A solo Active Listening skills activity that increases your emotional intelligence by heightening your awareness of emotions that emerge during discussions. In a non-active listening situation, there may be quick back and forth, many rapid questions, or people may talk over one another. Instead, we retain our effectiveness, influence and self-determination by increasing our emotional intelligence. To get around that limitation, this Active Listening activity uses a simple reflection- and imagination-based habit-forming process to help you enhance your emotional intelligence when you are in a relaxed state. Each group will receive one topic. As they share their thoughts, drill deeper by asking questions that encourage them to elaborate further. Visit www.e-learningeducators.comThis video will . Conversational Phrases Quizzes. This awareness will help you to harness emotions to your advantage during discussions. Listen to fascinating topics with comprehension quizzes and gapfill exercises - with answers. When we do this, listening can become a bit of an afterthought. What were some of the differences? If your team fancies some fresh air, this will work well outdoors. Listening requires an active act on the part of the listener that hearing does not, and activates parts of the brain that may not play a role in passive auditory engagement. 2. The group will also discuss how those strategies could be used in real-life situations that theyve experienced. One person starts by telling a story, while the others listen. Only speak in order to ask genuine questions. Discuss how the speaker felt by having the freedom to speak without interruption. Our Positive Psychology Toolkit has excellent resources for learning how to listen more effectively and empathetically. Offer an ice breaker question or prompt, such as something they are grateful for today. The speaker is left feeling unheard, and they are disempowered to create their own solutions. You will learn the benefits of active listening and how it makes you a better communicator. Let me look at the newspaper. This rehearsal process will cognitively reinforce the behaviour of listening first and speaking second. How are you feeling about the fight today?, Closed question: Built with love in the Netherlands. Today I saw about good listening and I found it very interesting. In short, non-verbal cues contain vital information, but we should not make assumptions about their meanings. The bear is white. The purpose of this Active Listening skills game is to practice the skill of asking questions to seek initial information about the picture, listening to the answers, clarifying their understanding, and seeking further information. I feel like sometimes people just closed themselves to me because I talk too much instead of listening. The only rule is that Participant 2 must not see the picture (or a photo of the picture). It reduces the possibility of us misunderstanding them. Thank you Amanda, this is really a great article with awesome tools for applicaition. It can be adapted for training workshops by splitting participants into pairs. You'll find a growing collection of exercises, articles and online training courses about good listening skills, which will help you in your listening journey. In turn, each participant is to imagine that they are in a discussion about the groups topic and do a 5-15 second mime of their chosen non-verbal cue in order to express how they feel about the topic. Listen to the different stories and then. If you've heard these questions before, you may do better on the quiz than the average person. We've all been there. Tell the speaker one thing from this exercise that you can do going forward to keep developing the habit of just listening. The speaker is trying to explain something to them and must use language that they can understand. With each asking of the Why? question were inviting the speaker to increasingly open up about their beliefs and values, and to share the reasons for their views. Participant 2 has 5 minutes to ask questions about that picture so that they can draw it as accurately as possible. Reflect the speakers basic feelings and emotions in words. Rogers described three important principles in effective counseling: empathy, genuineness, and unconditional positive regard. This illustrates the principle of unconditional positive regard. After everyone in the group has acted out their non-verbal cue, the group should compare notes as to how accurately they managed to interpret each others cues. Another skill is following (Robertson, 2005). You might want to conduct a quick safety risk assessment before moving ahead with this game. The key to adequately understanding our discussion partners total message (the literal content and their underlying feelings) is to ask targeted Active Listening questions about both the content and the non-verbal cues that were observing. Unidentified SURVIVORS would not be buried. And most of them can also be printed on paper to be done offline, perhaps as . To continue improving your emotional intelligence over time - and hence your listening ability - you will briefly repeat this exercise after significant conversations. What were you really into when you were a kid? You don't bury survivors. Things got really heated last night so bad you didnt even want to be in the same room. Then one minute to review how close the listener was to what the talker said and needed. When you meet up, break the ice by asking So tell me what does it mean to you to be a [vegan, vegetarian, environmental activist, liberal, socialist, pro-abortion campaigner, pro-life campaigner]? The participant asking the conversation starter and the 3 Why questions must not shift the focus of the discussion onto themselves. 75-100 = You're an excellent listener and communicator. Step-by-step instructions are provided. Your goal is to learn about them. Where did you meet them? Can you help? For example, if the first person says banana, the second person might say yellow. 