Time:
The exercise in this module can be completed in about 30 minutes. In total, allowing for discussion, we recommend allowing about 40 minutes for this module.

Aims:
• To help participants recognise how their behaviour/communication is experienced by others.
• To encourage participants to increase the positive acts of recognition they give to others, and to create a working atmosphere in which people feel accepted and recognised.

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

Useful For:
Staff at all levels. It can be particularly useful in management training and team building.

You'll Need:
• Post-it notes and flipchart paper.

Notes:
This module can be used alongside Land of the Nutritos in a diversity programme and as part of a programme on giving feedback or team working.

Remote/Virtual Delivery:
There is a Remote Delivery version of this module available in Trainers’ Library.

Time:
The exercise in this module can be completed in about 45 minutes. In total, allowing for discussion, we recommend allowing about 60 minutes for this module.

Aims:
• To define what effective feedback is.
• To introduce participants to the AID model for giving feedback.
• To give participants an opportunity to practise giving feedback using the AID model.

Group Size:
This module can be used with groups of up to 25 participants.

Useful For:
Staff at all levels.

You'll Need:
• The film: ‘Why Do I Always Get Them?’. (If you don’t have a Trainers’ Library membership that includes the option to stream this film you can purchase a DVD from Trainers' Library.)
• Plenty of AIDing Feedback Cards and Blu Tack.

Notes:
The video used in this exercise can also be used for customer services training using our module Why Do I Always Get Them?.

Remote/Virtual Delivery:
There is a Remote Delivery version of this module available in Trainers’ Library.

Time:
This exercise will take about 30 minutes to complete. In total, allowing for discussion, we recommend allowing 60 minutes to complete this module.

Aims:
• To enable participants to be able to define coaching and its purpose.
• To explain the key differences between coaching and mentoring.
• To enable participants to describe a basic coaching model.
• To identify the core skills required by effective coaches.

Group Size:
This module is suitable for use with groups of up to 24 participants.

Useful For:
Staff at all levels.

You'll Need:
• Plenty of space for participants to work in pairs for this module.

Notes:
Endorsed by The National Association of School-Based Teacher Trainers, NASBTT.

Remote/Virtual Delivery:
There is a Remote Delivery version of this module available in Trainers’ Library.

Time:
The exercise in this module can be completed in about 15 minutes. In total, allowing for discussion, we recommend allowing about 45 minutes for this module.

Aims:
• To show participants a five-step model that will help them establish the need for a difficult conversation and plan for a successful outcome.

Group Size:
This module can be used with groups of up to 25 participants.

Useful For:
Anyone.

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

Remote/Virtual Delivery:
There is a Remote Delivery version of this module available in Trainers’ Library.

Time:
This exercise will take about 70 minutes to complete. In total, allowing for discussion, we recommend allowing 90 minutes to complete this module.

Aims:
• To provide participants with an opportunity to practise responding assertively to a range of situations.

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

Useful For:
Staff at all levels.

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

Notes:
This activity is designed to be used as a conclusion to training around assertive behaviour. It provides participants with an opportunity to practise responding assertively to a range of situations - whether it's with managing upwards, dealing with peers and colleagues or in personal situations.

This exercise is easily adapted and can be used in a variety of ways depending on your participants and the time available. For example, you can run it:

• As a small group discussion.
• As a role-play exercise with 2 participants role-playing and an observer giving feedback.
• By asking each participant to work on one scenario and then role-play it with the trainer with feedback from the rest of the group.

Remote/Virtual Delivery:
There is a Remote Delivery version of this module available in Trainers’ Library.

Time:
The exercise in this module can be completed in about 60 minutes (including the time required to view the training video). In total, allowing for discussion, we recommend allowing about 80 minutes for this module.

Aims:
• To enable participants to notice examples of unhelpful feedback, both positive and negative in the film clips.
• To encourage participants to adopt helpful feedback in their own dealings with staff.

Group Size:
This module is suitable for use with groups of up to about 20 participants, split into smaller teams, as long as suitable projection facilities are available to give everyone a clear view of the training video.

