| Love
Your Neighbour? |
ENERGIZERS |
5-30 min |
10-40 |
In this fun and active group game, participants sit in a circle,
with one person in the middle. |
| Letter to
Myself |
FACILITATING ACTION |
5-30 min |
40+ |
Often done at the end of a workshop or program, the purpose of this
exercise is to support participants in applying their insights and
learnings, by writing a letter and sending it to their future
selves. |
| Feedback
Hats |
FACILITATING ACTION |
30-60 min |
10-40 |
Six Thinking Hats is a book by Edward de Bono which describes a tool
for group discussion and individual thinking involving six colored
hats. |
| The
Shouting Game |
ENERGIZERS |
5-30 min |
10-40 |
This simple group game is played in a circle. |
| Portrait
Gallery |
TEAM |
30-60 min |
40+ |
The Portrait Gallery is an energetic and fun icebreaker game that
gets participants interacting by having the group collaboratively draw
portraits of each member. |
| Human
Machine |
ENERGIZERS |
5-30 min |
10-40 |
This fast and physical group activity gets participants moving and
working together in a way that generates energy and promotes
collaboration. |
| Dance,
Dance, Dance |
ENERGIZERS |
5-30 min |
40+ |
In this short and physically active energizer, participants dance
playfully in small teams. |
| 3
Question Mingle |
TEAM |
30-60 min |
40+ |
An activity to support a group to get to know each other through a
set of questions that they create themselves. |
| Explore
your Values |
SELF-LEADERSHIP |
60-120 min |
40+ |
Your Values is an exercise for participants to explore what their
most important values are. |
| Take a
Stand |
INNOVATION |
60-120 min |
10-40 |
This is a practical, dynamic and versatile method for groups to
explore ideas and questions together. |
| Bang |
ENERGIZERS |
5-30 min |
10-40 |
Bang is a group game, played in a circle, where participants must
react quickly or face elimination. |
| What are
you doing? |
ENERGIZERS |
5-30 min |
10-40 |
This is a simple drama game in which participants take turns asking
each other “What are you doing?” and acting out the various
responses. |
| Lego
Challenge |
TEAM |
60-120 min |
40+ |
A team-building activity in which groups must work together to build
a structure out of lego, but each individual has a secret “assignment”
which makes the collaborative process more challenging. |
| Hello
Kitty |
ENERGIZERS |
5-30 min |
40+ |
A simple and short group game all about trying to make each other
crack a smile. |
| The
Viking |
ENERGIZERS |
5-30 min |
10-40 |
In this group game, players stand in a circle and perform a series
of loud physical moves, passing from one person to the next. |
| Rollercoaster
Check-In |
TEAM |
30-60 min |
10-40 |
This playful method creates a powerful shared picture of the
feelings in the group. |
| Shake
Down |
ENERGIZERS |
5-30 min |
10-40 |
In this short and very physical energizer, the group shakes out
their bodies one limb at a time. |
| I
Love You Honey… |
ENERGIZERS |
5-30 min |
10-40 |
A simple and short group game all about trying to make each other
crack a smile. |
| Project
Mid-way Evaluation |
FACILITATING ACTION |
30-60 min |
2-10 |
This method is useful for evaluating a project currently in
progress, to see if any adjustments need to be made for the team to work
more effectively together. |
| Action
Plan Workshop: The Arrow |
FACILITATING ACTION |
120-240 min |
10-40 |
This workshop aims to help participants define, decide and achieve
their goals. |
| Line-Up |
TEAM |
5-30 min |
10-40 |
In this short group challenge, participants must organize themselves
in a line according to a certain criteria (like height) without
speaking. |
| Current
Strongest Impression |
TEAM |
60-120 min |
40+ |
Openness is one of the most important ingredients in building
constructive relationships and thriving teams. |
| Dotmocracy |
FACILITATING ACTION |
5-30 min |
40+ |
Dotmocracy is a simple method for group prioritization or
decision-making. |
| Conflict
Responses |
TEAM |
60-120 min |
10-40 |
A workshop for a team to reflect on past conflicts, and use them to
generate guidelines for effective conflict handling. |
| Feedback
Map |
TEAM |
60-120 min |
10-40 |
This is a feedback exercise to support participants to deliver
