Internal Customer Care Icebreakers and Energisers

Time:
This exercise will take about 25 minutes to complete. In total, allowing for discussion, we recommend allowing 30 minutes for completion.

Aims:
• To welcome the participants.
• To introduce the facilitator(s) and participants to each other.
• To introduce the facilities.
• To agree the course objectives and timetable.

Group Size:
This module is suitable for use with groups of almost any size.

You'll Need:
Nothing, other than the materials provided.

Time:
This exercise will take about 15 minutes to complete. In total, allowing for discussion, we recommend allowing 20 minutes for completion.

Aims:
• To allow participants to articulate their own ideas about their strengths and what they can bring to the group.
• To understand how others in the group think of themselves and their strengths.

Group Size:
Suitable for use with groups of almost any size.

You'll Need:
• A box of random items – enough to give every participant a choice.

Notes:
This is a great exercise to use where you want to encourage participants to think creatively.

Time:
This exercise will take about 15 minutes to complete. In total, allowing for discussion, we recommend allowing 20 minutes for completion.

Aims:
• To encourage participants to consider their experiences as a customer.
• To identify ways in which poor customer service could have been improved.
• To briefly consider the impact of poor customer service.

Group Size:
This module is suitable for use with groups of up to 20 participants.

You'll Need:
• You will need a series of cards (or pieces of paper); some need to be marked with a cross, others with a tick and the rest with a dash (-). You will need one card for each participant.

Time:
This exercise will take about 10 minutes to run. In total, allowing for discussion, we recommend allowing 20 minutes for completion.

Aims:
• To consider the impact poor customer service can have on an organisation's reputation.

Group Size:
This module is suitable for use with groups of up to 20 participants.

You'll Need:
Flipchart paper and pens.

Time:
This exercise will take about 25 minutes to complete. In total, allowing for discussion, we recommend allowing 30 minutes for completion.

Aims:
• To encourage participants to share information about themselves.
• To build rapport among participants.
• To start to identify core communication skills.
• To explore the use of the communication loop.

Group Size:
This module is suitable for use with groups of up to 25 participants.

You'll Need:
• You might find it useful to pre-prepare a flipchart with the questions participants will be answering written on it.

Notes:
This exercise takes longer to run with larger groups.

Time:
This exercise will take about 20 minutes to complete. In total, allowing for discussion, we recommend allowing 30 minutes for completion.

Aims:
• To explore how participants perceive their role in the team and if they adopt a similar approach away from work.
• To explore how their colleagues perceive their own roles in the team and if this differs away from work.
• To understand the importance of diversity of skills and abilities within a successful team.

Group Size:
Suitable for use with pre-existing teams of up to 15 team members.

You'll Need:
• One set of My Role Cards per 8 participants, blu tack and flipchart.

Notes:
This exercise is designed for pre-existing teams, especially if they need to work more effectively together.

Time:
This exercise will take about 10 minutes to complete. In total, allowing for discussion, we recommend allowing 20 minutes for completion.

Aims:
• To demonstrate the importance of teamwork.
• To show how, by working together, we have the potential to achieve more.
• To encourage participants to consider the dangers of an overly competitive workplace culture.

Group Size:
This module is suitable for use with groups of up to 25 participants.

You'll Need:
• 1 game board, 1 die and 1 counter per team (with up to 8 participants in each team).
• Prizes of wrapped sweets/chocolates.

Notes:
This exercise can be followed by The Wheel - The Importance of Teamwork (Review), found in the Review Activities section of Trainers' Library.

Time:
This exercise will take about 15 minutes to complete. In total, allowing for discussion, we recommend allowing 30 minutes for completion.

Aims:
• To encourage the team to think about the team's strengths and weaknesses.
• To identify behaviour that the team needs to change.

Group Size:
This module is suitable for use with groups of up to 20 participants.

You'll Need:
• Nothing other than the materials provided.

Notes:
This exercise is designed for teams that normally work together.