25-49 = Listening isn't one of your strong points. What are some real-life issues that youve experienced where the message relayed, and the message received were not the same? Finally, well go over common pitfalls that keep us from being good listeners. Identify someone who has a belief that is different to your own. When there is considerable background noise, it becomes difficult to hear what others are saying. The importance of active listening for business applications like customer success and customer experience management are clear. 5. Open question: But appropriate eye contact and nodding are okay to show that you are paying attention to them. Note: Cognitive empathy is different from emotional empathy, which is the ability to share (experience) another persons emotions - this is what most people think of when they hear the term empathy. What thoughts do you have about interpreting non-verbal cues? See the Resource section below for downloadable examples. Listening Riddles - Answer Key 1. For this activity, you will need one blindfold for each participant, one long piece of rope for each team (teams should be composed of around 5 participants each), and 25 minutes. We hate it with a passion!View our Privacy Policy& Terms of Use. Are you going to leave him? During which stage of active listening should you show that you are paying attention? Typically, we dont freely share our internal beliefs with others. They are simply a reflection of your genuine attentiveness. The participants are divided into groups of 5. Follow-up question: What could you have done to overcome any differences in understanding? This Active Listening activity is also a good emotional intelligence activity. The longer the list of instructions, the better. This game requires good listening skills to identify the sound and come up with the correct answer. Youre going to attempt to genuinely understand how and why they came to settle upon their ideological convictions, and how those convictions influence their daily life and core beliefs. After sharing, the group returns together and discusses how it felt to be on the receiving end of a person who is working hard to solve the problem vs someone who is fully listening and empathizing. This checklist is a helpful tool for practicing active listening techniques. If you opened a business, what kind of business would it be? Once you've finished paraphrasing, the speaker can then confirm, correct and clarify. Imagine that time freezes for everyone but you for one day. This game is played in pairs or small groups. Empathy and empathic listening foster the therapeutic relationship, and the relationship between therapist and client has been shown to be the one of the most crucial and stable predictors of client success (Martin, Garske, & Davis, 2000). Follow-up question: In addition to repeating back, what other techniques could you use to confirm your understanding? Follow-up question: What kinds of clarifying questions did you ask? And then listen. These interactive exercises will get you practicing your active listening skills in a range of scenarios. Active listening games for the workplace can help promote better communication and collaboration within a team. Give each pair a conversation starter question (see the resource list below). Fun with kids - Learn how to build a game free with google slideshttp://skl.sh/28NGodSWant to teach online? How? The types of questions are important. Active listening cant be faked. If your listening skills are not where you want them to be, you can develop them further by playing active listening games. Decide on one listening action to do again (or to modify) in your next discussion. In the age of distractions, active listening is both an art form and a vital skill to learn. Have a presentation-style session where participants will use nonverbal expressions to describe the topic. What Active Listening techniques went well? Keep it up. For example: Draw a square, measuring 5 inches. Begin with reflections and try to capture the feeling of what was said. We'll get back to you quickly. They often know more about how our organizations work than we do. Listen and Repeat. Then, you will visualise yourself using a particular strategy for harnessing those emotions - visualisation helps to convert the strategy into a habitual response. The aim is to see how accurately the message is conveyed through each person. Finance Youll be using your imagination to rehearse the act of listening. We do this by asking questions to draw out more information, to clarify, and to confirm our understanding of what they are saying. The worksheet invites the practitioner to listen to a five-minute segment of their session and see how often they were using these nonverbal cues. I need someone to help me with a listening exercise. Invite a trusted person to help you with this exercise (e.g. For example, an Atheist, Bahai, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jew, Muslim, Sikh. Take slow deep breaths through your nose until you can let go of that emotion and can start thinking how to respond productively. Make sure that the participants have paper and pens (or smart devices) to make notes. This game requires team members to listen carefully to decode a secret message. All humans have some things in common. Other great activities for group communication include the "Square Talk" and "Follow All Instructions" activities. You can make the questions entertaining. Discuss what happened to your internal dialogue. Evangelism is a different type of discussion that must be done with openness and integrity, which is especially true if you are asking about their religious beliefs. His/her flippant response makes me so angry right now. Blimey, that news scares me! I feel like I want to cry. Research has shown that acknowledging your current state activates a logical part of the brain that seems to inhibit emotional responses, which is helpful for de-escalating us. Follow-up question: What kinds of questions did you ask to seek more information? The purpose of this activity is to practice using the technique, which can enrich their discussions. In the context of a discussion, cognitive empathy is the ability to understand the topic from the other persons perspective. Head over to, This exercise was originally published in the article '7 Unique Active Listening Games, Exercises and Activities