feedback that is clear and specific, especially after working in
multiple project teams over a longer period of time. |
| Back-turned
Feedback |
TEAM |
60-120 min |
40+ |
Regular, effective feedback is one of the most important ingredients
in building constructive relationships and thriving teams. |
| 3
Action Steps |
FACILITATING ACTION |
120-240 min |
40+ |
This is a small-scale strategic planning session that helps groups
and individuals to take action toward a desired change. |
| The
AIR Feedback Model |
TEAM |
30-60 min |
10-40 |
Constructive feedback is feedback regarding an individual’s
performance that can be used to build (construct) connection, successful
habits and behaviors. |
| Exploring
Client Centricity |
INNOVATION |
60-120 min |
2-10 |
Client-centricity” (or “client-focus”) is an approach to business
based on putting the client/customer at the center of an organization’s
philosophy, strategy, and operations. |
| Parking
Lot |
FACILITATING ACTION |
5-30 min |
10-40 |
This is a classic business tool used to keep meetings and workshops
focused on track. |
| Telling
Our Stories |
TEAM |
60-120 min |
10-40 |
To work effectively together team members need to build relations,
show trust, and be open with each other. |
| Personal
SWOB Assessment |
SELF-LEADERSHIP |
60-120 min |
40+ |
A versatile workshop for personal assessment and action planning, in
which participants use the SWOB model (Strengths, Weaknesses,
Opportunities and Barriers) to assess themselves, reflect upon key areas
for development and create a concise action plan. |
| Design
Your Life - The Archery Model |
SELF-LEADERSHIP |
60-120 min |
2-10 |
This is a solo exercise designed to assist you in shaping your life
through guided reflection questions. |
| Count
Up |
TEAM |
5-30 min |
10-40 |
In this short exercise, a group must count up to a certain number,
taking turns in a random order, with no two people speaking at the same
time. |
| Go
Bananas |
ENERGIZERS |
5-30 min |
10-40 |
This fast, physical and loud energizer, has a high level of
silliness and quickly charges up a group. |
| The 5
Whys |
INNOVATION |
30-60 min |
2-10 |
This simple and powerful method is useful for getting to the core of
a problem or challenge. |
| Sync
Claps |
ENERGIZERS |
5-30 min |
10-40 |
This circle exercise is simple, but challenging and very effective
for generating focus and alignment in a group. |
| Rapid
Research |
INNOVATION |
5-30 min |
40+ |
A simple exercise that complements exploratory, discursive, and
creative workshops with insights and opinions from outside. |
| Feedback:
Appreciation Mingle |
TEAM |
60-120 min |
40+ |
The Appreciation Mingle is an exercise in which every member in a
group gives appreciation to every other member in the group. |
| User
Day-parting |
INNOVATION |
60-120 min |
2-10 |
This exercise supports a user-centred approach to product and
service innovation. |
| What’s in
the Bag? |
ENERGIZERS |
5-30 min |
10-40 |
This is a fun icebreaker or energizer where participants are asked
“What’s in the bag?” It’s a simple way to engage people and have fun
getting to know each other, it gets participants to step into the space
together. |
| Campfire |
TEAM |
30-60 min |
2-10 |
People spend hours sitting in training sessions, sifting through
orientation manuals, and playing corporate e-learning games to learn the
know-how for their new positions. |
| Apple-Drawing
Ideation |
INNOVATION |
30-60 min |
40+ |
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. |
| Reflection:
Team |
TEAM |
60-120 min |
10-40 |
Purpose: Team reflection is for members to express thoughts,
feelings, and opinions about a shared experience, to build openness and
trust in the team, and to draw out key learnings and insights to take
forward to improve future application. |
| Who
Are We Now? |
ENERGIZERS |
5-30 min |
10-40 |
This is a fun icebreaker or energizer! Great for laughs and energy,
the shedding of stress, status and |
| 5-4-3-2-1
Grounding Technique |
WELL-BEING |
5-30 min |
2-10 |
They say “A Calm Mind is an Effective Mind” and with a calmer mind,
you can better explore those challenges in life with calmness and
centered awareness. |
| Diffusion
Curve Reflection |
INNOVATION |
30-60 min |
10-40 |
The Diffusion Curve is a reflection and discussion activity based on
