Conflict Icebreakers and Energisers

Terrific. Can be shortened or lengthened as you need. I’ve used it as recommended to explore assumptions in equality settings, but also really well as an icebreaker for an interview skills workshop. Once I’d revealed how badly people listened, we went on to discuss the way some people assume they know what the question is about and don’t listen carefully enough to understand what the interviewer wants.

I really liked the audio file, the story was familiar but different enough to be interesting and it made a change than listening to the trainers voice.

Both these modules (Assumptions – The Witches of Glum and Goldilocks – a Listening Exercise) are excellent for demonstrating the need for ‘active’ listening skills and how easy it is to make assumptions and ‘hear’ what you think was said.

These modules worked extremely well and prompted lots of interest from the participants and also some key learning points were easily identified.

It then required some simple facilitation skills to identify ways to become better listeners and again to highlight some easy steps that everyone could take to improve their skills.

We use the witches of glum as a useful exercise in the induction programme. As our company is a financial retail business we deal with all types customers from all walks of life. We teach new starters that they should not make assumptions on a customer’s appearance. Just because they look scruffy doesn’t mean that they may be poor. By reading out the story it is clear that people make assumptions to what the answers should be rather than actually listening to the facts. I then have a discussion with the group asking them why they made the assumptions and it really makes them think about it.

Successful eyeopener about the danger of making assumptions. One participant remarked afterwards: "I have just realised what a dreadful listener I am", which was a great learning point for all.

However, some of the statements are ambiguous and biased towards eliciting an incorrect "true" answer. For example: "The king was an old man who could no longer walk." Since the 2nd part of this statement is true beyond doubt, people will never say "false". I solved this by reducing the statements to only one fact. Some examples: "The king could no longer walk".

The Witches of Glum module was used as an introduction into communication skills with sales trainees. The delegates appreciated the story and questions and quickly learnt through the course about the assumptions they had made and as a result, were easily able to relate this to how they communicate with customers and colleagues.

This was an effective module near the beginning of the course; the delegates had an increased awareness of natural assumptions and listening skills which effectively introduced further modules within the course.

This week I ran a seminar for members of the local branch of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development in Shropshire. The topic for the presentation was “Diversity for Dummies”. This was my first venture into this type of presentation of this topic as I have only recently begun to train in the topic with the Ford Motor Company. As an alternative to risking ‘Death by Powerpoint’ I decided to use “The witches of Glum” as a medium for getting across how easily we drop into making assumptions and the potential impact making those assumptions. I used the exercise exactly as provided and was delighted with the way that those present took to it and enjoyed the different way of making a valuable learning lesson. Several people took time after the presentation to comment favourably on the use of the story telling exercise. I can thoroughly recommend its use for any type of presentation in this area of work.

The Witches of Glum exercise has been used within our customer service course. It has allowed us to use a fun exercise to identify the pitfalls of assumptions and stereotypical situations. The delegates have found this to be amusing as it is a clear break away from the business theme of other exercises. The trainers notes are very well laid out and it is what all exercises should be, simple and yet effective.

I have recently used this exercise to introduce a session on cultural differences as the organisation was transferring its HR shared service to another country. The training itself was quite challenging as it was perceived to be a big change to how our managers currently operate however, I used the exercise to introduce the final part of the day. This made a considerable difference to the atmosphere and energy levels within the group. They began to understand the assumptions we make about other cultures and they became receptive to altering their communication style to ensure their interaction was effective.

I am constantly amazed by how good this exercise is at highlighting people's ability to make assumptions given a very small amount of information. I've used this in a number of different sessions where it was important to highlight the amazing ability people have to fill in the gaps of the story with their ideas and remembered bits of old fairy tales. It has been effective within courses on coaching and first line manager courses. I have read the questions out from the materials and this worked just as well as writing them all out on the flip chart.

This activity is so popular that staff often ask to do it again at other events.

We are running a series of sessions on HR Skills for Managers , the first of which deals with Managing Diversity Are You a Fair Manager?

Having identified what diversity is the trainer asks the delegates to sit back, listen to a story and expect to answer some questions about the subject afterwards. The story is, of course, Assumptions The Witches of Glum.

This is a great little exercise that really demonstrates to the delegates how readily assumptions are made and how guilty of it they are. At least 50% of the delegates get less that 50% of the statements right each time we run the session perfectly illustrating the learning point. Give it a go, youll love the results!

I used 'course introduction' with a group on a departmental awayday. This really focused participants on the rationale for the day and allowed the groundrules to be discussed in a way that wouldn't have happened otherwise. The 'expectations of each other' allowed discussion of acceptable and desirable behaviour to be clearly stated in a department where several staff members are overbearing and dominatiing in such meetings usually. The main content of the day was more fruitful once this had happened.