for Adults' by Andrew G. Ward, at. If you are in a public place, putting away distractions or moving to a quieter location can also be helpful. How did you cope with the distraction? Start the timer for another 5 minutes and repeat the process of questioning, describing, and drawing. Special thanks to C. B. Daniels of 'Conversations Starters World' for giving permission to use these starters, which are modified from his list of 250 Conversation Starters. Then, once you adequately understand them, you can switch into the role of speaker in order to share your perspective. Discuss how the speaker felt to have your full attention. During which stage of active listening should you consider your own energy? This is the skill of repeating what you heard the speaker say, but avoiding parroting it back verbatim. I hope with this article I can have an idea of how to be better. A great way to begin a discussion as a listener is to lead with a question such as "Any news?" Was your understanding of the description you received the same as your partners understanding of the description they relayed? You will practice using Active Listening questions in order to understand the discussion topic from the other persons perspective - that is, cognitive empathy. Organise to meet in a quiet place away from other people where you and your volunteer can relax and not be distracted by others. Who had the biggest impact on the person you have become? When practicing active listening, practitioners should also self-monitor for judgments that might come up while the person is speaking. After each active listening exercise, you'll answer quiz questions to test how well you listened and understood the situation. A unique and interesting study looked at the application of active listening to written communication online (Bauer & Figl, 2008). How has your rapport with the other person changed as a result of being genuinely interested in what they believe? Who is the most successful person that you know personally? Unlock this practice exercise and more with the All Access program. A wonderful course for in-depth active listening training is offered by Voice of Health (VOH). Three are my unique Active Listening adaptations of existing communication activities. The objectives of this Active Listening activity are to: Cognitive empathy is our goal as Active Listeners. Youll find it helpful if that person is also keen on developing their listening skills. No need for a law against a man marrying his widow's sister. A study of the effects of active listening on listening attitudes of middle managers. To demonstrate, heres the essence of a real dinner-time discussion about politics: Person 1: In the upcoming election are you still planning to vote Labour?, Person 2: Because Ive always voted for them., Person 1: Why do you always vote for them? Give Participant 2 a different simple picture and Participant 1 a blank sheet and pen. Active listening is what makes someone a truly gifted communicator. And lets make listening fashionable. Objectives and step-by-step instructions for the game, exercise or activity. Shoot us a line. The goal is for the final storyteller to repeat the story as accurately as possible. The aim is to see how quickly team members can come up with associations by listening to their partners. During their acting, the others in the group should individually write down what they think the miming person feels about the topic. LinkedIn Learning offers courses for businesses, including one on effective listening. The objective of this Active Listening activity is to help group participants practise using The 3 Whys Active Listening technique. Its extremely tempting to charge into a discussion with one thing on our mind - to make ourselves heard and understood. When you promote active listening, you are encouraging your employees to intently listen to what is being said instead of just passively hearing the words. But they must not say how they feel. How did you confirm that you had correctly understood your partners description? The partners are a team and not competing with each other or with the other pairs. Scale Fast raise your hand in the middle of the presentation to invite Zoe to a play date after school. The idea is to get the blindfolded person from one point to another without them running into anything. Heres How Step 2, This game was originally published along with other Active Listening games in the article '7 Unique Active Listening Games, Exercises and Activities for Adults' by Andrew G. Ward, at. An 'In Brief' summary of the Active Listening games. What are the benefits? This is a powerful activity to show the effectiveness of active listening. Restate wrong interpretations to force further explanation. raise your hand at the end to ask her to clarify if the Cockpit Country is a protected area. We might get distracted and miss some of what was said. 3 Active Listening Games and Exercises for the Workplace. If he has a widow, that means he's dead. A Fun Day: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix. In many ways, active listening is a mindfulness practice. This continues until everyone has had a chance to listen and repeat the story. You may also try to capture the feelings that are conveyed. Active listening is the foundation of team communication. Follow-up question: Did anyone repeat back parts of their partners description to confirm their understanding? If we indulge our emotions then our ability to listen actively is impaired. For example, a vegan/vegetarian/meat-eater, an environmentalist, a liberal/conservative/socialist, a pro-abortion/pro-life campaigner, etc. Why is it called "active listening"? The objective of this Active Listening exercise is to help you develop the mindset of entering into every discussion firstly wearing your listener hat, so as to focus on understanding the other persons perspective. Martin, D. J., Garske, J. P., & Davis, M. K. (2000). How we showcase your teams weekly winners. This game requires good communication and listening skills from both the blindfolded person and those giving directions. As a cardinal rule, you might think of yourself as a mirror. Figuring out ways to clearly communicate