Useful For:
Managers at all levels, supervisors and team leaders.

You'll Need:
• A computer and a means of connecting to a screen.

Notes:
We recommend showing each clip of film in turn and drawing out the learning points. There is a further activity to relate the learning to participants’ own work situations.

Please note that these are the trainer notes that accompany the Trainers' Library video 'Giving Feedback', exclusively available to customers with an Essential, Pro or Enterprise membership.

Time:
The exercise in this module can be completed in about 20 minutes. In total, allowing for discussion, we recommend allowing about 30 minutes for this module.

Aims:
• To demonstrate a link between self-belief and results.
• To encourage participants to consider the impact positivity has on their own performance and the performance of others.

Group Size:
This module can be used with groups of up to 15 participants.

Useful For:
Staff at all levels.

You'll Need:
• A syndicate room, or separate area in which Team 1 can work.
• A pack of 54 ‘Filing Frenzy’ cards for each team.
• A stopwatch/timer.
• You might like to use a bell or whistle to announce the start/end of the exercise.

Notes:
This exercise may not be suitable for participants who are colour blind or visually impaired. However, in most cases anyone who falls into this category can still be involved. Ask them to observe/listen to the teams during the exercise, identifying effective and less effective behaviours in order to provide constructive feedback afterwards.

Time:
The exercises in this module will take about 30 minutes to complete. In total, allowing for discussion, we recommend allowing 60 minutes to complete this module.

Aims:
• To build an understanding of the characteristics and differences between constructive feedback, praise and criticism.
• To explain the importance of constructive feedback.
• To build awareness of "good practice" guidelines for providing constructive feedback.

Group Size:
This module is suitable for use with groups of up to 15 participants.

Useful For:
Supervisors and first time managers.

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

Endorsed by The National Association of School-Based Teacher Trainers, NASBTT.

Remote/Virtual Delivery:
There is a Remote Delivery version of this module available in Trainers’ Library.

Time:
The exercise in this module can be completed in about 20 minutes. In total, allowing for discussion, we recommend allowing about 30 minutes for this module.

Aims:
• To give participants an opportunity to reflect on their current skill levels as a manager and use the information to create a plan of action.

Group Size:
This module can be used with groups of any size.

Useful For:
Participants with managerial responsibility (or those who will have imminently).

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

Notes:
This exercise can work as a stand-alone exercise but is best used as a precursor or a final exercise in a longer programme for new managers.

Time:
The exercise in this module can be completed in about 75 minutes. In total, allowing for discussion, we recommend allowing about 120 minutes for this module.

Aims:
• To enable participants to define the 3 stages of the mentor-protégé relationship.
• To enable mentors and protégés to have clarity about their roles and responsibilities.
• To provide guidelines and templates for managing the relationship.

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

Useful For:
Both mentors and protégés at any level.

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

Remote/Virtual Delivery:
There is a Remote Delivery version of this module available in Trainers’ Library.

Endorsed by The National Association of School-Based Teacher Trainers, NASBTT.

Time:
The exercise in this module can be completed in about 60 minutes. In total, allowing for discussion, we recommend allowing about 90 minutes for this module.

Aims:
• To recognise the key skills required of a mentor.
• To assess current skill levels.
• To identify key strengths and areas for development.
• To provide a structure for mentoring meetings.

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

Useful For:
Staff at all levels who want to become a mentor.

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

Notes:
Some of the skills discussed may need further and more specific development e.g. feedback and coaching. Trainers’ Library has a range of materials to support this development.

Remote/Virtual Delivery:
There is a Remote Delivery version of this module available in Trainers’ Library.

Endorsed by The National Association of School-Based Teacher Trainers, NASBTT.

Time:
The exercise in this module can be completed in about 185 minutes. In total, allowing for discussion, we recommend allowing about 205 minutes for this module.

Aims:
• To give participants the opportunity to practice giving a presentation and receive feedback from their peers and you.

Group Size:
This module can be used with small groups of up to 6 participants.