the theory of the diffusion of innovations. |
| Roles
& Responsibilities |
TEAM |
30-60 min |
10-40 |
Defining roles and responsibilities helps move your team from
“storming” to “norming”, or helping “performing” teams to get back or to
stay on track. |
| Alignment
& Autonomy |
TEAM |
60-120 min |
10-40 |
Purpose: A workshop to support your business and teams by minimizing
barriers to being agile & flexible and maximizing alignment &
autonomy - enabling teams to adapt to change to achieve better results
faster. |
| 90-Minute
Prototypes |
INNOVATION |
60-120 min |
40+ |
90-Minute Prototypes is a short and sweet prototyping workshop that
challenges teams to build basic clickable app prototypes within 90
minutes. |
| Team
Self-Assessment |
TEAM |
60-120 min |
2-10 |
This is a structured process designed for teams to explore the way
they work together. |
| Team
Purpose & Culture |
TEAM |
120-240 min |
2-10 |
This is an essential process designed to help teams define their
purpose (why they exist) and their culture (how they work together to
achieve that purpose). |
| Myers-Briggs
Team Reflection |
TEAM |
60-120 min |
10-40 |
A workshop to explore personal traits and interpersonal relations
using the Myers-Briggs personalities model. |
| Project
Wrap-up |
FACILITATING ACTION |
120-240 min |
40+ |
This session is for members of a team to learn from their
experiences on a project, to support each other to improve, and to bring
closure to the team. |
| Principles
of Effective Feedback |
TEAM |
60-120 min |
10-40 |
The purpose of this exercise is for a group to discuss, define, and
identify key principles of effective feedback. |
| Circle
of Influence |
TEAM |
60-120 min |
10-40 |
A workshop to review team priorities and made choices about what to
focus on individually and collectively. |
| IDOARRT
Meeting Design |
FACILITATING ACTION |
5-30 min |
40+ |
IDOARRT is a simple tool to support you to lead an effective meeting
or group process by setting out a clear purpose, structure, and goals at
the very beginning. |
| This n’
That |
CREATIVITY |
30-60 min |
10-40 |
Creativity is connecting things. If you are looking to give your
creative mind a workout with a simple concept mash-up, look no
further. |
| Team
Remote Working Charter |
TEAM |
60-120 min |
10-40 |
This tool guides your team through the process of writing a remote
working charter, defining the guidelines and behavior expected of their
remote team. |
| Near
and Dear |
FACILITATING ACTION |
5-30 min |
10-40 |
Have you ever been in the middle of a discussion with a group that
is trying to reach a decision about something and realized that you
actually don’t have much of a stake in what happens? |
| World
Cafe |
INNOVATION |
60-120 min |
40+ |
World Café is a simple yet powerful method, originated by Juanita
Brown, for enabling meaningful conversations driven completely by
participants and the topics that are relevant and important to
them. |
| Stakeholder
Analysis |
FACILITATING ACTION |
30-60 min |
10-40 |
Managing stakeholders can help you ensure that your projects are met
with success where others might fail. |
| Mapping
Organizational Culture |
TEAM |
30-60 min |
2-10 |
Assess, map and transform organizational culture via deep
reflection. |
| How
Might We Questions |
INNOVATION |
30-60 min |
40+ |
How Might We (HMW) |
| Draw
Toast |
INNOVATION |
30-60 min |
40+ |
You can use the Draw Toast exercise to introduce people to the
concepts of visual thinking, working memory, mental models and/or
systems thinking. |
| The
GROW Coaching Model |
TEAM |
60-120 min |
2-10 |
The GROW Model is a coaching framework used in conversations,
meetings, and everyday leadership to unlock potential and
possibilities. |
| Habit
Reflection: Create a Habit that Sticks |
SELF-LEADERSHIP |
60-120 min |
2-10 |
This is a simple tool to help you create a habit that actually
sticks! |
| Critical
Thinking Mindset |
SELF-LEADERSHIP |
30-60 min |
2-10 |
A critical thinking mindset supports people to reflect by using
critical thinking questions when they discover and discuss new
information. |
| Impact/Effort
Matrix |
TEAM |
5-30 min |
2-10 |
Purpose: To generate ideas and examine them by two factors: Impact
and Effort. |
| Lightning
