feedback to the other person. The group rotates until everyone has given feedback to everyone else. It is often used as part of wrap-up activities, to create an energized feeling to leave with.