Useful For:
Those who have had training to help them develop their skills and confidence for making presentations.

You'll Need:
• Enough observer feedback sheets so that each participant (and you) has enough sheets to complete one for each presentation observed.

Notes:
This module provides a template for a practical half-day workshop. The timings in this module are based on a group of 6, with each participant giving a 15-minute presentation (including questions).

If you have a smaller group, you’ll be able to reduce the time by 35 minutes for each person not present.

If you have more than 6 participants, we strongly recommend splitting the group and running two separate practice sessions – no-one wants to sit through more than six presentations in one session, even if they are short.

Time:
The exercise in this module can be completed in about 130 minutes. In total, allowing for discussion, we recommend allowing about 180 minutes for this module.

Aims:
• To enable participants to understand what is needed to run an effective recruitment interview and to practise doing so.

Group Size:
This module can be used with groups of between 4 and 12 participants. Ideally, you should have at least 6 participants.

Useful For:
Anyone who is involved in interviewing candidates for posts in their organisation.

You'll Need:
• Post-it notes.
• The job description, person specification and the candidate applications for the role you’d like to interview for.
• One room containing a table and chairs for each group taking part in the practice interviews.
• A waiting room for your candidates. (One of these rooms needs to be large enough for the whole group to come together for the initial briefing and final discussion/review.)

Notes:
Recruitment is the start of effective performance management and one of any organisation’s most important activities. This module will ensure that all those involved are able to carry out the interview process effectively. It is simple to run but does need careful planning to ensure it works. The time spent doing this is amply rewarded by the fact that, once done, you can use the module again and again, without the need for much planning.

Although not totally necessary, we think it would be helpful to run this session as part of a whole course looking at recruitment. There is a complete course agenda in Trainers’ Library that shows how you could do this.

Time:
The exercise in this module can be completed within 30 minutes. In total, allowing for discussion, we recommend allowing about 50 minutes for this module.

Aims:
• To encourage participants to consider the art of feedback and to ensure their feedback is appropriate and objective.
• To enable participants to identify useful, helpful, constructive feedback.
• To clarify what makes useful, constructive feedback.
• To develop participants ability to give constructive feedback.
• To consider how it feels to be on the receiving end of destructive or unhelpful feedback.

Group Size:
This module is suitable for use with groups of up to 15 participants.

Useful For:
Staff at all levels.

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

Notes:
The suggested time for this module is based on the assumption that pre-work has covered the essential elements of positive feedback.

The activity is designed to help participants improve their ability to offer feedback in a way that is constructive and helpful and leads to positive performance. It works particularly well following the Introduction to Feedback module in Trainers’ Library.

Remote/Virtual Delivery:
There is a Remote Delivery version of this module available in Trainers’ Library.

Time:
The exercises in this module will take about 30 minutes to complete. In total, allowing for discussion, we recommend allowing 60 minutes to complete this module.

Aims:
• To encourage participants to think about the importance of written complaints.
• To provide a simple model for drafting an appropriate response to a complaint.
• To provide an opportunity for participants to practise writing responses to customer complaints.

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

Useful For:
Staff up to supervisor level.

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

Notes:
We have provided 4 fictional written complaints, which can be used if real examples can't be made available, (together with a suggested response for each) but the exercise will probably be of more benefit if participants can draft responses to complaints that are relevant to their team/department/organisation.

We recommend therefore that for the practical element of this module, you gather some examples of written complaints received by your organisation (try to have a mix of letters, emails or social media postings). You should pre-prepare these by removing any information that identifies the customer and/or a particular member of staff.

Before running this module, please familiarise yourself with the handout and make sure you understand the structure used. The suggested responses to our fictional written complaints will help in your preparation.

Remote/Virtual Delivery:
There is a Remote Delivery version of this module available in Trainers’ Library.

Time:
The exercise in this module will take about 20 minutes to complete. In total, allowing for discussion, we recommend allowing 40 minutes to complete this module.

Aims:
• To encourage participants to think about how to structure a performance review.
• To provide a suggested agenda for a performance review.