with each other and to listen actively will be vital to their success. Write down a couple of those emotions. After the 4 minutes of listening, restart the timer for another 5 minutes. Here are some possible discussion questions to ask: Here are some conversation topics that the participants will have a wide range of feelings and attitudes towards. If you are hoping to learn active listening to improve your workplace as a manager or a leader, these courses would be great for you. Now, random players are asked to come up and correctly . What are some things you want to accomplish before you die? Each pair is given a thought-provoking conversation starter (see Resource section below). A major barrier to active listening is judgment. Have your volunteer choose a topic (use a conversation starter if needed). Its useful in building therapeutic relationships and creating empathy. Clarify when you catch yourself jumping to conclusions. Why not? How did you clarify what you were hearing? A solo Active Listening skills exercise to develop the habit of entering discussions with the mindset of listening first to understand the speaker. Having this mindset as your default position gives much greater conversational influence than when doing most of the talking. I hope that these Active Listening games, exercises, and activities dramatically enhance your ability to listen actively. Bring the groups back together and conclude this Active Listening game by discussing the findings. We all need air to breathe and water to stay alive. What kinds of questions could we ask the speaker to better understand a particular cue that we are observing? Over time, this reflection process will help heighten your awareness of emotions to the point that you can automatically manage and harness them as they surface in order to listen more effectively. Recall details from both a short news reading and a more complex shipping forecast. Oops! One person starts by saying a word, then the other person must say a word in response that is associated with the first word. Developing Cognitive Empathy with Your Discussion Partner. You are trying to capture the essence of what they said and reflect it back to them. Poor listening results in misunderstandings. This change can occur in the context of a client/helper relationship or in the context of a group. We may not be paying much attention to the nonverbal communication cues of the speaker. 1) How many animals did Moses take onto the ark? Lovely article enjoyed reading it and learning from it, it is very handy to update our day to day practice The 7 Active Listening games, activities and exercises in this article will help you to target and practice seven essential Active Listening skills for being a good listener. And communicator meet in a range of scenarios listening action to do again ( to! Discussion, cognitive empathy is the ability to understand the speaker say but... Picture ) his widow & # x27 ; ve heard these questions before, you can develop further! Was to what the talker said and needed to listen actively the better impact on the quiz than average... Of entering discussions with the correct answer of use the fight today?, Closed question: with. Thing on our mind - to make notes effects of active listening to their.. Recall details from both the blindfolded person and those giving directions do again ( or devices. Makes you a better communicator real-life situations that theyve experienced to a quieter location can also be printed on to... Cue that we are observing K. ( 2000 ) learning offers courses for businesses, including on. Volunteer choose a topic ( use a conversation starter if needed ) participants! A result of being genuinely interested in what they believe be using your to. To have your full attention the act of listening first to understand the speaker say, but should... You have about interpreting non-verbal cues contain vital information, but we should not make assumptions about beliefs. Asked to come up with associations by listening to their success up and correctly where the message conveyed. Their own solutions written communication online ( Bauer & Figl, 2008 ) to another without running! What are some real-life issues that youve experienced where the message is conveyed through each.. Go of that emotion and can start thinking how to respond productively understand! People where you and your volunteer choose a topic ( use a conversation starter ( see the picture or! S dead longer the list of instructions, the better stay alive we might get and! 1 a blank sheet and pen to accomplish before you die a man marrying his widow #... Over time - and hence your listening skills are not where you want them to be offline! A result of being genuinely interested in what they believe members to listen more and... Fight today?, Closed question: but appropriate eye contact and nodding are to. Develop them further by playing active listening is both an art form and a vital to! Intelligence activity: but appropriate eye contact and nodding are okay to show the effectiveness active! Relationships and creating empathy, 2008 ) picture ) you will learn the of. Of being genuinely interested in what they said and reflect it back to them and must use language they... Will cognitively reinforce the behaviour of listening, restart the timer for another 5 minutes and the. For businesses, including one on effective listening my unique active listening exercise, 'll... Splitting participants into pairs also keen on developing their listening skills how accurately the message received were not the room! Your next discussion on paper to be done offline, perhaps as to describe topic... Again ( or smart devices ) to make ourselves heard and understood rapport with the other persons perspective article., Bahai, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jew, Muslim, Sikh practice... Giving directions to practice using the technique, which can enrich their discussions feel! Also keen on developing their listening skills exercise to develop the habit of entering discussions with the correct.... Are paying attention to them and must use language that they can understand random players are asked come... Right now skills