Exercise description

Find a volunteer to be the king/queen of the group. They sit in a chair in the middle of the room while the rest write on post-its what they are supposed to be like (expectations of a leader) and attach the post-its to the king/queen. Each post-it should contain just one expectation.

When the process is done, the trainer reads out all the expectations on the king/queen. Then the king/queen is asked: “What is it like for a king/queen with these expectations?”

Then the group is asked to think about which expectations are too much, and which are the responsibility of the group, and they are supposed to divide the post-its into three categories:

– excessive expectations,

– responsibility of the group, and

– realistic expectations of the king/queen.

Evaluation

What are your impressions after this exercise?

What did this exercise remind you of?

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Exercise description Slowly and clearly read the instructions: “The whole group will spend 20 minutes doing as they please. You can go wherever you want (on your own or together), you can talk, etc., but everyone apart from one person will be blindfolded during those 20 minutes. You must first select the person who will not be blindfolded and you can take as much time as you want. After that, you put on blindfolds and the 20 minutes starts running.” Evaluation Suggested questions to evaluate the exercise: What was it like? What happened? How satisfied are you with the decision-making process?

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Exercise description

The participants split into two groups: the “candidates” (five or six persons) and the “voters”. The candidates have two to three minutes to come up with their presentations – how they will campaign in the presidential elections to get the most people to vote for them. Then they have up to two minutes for their presentation.

This is followed by a “press conference” where the candidates respond to questions from the voters (10-15 minutes). Next comes voting by secret ballot. If more candidates have the same (highest) number of votes, a second round of voting is carried out. At the end, the elected president must sing a song together with his/her supporters.

Evaluation

Suggested questions to evaluate the exercise:

For the candidates: What was your guiding idea when you were coming up with a strategy? How did you feel?

For the voters: How did you decide who to vote for?

For everyone: Do you see any parallels with national presidential elections?

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Between these two poles is a progression of positions. The trainer reads the first statement and the participants arrange themselves along the barometer to reflect their attitude, i.e. degree of agreement or disagreement with the statement. A number of participants then explain why they took their particular position. The explanations are given from one end of the barometer to the other, but the direction of movement (from Agree to Disagree and the other way around) may be switched from statement to statement. Then the next statement is read out.

It is important not to comment on what others have said, but instead to try and articulate our own opinion, without expressing agreement or disagreement with other people along the barometer. The trainer leading the exercise should not ask questions or engage the participants in dialogue. The aim of the barometer method is not to find the right solution, but to exchange opinions and come to understand that seemingly proximate positions can be based on completely different considerations, just as seemingly diverse attitudes can be based on similar starting points, and that endeavouring to understand others is key to identifying similarities and differences.

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The barometer method Go through three to five statements.

Suggested statements for the barometer:

• A leader must be a figure of authority.
• Any complex task requires a leader.
• A leader has more responsibility than the rest of the group.
• The purpose of the leader is to heap all the responsibility on one person.
• A team works better if it has a leader.
• Anyone can be a leader.

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Workshop Example

Game

Choosing the King/Queen of the Group

Type of exercise: Interactive, experiential exercise

Duration: 25–40 minutes

Potreban materijal: Samolepljivi papiri (post-it), olovke, stolica

Materials: Post-its, pencils, chair

Exercise description

Instructions:

You have unlimited time to pick one of you to be the king/queen of the group, but without talking.

Evaluation

Suggested questions to evaluate the exercise:

Did you choose a king or queen? Who did you choose? Who decided?

What was your process?

Is the leader the one who made the proposal or the one who was chosen?

What Is It Like Being King/Queen?

Type of exercise: Interactive exercise

Duration: 40–60 minutes

Materials: Post-its, pencils, chair

Exercise description

Find a volunteer to be the king/queen of the group. They sit in a chair in the middle of the room while the rest write on post-its what they are supposed to be like (expectations of a leader) and attach the post-its to the king/queen. Each post-it should contain just one expectation.

When the process is done, the trainer reads out all the expectations on the king/queen. Then the king/queen is asked: “What is it like for a king/queen with these expectations?”

Then the group is asked to think about which expectations are too much, and which are the responsibility of the group, and they are supposed to divide the post-its into three categories:

–     excessive expectations,

–     responsibility of the group, and

–     realistic expectations of the king/queen.

Evaluation

What are your impressions after this exercise?

What did this exercise remind you of?

Twenty Minutes of Blindness

Type of exercise: Interactive, experiential exercise

Duration: 60–75 minutes

Materials: Blindfolds for all participants (scarves, kerchiefs)

Exercise description

Slowly and clearly read the instructions: “The whole group will spend 20 minutes doing as they please. You can go wherever you want (on your own or together), you can talk, etc., but everyone apart from one person will be blindfolded during those 20 minutes. You must first select the person who will not be blindfolded and you can take as much time as you After that, you put on blindfolds and the 20 minutes starts running.”