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

Useful For:
Supervisors and above.

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

Notes:
In this exercise, you can ask participants to produce an agenda for a real performance review that is up and coming. Alternatively, you can use the case studies provided, and ask them to consider an agenda for one of those, imagining as appropriate that they are half way through the year or at the year end.

If you chose this option, it works as a great follow up to Preparing for a Performance Review.

Time:
The exercise in this module can be completed in about 30 minutes. In total, allowing for discussion, we recommend allowing about 45 minutes for this module.

Aims:
• To explore what participants can do to improve their own levels of engagement.

Group Size:
This module can be used with groups of up to 25 participants.

Useful For:
Staff at all levels.

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

Time:
The exercise in this module can be completed in about 115 minutes. In total, allowing for discussion, we recommend allowing about 140 minutes for this module.

Aims:
• To give participants an opportunity to practice training delivery; including debriefing exercises.
• To explore the importance of using relevant icebreakers and energisers to change energy levels in the training room.

Group Size:
This module can be used with groups of up to 20 participants, but a maximum of 10 participants is recommended.

Useful For:
Participants in a Train the Trainer programme.

You'll Need:
• 1 set of the Training Practice Cards.
• 1 A4 envelope for each participant (with their name on it).
• Enough Feedback Sheets for participants to give feedback to each of their fellow participants.
• The equipment required for participants to run the individual icebreakers (see the trainer's notes).

Notes:
Unlike most of our course modules, this one is designed to be run as several ‘mini sessions’ at different points in your training.

The timings in our summary sheet are based on 10 participants, each delivering their session individually. To work out an accurate time for your group:
• Allow 20 minutes to introduce the session and give participants time to prepare.
• Allow 10 minutes for each participant’s practice session.
• Allow 20 minutes at the end for discussion, review of feedback and action planning.

It is preferable for your participants to deliver their sessions solo, but for larger groups, or if time is an issue, you can put them in pairs.

This activity can be used in groups of up to 10 participants or 20 if you are allowing them to co-deliver (not recommended).

Time:
The exercises in this module can be completed in about 80 minutes. In total, allowing for discussion, we recommend allowing about 130 minutes for this module.

Aims:
• To help participants prepare for and conduct conversations they find difficult.

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

Useful For:
Staff at all levels.

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

Notes:
This module helps participants to understand what makes difficult conversations ‘difficult’ and encourages them to think about how they approach such conversations.

Remote/Virtual Delivery:
Due to the length of this module, we’ve broken it down into a series of activities for Remote Delivery – Difficult Conversations 1-4.

Time:
The exercise in this module can be completed in about 60 minutes (including the time required to view the training film). In total, allowing for discussion, we recommend allowing about 90 minutes for this module.

Aims:
• To encourage participants to consider the difference between good and bad customer service.
• To encourage participants to consider the behaviours that those who deliver good customer service demonstrate.
• To consider strategies for avoiding or managing customer conflict.

Group Size:
This module can be used with groups of up to about 15 participants, as long as suitable facilities are available to give everyone a clear view of the training video.

Useful For:
Anyone in a customer facing role.

You'll Need:
• A computer with internet connection and a means of connecting to a screen.

Notes:
This module is designed to accompany the Trainers' Library film, ‘Why Do I Always Get Them?’

This exercise involves a look at customer service, particularly in relation to face-to-face contact, managing difficult situations and conflict.

If your level of membership doesn’t include the option to stream this video, you can purchase a a DVD from Trainers' Library.

Remote/Virtual Delivery:
There is a Remote Delivery version of this module available in Trainers’ Library.

Time:
The exercise in this module can be completed in about 10 minutes. In total, allowing for discussion, we recommend allowing about 20 minutes for this module.

Aims:
• To demonstrate the difference effective feedback can make to someone’s performance.

Group Size:
This module can be used with groups of up to 25 participants. Ideally, you'll have at least 4 participants though, so that you can demonstrate the 4 types of feedback described.

Useful For:
Anyone who needs to give or receive feedback.