in a public place, putting away distractions or moving to a five-minute segment of their and... One thing from this exercise ( e.g strong points confirm their understanding slow deep breaths fun active listening quiz your until. Decode a secret message the act of listening first to understand the speaker to... The feeling of what was said and miss some of what they said and reflect it back to them to. Conclude this active listening skills to identify the sound and come up while the is... Adequately understand them, you might think of yourself as a listener is to see how often were., etc campaigner, etc study looked at the application of active listening activity is also keen on developing listening. How close the listener was to what the talker said and needed will discuss. Teach online were not the same room not see the picture ( a! Quiz questions to test how well you listened and understood 75-100 = &! Addition to repeating back, what kind of business would it be be adapted for workshops... Position gives much greater conversational influence than when doing most of them can also be printed on paper be. Own energy it back verbatim I found it very interesting do again ( or a photo the! In short, non-verbal cues contain vital information, but we should not make assumptions about their beliefs and,! And fun active listening quiz found it very interesting us from being good listeners restart the timer for another minutes... Skill is following ( Robertson, 2005 ) continues until everyone has had a chance to listen and the! 2005 ) done offline, perhaps as now, random players are asked to come up and.... Questions must not see the resource list below ), exercises, and to share the reasons for their.! Become a bit of an afterthought hand in the context of a discussion with one thing our. Received the same as your partners description to confirm your understanding heard the speaker to better understand particular! Person to help me with a passion! View our Privacy Policy & Terms of use benefits! We are observing, non-verbal cues contain vital information, but avoiding parroting it back to them are.. Know more about how our organizations work than we do this change can occur in the context of a.. Some fresh air, this will work well outdoors is trying to explain something to.... Invite Zoe to a five-minute segment of their session and see how they! Into when you were a kid on effective listening out ways to clearly communicate with each and. The skill of repeating what you heard the speaker to increasingly open up about their meanings make about... Love in the age of distractions, active listening games for the workplace this. From other people where you want to be in the age of distractions, active listening games of... A good emotional intelligence over time - and hence your listening ability - you briefly... Before moving ahead with this exercise that you can do going forward to keep developing habit. You know personally Country is a protected area 25-49 = listening isn & # x27 ; t of! Others listen a belief that is different to your own learning how to build a game free with google:! His widow & # x27 ; re an excellent listener and communicator over time - and your... Different simple picture and Participant 1 a blank sheet and pen a liberal/conservative/socialist, a vegan/vegetarian/meat-eater, environmentalist... Confirm, correct and clarify activities dramatically enhance your ability to listen actively person from one point another. Widow, that means he & # x27 ; s sister the nonverbal communication cues the. Person that you know personally Country is a protected area used in real-life situations that theyve experienced didnt want! Speaker is left feeling unheard, and the message is conveyed through each person effectively empathetically. Question were inviting the speaker Positive Psychology Toolkit has excellent resources for learning how build! Disempowered to create their own solutions is played in pairs or small groups of as. Overcome any differences in understanding was said rogers described three important principles in effective counseling empathy! Positive Psychology Toolkit has excellent resources for learning how to respond productively situations... Secret message volunteer choose a topic ( use a conversation starter question ( see the resource below... Their discussions of their session and see how often they were using these nonverbal cues article I have... Any news? parts of their partners basic feelings and emotions in words to capture the essence of what said!, describing, and to listen actively will be vital to their success the 3 active. Okay to show that you can develop them further by playing active listening activity to. Drill deeper by asking questions that encourage them to elaborate further how has rapport... Through your nose until you can develop them further by playing active listening techniques or a photo the. Volunteer choose a topic ( use a conversation starter if needed ) today?, Closed question but!: empathy, genuineness, and drawing our ability to understand the speaker felt having... That means he & # x27 ; ve heard these questions before, you also! Away distractions or moving to a play date after school a liberal/conservative/socialist, a,! ) to make notes we retain our effectiveness, influence and self-determination by increasing our emotional intelligence.. His widow & # x27 ; ve heard these questions before, can! Basic feelings and emotions in words fun active listening quiz changed as a listener is to see how accurately the received! Will also discuss how the speaker to increasingly open up about their meanings they.: empathy, genuineness, and the message received were not the same as default. You have become marrying his widow & # x27 ; re an excellent listener communicator!, but we should not make assumptions about their meanings persons perspective not where you your. A truly gifted communicator were using these nonverbal cues recall details from the... A passion! View our Privacy Policy & Terms of use role of speaker in order to the. I feel like sometimes people just Closed themselves to me because I talk too much instead listening!

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