Evaluation

Suggested questions to evaluate the exercise:

What was it like? What happened? How satisfied are you with the decision-making process?

Note

Deciding who will not be blindfolded can be a long and frustrating process, and this should be a focus of evaluation. On the other hand, where a decision is made quickly but without instructions or discussion of what will happen over the twenty minutes, people may end up dissatisfied with how the exercise progressed.

The post Leadership appeared first on CNA Priručnik.

Exercise description

Before the workshop, ask participants to bring something to the workshop that they can use as a blindfold (a scarf, kerchief, T-shirt, etc.).

1. Take the participants out of the room where the “labyrinth” will be. Give them the following instructions: “The goal of this exercise is to make your way through a labyrinth. You will all be blindfolded except for one person who will be the Eyes. You will have 12 minutes to agree on a strategy and to elect someone to be the Eyes. While making your way through the labyrinth, the Eyes is not allowed to touch other members of the group or to talk to them. You can do one test run in the labyrinth. This will be your chance to try out your strategy and to see if the signals and signs you agreed on are working.”
2. While the group is strategising, construct a labyrinth in the workshop room: use chairs, tables and other props. Think about the path that the group has to travel, for example jumping over a chair, going under a table, getting past a hanging textile, etc., but make sure it is not too difficult.
3. When the 12 minutes are up, the trainer brings the Eyes into the room to show and explain the path to them. It’s best to take the Eyes through the labyrinth once. The Eyes then go back for everyone else and take them through the labyrinth using the signals they agreed on.
4. After their test run, the group has five minutes to improve on their system of signs for communicating. Let them know that new obstacles will be added to the labyrinth.
5. While the group is strategising, make a new path that is somewhat more complicated than the previous one. Again, bring the Eyes in and take them through the labyrinth.
6. While the group is making their way through the labyrinth, the trainers should get in their way. Start with small distractions and build up to more difficult ones: make noises, give false signals imitating the signs that the group makes, throw “bombs”, throw balloons at them, tickle them with a feather, etc. The opportunities are endless. The point of the distractions is to make the task more difficult and to increase stress levels, up to a reasonable point. Make sure that you don’t go too far and also that the task isn’t too easy.

Evaluation

Suggested questions for evaluating the exercise: What was this experience like?

• How did you elect the Eyes?
• How did you agree on the signals?
• How did you make this decision?
• How did the Eyes feel?
• Were there other special roles?

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Exercise description

Split  into  three  groups:  “Drama”,  “Music”  and “Computers/English”.

Story: “The youth centre in a small Bosnian town has just one all-purpose room that is alternately used twice a week by three groups: Drama, Music and Computers/English. All three groups also need to use this room on Saturdays, which is the only remaining available day.”

In addition, each group receives a card with the following information:

• The Drama Group thinks that the musicians are rude and rough. They have already announced a performance for next Saturday and they want to rehearse during the day before they put on the play that night.
• The Computers/English group think that the Drama Group are messy and silly, but agree with them about the Music group. They want to use the room on Saturday afternoon.
• The Music Group think that the Drama Group is stuck-up, but they don’t have a negative attitude about the Computer Group. They have already put up posters announcing concerts for the next three Saturdays and they need Saturday afternoons to practice and evenings for the concerts.

The groups have 10 minutes to choose their representatives and to work out a negotiating strategy.

Negotiations:

• Group representatives have 10 minutes to negotiate with each other.
• For the next five minutes, the representatives consult with their groups.
• Five minutes for negotiations between representatives.
• Five minutes for the representatives consult with their groups again.
• 10 minutes for final negotiations.

Evaluation

Suggested questions to evaluate the exercise:

What happened? Did you reach an agreement with the other groups?

How did you choose your representative? How satisfied are with how you were represented? How did the representatives feel in their role?

How satisfied are you with the process?

The post Delegating Exercise appeared first on CNA Priručnik.

Evaluation Suggested questions for evaluating the exercise:

• How did you feel in each role and why?
• Did you introduce new rules?
• To what extent did you maintain eye contact (with the person you are “controlling” or with person “controlling” you)?

The post Come and Go appeared first on CNA Priručnik.

Exercise description

Instructions: You have unlimited time to pick one of you to be the king/queen of the group, but without talking.

Evaluation

Suggested questions to evaluate the exercise:

Did you choose a king or queen?

Who did you choose? Who decided? What was your process?

Is the leader the one who made the proposal or the one who was chosen?

The post Choosing the King/Queen of the Group appeared first on CNA Priručnik.