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

Notes:
This is a great way to demonstrate the difference it can make when feedback is given effectively. During the role-play element it is advisable to select with care the people who will be receiving the different types of feedback. It is also advisable to explain clearly at the start of the exercise that it will involve you role-playing different types of feedback.

Remote/Virtual Delivery:
There is a Remote Delivery version of this module available in Trainers’ Library.

Time:
This exercise will take about 25 minutes to complete. In total, allowing for discussion, we recommend allowing 60 minutes to complete this module.

Aims:
• To identify the core skills required by effective coaches.
• To enable participants to describe the GROW coaching model.

Group Size:
This module is suitable for use with groups of up to 15 participants.

Useful For:
Supervisors and managers

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

Notes:
This is one of a series of modules that provide an in-depth introduction to workplace coaching. We recommend using these modules together.

Endorsed by The National Association of School-Based Teacher Trainers, NASBTT.

Time:
This game can be played in about 45 minutes. In total, allowing for discussion and evaluation, we recommend allowing 90 minutes.

Aims:
• To demonstrate the problems that remote teams encounter when they are collectively responsible for a project.
• To demonstrate the importance of remote teams working effectively together as a single team.
• To demonstrate the importance of communication between teams who work in remote locations with little experience of working together.
• To get teams and participants to quickly identify gaps in resources and come up with solutions to minimise the impact of shortages.

Skills and Behaviours Tested:
Communication skills, leadership, teamwork and collaboration across remote teams, time management, creative thinking, and planning.

Group Size:
This exercise works best when you have more than 12 participants, (and can be used with much larger numbers). It will not work if you have fewer than 8 participants.

Useful For:
Staff at all levels.

You'll Need:
• A separate room or private working area for each of the 4 teams.
• A separate brief for each team.
• Sheets of thin card. (Enough for several sheets to be given to each team.)
• Old newspapers. (Each team will need a few.)
• Sticky tape for each team.
• Scissors. (Three pairs.)
• A 30cm ruler.
• 4 x small ‘Lego’ wheels, or similar.
• 6 x cocktail sticks.
• An (unopened) tin of baked beans (or similar).
• Post-it notes.
• 4 x message boards (flipchart paper).

Notes:
The exercise itself will take 45 minutes to run once introduced. You should allow at least a further 45 minutes for debrief and discussion of the key learning points unless this exercise is forming part of a longer programme in which case you may be able to review the key learning points more quickly.

For larger teams you may want to have additional facilitators. Should you wish to use extra facilitators for this exercise (perhaps taken from the participant group) there is a handy 'Facilitators Brief' that can be downloaded from Trainers’ Library. It is suggested that you allocate facilitator(s) to specific teams where they will be able to answer questions, check timings and observe what happens. You may wish to ask the facilitator(s) to write notes and feedback their comments at the end of the exercise.

Time:
This game can be played in about 30 minutes. In total, allowing for discussion and evaluation, we recommend allowing 90 minutes.

Aims:
• To test participants’ attention to detail, individually, or collectively.
• To test participants’ levels of accuracy under pressure.
• To show how tasks can be broken down into achievable goals, and how teams can use short term goals to improve performance.
• To test participants’ abilities to work together effectively.
• To examine the impact of change on comfort zones and confidence.

Skills and Behaviours Tested:
Accuracy and attention to detail, teamwork, goal setting, managing change and leadership.

Group Size:
There is no minimum number of participants – this exercise can even be used to test individual skills.

Useful For:
Staff at all levels.

You'll Need:
• One set of Filing Frenzy and instruction cards for each individual or team (see notes).
• A stopwatch or watch.
• A whistle or bell (optional).

Notes:
This exercise is normally run as a series of short 10-minute activities (with discussion at various points). These activities can be run back to back, but are perhaps more effective when used as an intermittent energiser during a training day/course and used to illustrate or highlight learning points covered in detail elsewhere in the training programme.

You will need one set of Filing Frenzy cards for each individual or team. (We recommend a set of 180 cards for each individual or team, i.e., 10 copies of the ‘Filing Frenzy Cards’ document if running the exercises on the following pages.)