What a lovely exercise. Everyone knows the Goldilocks tale and this existing knowledge really helps drive the learning points home. I’ve used it in induction courses. It served a couple of purposes – it fulfilled the aims outlined on the site, but also helped new starters to recognise that no matter what their previous experience they still have opportunities for learning new things and that they may have a black spot here and there in which they assume knowledge that they may not possess.

I’ve used this exercise extensively in customer service and sales soft skills workshops and I’ve found it really difficult to find another exercise that beats it when it comes to highlighting how we naturally make assumptions and the importance of active listening. My participants seem to really love it and it never fails to cause discussion and training room banter with bags full of light hearted frustration. No-one has ever got all the questions correct yet!

A simple, yet effective exercise, I like the fact that it uses Goldilocks, a story which most of us will be aware of from childhood. I find it really easy to then link this exercise in to the types of calls that my delegates make or receive, especially the common ones where we can assume we know what it is about and how to resolve it without stopping to listen to the customer. I’ve used similar exercises in the past and have been ‘put off’ as they have sometimes caused a little too much debate. However, with this exercise, it is easy to explain the logic behind the exercise to even the most analytical delegate.

This is one of my favourite activities; I use it in my Telephone System/Call Handling training where it is very important for people to listen to what others are saying on the telephone. Reading a story to a group is fun and people make assumptions on what they have heard which means they learn a lot from the activity. This is great to use for Presentation skills, Train the Trainer, Assertiveness and Selling Skills.

I work for a small voluntary sector organisation with 5 full time and 2 part time staff. We had recently introduced customer service standards and to bring the policy alive rather than just sit on a shelf, I ran a team training morning session using Goldilocks as part of the session. Team training is a new addition to our team time together so as the newly appointed Team Leader (a change to my previous role with the organisation) I was a little apprehensive. The session started off well and discussions were really focused. When it came time to read the story of Goldilocks it at first raised a few smurks and frowns, however it went down well. Interestingly the boss only got 2 out of 12 for the quiz! His comment was - guess I wasn't really listening! Mmm really! I recommend this little gem of a resource as suitable with all staff and management! Having now used this as my first resource from Trainers' Library I certainly have confidence in using more.

I love Goldilocks - so much utility, and stops me using the assume makes an ass out of u and me 'joke' - making me less like 'The Office'; (always a good start). It nearly always creates controversy - 'Can you read that again?'. As such, what a great way to get people to listen actively, consider why people don't always 'get-it' first time, stops them tutting at each other, and maybe (just maybe) helps to improve communication by considering the ears half of the equation. It is foolproof, fast and fun.

What a simple idea and so effective. I've used it with new recruits to customer service teams and with senior managers in a local council. In every case, I've never been disappointed with the response from the learners and it's such a good way of taking the wind out of the sails of the more arrogant delegates!

The Goldilocks exercise is a valuable method of demonstrating to candidates the way they make assumptions. I have used this module with both Customer Service Advisors and customer facing Production Staff as a way of testing their listening skills. By cleverly mixing a familiar story with a few challenging twists, it really stretches the short term memory and in my experience results in an up-beat atmosphere. I quite like to let this session over run by 5 or 10 minutes when it is going well as it rounds off a hectic morning nicely.

I used the Goldilocks story in some customer service training. Some of the delegates didn't listen when I read the story, as they thought they knew it (as it is a popular children's tale). However, they soon learnt what a trap that assumption is when they then couldn't correctly answer the ensuing questions. In fact some people had been quite arrogant in their assumptions intially and quickly realised that this resulted in their undoing! The key learning for them came from the fact that they should always listen to what's being said, without making assumptions or listening from their perspective, as the speaker may go off on a tangent that they didn't expect.

I have always been a great lover of story telling while training and Goldilocks listening exercise has given me the opportunity to combine a good story with a great activity.

Goldilocks really stresses the message of the dangers of making assumptions, but it does that in a fun and different way which gets participants engaged and sometimes a bit fiery when discussing the answers to the questions about the story. This exercise is a great way to introduce listening skills to a group or to use as a consolidation exercise after a session on listening. Fun is guaranteed!

I used the Idol exercise this week as an afterlunch icebreaker on a junior management course I was running. Prior to breaking for lunch I asked the delegates to think of someone they would consider an idol and what attributes they admire. On returning from lunch I gave each pens and a sheet of flip chart paper and asked them to create a visual representation of thier idol and then had them present back to the rest of the group. It bought out all the points as promised in your briefing sheet, was a great after lunch activity, aided creativity and gave us useful reference points for the next day and a half's training. Many thanks for another great activity.

I use this activity in Assertiveness training. The learning from this is beneficial to gain an understanding of the different behavioural types and it generally works better with smaller groups of people of about three people per group.