Decision Jam |
FACILITATING ACTION |
60-120 min |
2-10 |
The problem with anything that requires creative thinking is that
it’s easy to get lost, lose focus, and fall into the trap of having
useless, open-ended, unstructured discussions. |
| History
Map |
TEAM |
60-120 min |
40+ |
The main purpose of this activity is to reflect on a shared
experience. |
| Crocodile
River |
TEAM |
60-120 min |
40+ |
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. |
| Idea
& Concept Development |
INNOVATION |
60-120 min |
40+ |
Ideation and Concept Development is a process for groups to work
creatively and collaboratively to generate creative ideas. |
| 1, 2, 4,
ALL! |
INNOVATION |
5-30 min |
40+ |
With this facilitated 1, 2, 4, ALL technique, you can immediately
include everyone regardless of how large the group is. |
| MethodKit
for Team Development |
TEAM |
60-120 min |
2-10 |
In the age of digital, we still use analogue tools for meetings and
workshops, with blank canvases like whiteboards, flip charts and
notebooks as the rule. |
| My
Daily P.A.C.T. |
WELL-BEING |
5-30 min |
2-10 |
This is a solo exercise to help you kick-start your day with a daily
P.A.C.T. |
| Difficult
Participants |
FACILITATING ACTION |
5-30 min |
2-10 |
Ever have to deal with difficult participants? |
| The
Sketch Game |
DEIB |
30-60 min |
10-40 |
A drawing exercise that shows us how we can have different
perspectives on various subjects and/or objects - demonstrating cultural
diversities. |
| Kanban
Pizza Game |
TEAM |
60-120 min |
40+ |
This Pizza Game is a great way for new or established teams to
understand the principles of Lean & Agile by diving into Kanban in a
quick and fun way that is hard to communicate through words alone. |
| Design
Sprint for Any Team |
TEAM |
120-240 min |
2-10 |
Inspired by Google’s design sprint process, this workshop provides a
structure that teams can use to rapidly prototype and test new
ideas. |
| Active
Listening |
SELF-LEADERSHIP |
60-120 min |
40+ |
This activity supports participants to reflect on a question and
generate their own solutions using simple principles of active listening
and peer coaching. |
| Mash-Up
Innovation |
INNOVATION |
60-120 min |
40+ |
Mash-ups is a collaborative idea generation method in which
participants come up with innovative concepts by combining different
elements together. |
| Check-In
/ Check-Out |
TEAM |
5-30 min |
40+ |
Purpose: Check-in and check-out processes are fundamental to the
work we engage in, and set the context or “the mood” for the work
ahead. |
| Marshmallow
Challenge |
TEAM |
60-120 min |
40+ |
A team-building activity in which teams must compete to build the
tallest free-standing structure out of 20 sticks of spaghetti, one meter
of tape, one meter of string, and one marshmallow. |
| Future
Mapping |
INNOVATION |
30-60 min |
40+ |
The purpose of Future Map is to create a shared view of industry
trends in the recent past, present, and future. |
| Gratitude
Exercises & Activities |
WELL-BEING |
5-30 min |
2-10 |
While it is admirable to share our gratitude and good feelings with
others, we rarely stop to think about what giving others our gratitude
can do for us. |
| Start
Small |
CREATIVITY |
30-60 min |
10-40 |
Any creative endeavour can generate a certain amount of
anxiety. |
| Marimba! |
ENERGIZERS |
5-30 min |
10-40 |
This fast and loud energizer is highly effective for boosting a
group’s energy in a very short amount of time. |
| Demands
Continuums |
DEIB |
30-60 min |
10-40 |
A tool that helps a designer assess the demands a product/design
puts on the user. |
| How-Now-Wow
Matrix |
INNOVATION |
30-60 min |
10-40 |
This game naturally follows the creative idea generation phase and
helps players select ideas to develop further. |
| Who |
What | When Matrix |
TEAM |
30-60 min |
2-10 |
Many meetings end with a “next steps” or “action items”
discussion. |
| Feedback:
I appreciate… |
TEAM |
60-120 min |
40+ |
Regular, effective feedback is one of the most important ingredients
in building constructive relationships and thriving teams. |
| Engineering
Your Team OS |
TEAM |
60-120 min |
10-40 |
This is designed to work as a standalone workshop or as a companion
to the Team Self-Assessment tool. |
| Future
Trends |
INNOVATION |