However, for a simple ‘accuracy test’ you could use fewer cards. For example:
• Individuals – 36 cards (2 copies of the ‘Filing Frenzy Cards’ document).
• Teams of 2-3 – 90 cards (5 copies of the ‘Filing Frenzy Cards’ document).
• Teams of 4-6 – 126 cards (7 copies of the ‘Filing Frenzy Cards’ document).

Note of Caution:
This exercise may not be suitable for participants who are colour blind or visually impaired. However, in most cases anyone who falls into this category can still be involved. Ask them to observe/listen to the teams during the exercise, identifying effective and less effective behaviours in order to provide constructive feedback afterwards.

Time:
This game can be played in about 120 minutes. In total, allowing for discussion and evaluation, we recommend allowing 180 minutes.

Aims:
• To test participants’ creative thinking and innovation skills.
• To test participants’ business acumen and marketing skills.
• To develop team and leadership skills.
• To test participants’ abilities to work creatively under pressure.
• To think about and practise skills covered in the training programme.

Skills and Behaviours Tested:
Creativity and innovation, leadership, teamwork, time management, marketing and business acumen.

Group Size:
You’ll need a minimum of 3 teams for this exercise with a minimum of 3 participants in each team. This is the minimum and the ideal is 4 or 5 teams, with 4-5 participants in each team.

Useful For:
Staff at all levels, including those in senior roles.

You'll Need:
• A supply of ‘game elements’, including, for example, dice, boards, cards, counters etc. (You’ll need 4 or 5 components for each team, and each component should be unique.) See more detailed notes under ‘Set Up’.
• Lot labels (template provided).
• A brief for each team.
• Plenty of space - ideally each team will have a separate room in which to work.

Notes:
In this exercise, teams create a new game, which can be linked to the key skills you’re looking to develop. It is ideally suited to residential courses, where participants can continue to refine their product during the evening, ready to make their ‘sales pitch’ the following morning. Or, you can allow them the usual two hours, then provide an opportunity for players to play all the games in the evening before voting for their favourite the next morning.

Having a co-facilitator for this exercise will really help, as it will give you more opportunity to observe interactions within the teams that you can use in feedback later.

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

Aims:
• To review knowledge, share feedback or quiz participants.
• To assess current awareness of a situation or challenge.

Group Size:
This module can be used with groups of up to 24 participants.

Useful For:
Any situation where you want to inject some fun and humour whilst testing your participants’ knowledge or awareness.

You'll Need:
• To pre-prepare a series of questions, each with multiple answers.

Notes:
Developed to share customer feedback with our team, this is also a great activity to use in any situation where you want to run a quiz where questions have more than one answer. For example, you could use it to test participants’ knowledge of the main features of a product or service, or to remind teams of their successes.

Remote/Virtual Delivery:
There is a Remote Delivery version of this module available in Trainers’ Library called Let's See if it's There.

Time:
This exercise will take about 10 minutes to complete. In total, allowing for discussion, we recommend allowing 15 minutes for completion.

Aims:
• To identify some of the key themes participants will be exploring in the forthcoming training around giving feedback.

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

Useful For:
Anyone attending a course or workshop that focuses on giving feedback.

You'll Need:
• A printed copy of the large (A3) Trainer version of the Word Search grid provided, affixed to a flipchart.

Notes:
A small prize for the winning team would be nice, though not essential.

Time:
This exercise will take about 15 minutes to complete. In total, allowing for discussion, we recommend allowing 25 minutes for completion.

Aims:
• To provide an opportunity for participants to share good and bad experiences.
• To gather real-life examples that can be referred to throughout the training.

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:
Our thanks to Buffy Sparks for her help in writing this icebreaker.

Time:
This exercise will take about 10 minutes to run. In total, allowing for discussion, we recommend allowing 25 minutes for completion.

Aims:
• To identify how participants are feeling.
• To explore their thoughts, fears and concerns in a comfortable way.
• To establish learning objectives for the course or programme.