60-120 min |
10-40 |
This tool helps small and large groups to identify key
transformative trends over the next few years, explore their
consequences, and begin to look at how they can be met to create
business opportunities. |
| Systems
Thinking: The Iceberg Model |
FACILITATING ACTION |
60-120 min |
40+ |
Systems thinking is a way of approaching problems that asks how
various elements within a system — which could be an ecosystem, an
organization, or something more dispersed such as a supply chain —
influence one another. |
| Conversation
Capture |
CREATIVITY |
30-60 min |
10-40 |
Observing the lives of others is not only an essential element of
how we define our own identities, it can also be a great spark for
creativity. |
| Protobot |
CREATIVITY |
30-60 min |
10-40 |
One of the best ways to explore creativity is through building. |
| Coach
Yourself out of a Funk in 3 Steps |
WELL-BEING |
30-60 min |
2-10 |
Things can get tough sometimes, it will happen, we are human. |
| Quantify
Yourself |
CREATIVITY |
30-60 min |
10-40 |
If curiosity and empathy can be a driver of creativity, there is no
reason why they need be restricted to the observation of others. |
| Walkabout |
CREATIVITY |
30-60 min |
10-40 |
The connection between walking and enhanced creativity has a long
history. |
| Feedback:
Start, Stop, Continue |
TEAM |
60-120 min |
40+ |
This is an exercise for groups or teams who are mature, have worked
together for some time, and are familiar with giving and receiving
feedback. |
| Unintended
Consequences |
INNOVATION |
30-60 min |
10-40 |
In this workshop groups examine the unintended consequences of
technologies and use those to inspire new potential business
opportunities. |
| The
Circle of Trust |
DEIB |
30-60 min |
2-10 |
The Circle of Trust is a tool that can be used both individually and
for groups. |
| Reflection:
Individual |
SELF-LEADERSHIP |
30-60 min |
2-10 |
Purpose: Individual reflection helps to pick apart complex
experiences, so that the successes of the experience can be repeated or
improved, and the failures provide learning opportunities for
growth. |
| Dinner
Challenge |
TEAM |
120-240 min |
40+ |
This is a group activity that explores group dynamics, team-building
and creative problem solving. |
| Check-In
and Check-Out Questions |
TEAM |
30-60 min |
40+ |
Purpose: Check-in and check-out processes are fundamental to the
work we engage in, and set the context and the tone for what we will
actually do together. |
| Hot
Air Balloon |
FACILITATING ACTION |
30-60 min |
2-10 |
A great tool to kick-off ANY workshop! The hot air balloon is a
metaphorical method that aims to identify strengths, weaknesses,
external forces, stakeholders and goals all in a simple and
well-structured process. |
| Project
Point of Departure |
FACILITATING ACTION |
60-120 min |
2-10 |
This is a method for individuals and teams to define the structure,
direction and first steps of a project. |
| I
Like | I Wish | I Wonder |
INNOVATION |
5-30 min |
40+ |
Teams need to explore, experiment, and take risks to innovate, and
early efforts require effective feedback exchanges. |
| The
Story Spine |
CREATIVITY |
60-120 min |
2-10 |
Using the story spine to craft engaging storytelling can capture
your audience’s attention and connect with them emotionally. |
| Team
Retrospective |
TEAM |
30-60 min |
2-10 |
Running regular team retrospectives is important if you want your
team to improve and grow. |
| Appreciation
Train |
TEAM |
60-120 min |
10-40 |
This exercise is useful for bringing groups together, to create
interpersonal bonds, and to build trust. |
| Appreciative
Inquiry: Root Causes of Success |
TEAM |
60-120 min |
40+ |
What made success possible? In less than one hour, a group of any
size can generate the list of conditions that are essential for its
success. |
| Personal
Presentations |
TEAM |
120-240 min |
40+ |
A simple exercise in which each participant prepares a personal
presentation of him/herself sharing several important experiences,
events, people or stories that contributed to shaping him or her as an
individual. |
| Stinky
Fish |
TEAM |
60-120 min |
40+ |
A short activity to run early in a workshop/program focused on
sharing any concerns related to the overall theme. |