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

You'll Need:
Flipchart and pens.

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 share good and bad experiences relevant to the subject of your course/workshop.
• To help identify issues related to the topic.
• To help participants identify key learning objectives for the course/workshop.

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

You'll Need:
• Two batons, preferably one red (negative) and one green (positive). You can make the batons out of rolled up newspapers/magazines.

Notes:
For a fun twist, you might like to replace your batons with sticks of rock (candy), with the ‘winner’ from each round keeping the rock as a prize.

Time:
This exercise will take about 10 minutes to complete. In total, allowing for discussion, we recommend allowing 15 minutes for completion.

Aims:
• To highlight self-limiting behaviour and beliefs in a non-threatening way.
• To consider how we receive praise and how it affects us.
• To energise a group of participants.

Group Size:
This module is suitable for use with groups of almost any size as long as you have sufficient wall space.

You'll Need:
• 2 cardboard stars or star shaped post it notes for each participant.
• Blu-tac will also be needed if you use cardboard stars.

Time:
This exercise will take about 10 minutes to complete. In total, allowing for discussion, we recommend allowing about 15 minutes for completion.

Aims:
• To explore and identify what positive language is.
• To understand why positive language matters.

Group Size:
This module can be used with groups of almost any size.

You'll Need:
• A selection of bells or buzzers, one for every 2-3 participants.

Notes:
Before the training, pre-prepare a flipchart with a blank bingo card. The card will need to have enough boxes so there is one for each participant.

Time:
This exercise will take about 5 minutes to complete. In total, allowing for discussion, we recommend allowing 10 minutes to complete this module.

Aims:
• To show the importance of giving information visually as well as orally.
• To demonstrate how different people will interpret the same information differently.

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

You'll Need:
• Two sheets of A4 paper for each participant (and for you too).

Notes:
We’d like to thank Mick Duncan of CWT-Chamber Training for contributing the idea for this exercise.

Time:
The exercise in this module can be completed in about 10 minutes. In total, allowing for discussion, we recommend allowing about 20 minutes for this module.

Aims:
• To demonstrate the difference effective feedback can make to someone’s performance.

Group Size:
This module can be used with groups of up to 25 participants. Ideally, you'll have at least 4 participants though, so that you can demonstrate the 4 types of feedback described.

Useful For:
Anyone who needs to give or receive feedback.

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

Notes:
This is a great way to demonstrate the difference it can make when feedback is given effectively. During the role-play element it is advisable to select with care the people who will be receiving the different types of feedback. It is also advisable to explain clearly at the start of the exercise that it will involve you role-playing different types of feedback.

Remote/Virtual Delivery:
There is a Remote Delivery version of this module available in 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 review knowledge, share feedback or quiz participants.
• To assess current awareness of a situation or challenge.

Group Size:
This module can be used with groups of up to 24 participants.

Useful For:
Any situation where you want to inject some fun and humour whilst testing your participants’ knowledge or awareness.

You'll Need:
• To pre-prepare a series of questions, each with multiple answers.

Notes:
Developed to share customer feedback with our team, this is also a great activity to use in any situation where you want to run a quiz where questions have more than one answer. For example, you could use it to test participants’ knowledge of the main features of a product or service, or to remind teams of their successes.

Remote/Virtual Delivery:
There is a Remote Delivery version of this module available in Trainers’ Library called Let's See if it's There.

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

Aims:
• To remind participants of the GROW model and what each letter stands for.
• To encourage participants to reflect upon how they’ll continue to develop their coaching skills and create an action plan using the GROW model.

Group Size:
This module is suitable for use with groups of up to 15 participants.

Useful For:
Staff at all levels.

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

Remote/Virtual Delivery:
There is a Remote Delivery version of this module available in Trainers’ Library.

Time:
This exercise will take about 10 minutes to complete. In total, allowing for discussion, we recommend allowing 15 minutes for completion.

Aims:
• To recall many of the key learning points at the end of a training session about feedback.

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

Useful For:
Anyone attending a course or workshop that focuses on giving feedback.

You'll Need:
• A printed copy of the large (A3) Trainer version of the Word Search grid provided, affixed to a flipchart.

Notes:
A small prize for the winning team would be nice, though not essential.

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 participants to reflect on learning they’ve experienced.
• To review the key learning points from training.
• To encourage participants to think about the next steps they’ll take to implement the learning.

Group Size:
This module can be used with groups of between 8 and 25 participants.

Useful For:
Staff at all levels.

You'll Need:
• We recommend using the Spinning Wheel for this activity, though it’s not essential.
• To prepare the Question Cards in advance of the training.

Notes:
The questions we’ve provided in this activity are suggestions only and you do not have to include all categories. It is recommended that, if including the blue ‘facts’ category, you add further questions specific to your learning content.

Remote/Virtual Delivery:
There is a Remote Delivery version of this module available in Trainers’ Library.

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

Aims:
• To demonstrate an understanding of the key concepts of Train the Trainer.

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

You'll Need:
• A hat/bag to hold the keywords/phrases slips of paper.
• A small prize.

Notes:
You will need to cut out the keywords and phrases provided before the training session. You may wish to adjust the suggested words/phrases to meet the exact needs of your participants. You need 30 words in total.

About this Article:
Carol Wilson identifies the tools and models frequently used during coaching projects. In this article she looks at 360 degree feedback.

Opening Words:
360 degree feedback is a process used by many organisations today to provide managers with information about how they are viewed by the different categories of people they come into contact with in the course of their work, for example, the managers they report to, the staff who report to them, and their colleagues, customers and clients.

The feedback is usually delivered anonymously and participants are asked to fill in a series of tick-boxes (often on-line) and to provide individual comments about various aspects of the subject’s performance, typically around their skills, abilities, attitudes and behaviours.

Useful Reading For:
Anyone who is thinking of using 360 degree feedback or upward appraisal mechanisms for their own or others' development.

About this Article:
Jeremy Thorn takes a look at Executive Coaching, who it applies to and who may be missing out on the benefits of said coaching.

Opening Words: 
Whom do you think might benefit the most from an opportunity for Executive Coaching? Would it be just for those who show promising career potential, do you think, or could there be others? And although coaching has become increasingly popular over the last 10 years, is this the only alternative to a more formal programme of management development? It doesn’t have to be!

Useful Reading For:
Anyone interested in introducing executive coaching to their organisation or in being coached.

About this Article:
In this article, Carol Wilson, looks at:
1) How the workplace is changing from authoritarian bosses and jobs for life towards self-directed learning and portfolio careers.
2) How the Virgin empire was built using a coaching culture..

Opening Words:
Over the last fifty years the world has moved from an authoritarian society – where figures such as priests, fathers and bosses were obeyed without question – towards self directed learning. Society has seen rebellious teenagers, the debunking of religion, and an end to jobs for life. People are making their own decisions, portfolio careers are becoming more common, and companies are moving away from consultancy towards coaching.

Coaching at work is sometimes regarded as the latest fad. Companies are falling over themselves to provide their senior and middle managers with personal coaches, and to train them in coaching skills.

Useful Reading For:
Anyone involved in providing or receiving coaching in the workplace.

Article Overview:
In this article, Carol Wilson looks at four key areas of feedback: Positive feedback, negative feedback, receiving feedback and coaching feedback.

Opening Words:
Feedback is often regarded as the most difficult part of a manager’s job. However, in a coaching culture, negative feedback is experienced in a positive way; as an opportunity for making new discoveries rather than blame.

Positive feedback is an energy raiser for the giver as well as the receiver. However, it must be authentic and genuine or it will be dismissed as worthless.

People often say that they only hear feedback when something is wrong. However, it costs nothing to tell people when they have done well, or give a simple thank you. Both will make the recipient feel more valuable and raise their confidence. Self-belief is vital for success, and praise, when it is deserved, builds confidence and motivation to achieve more.

It is great to give positive feedback in public; it gives people a real boost to be singled out and admired for what they have achieved. There are also two possible areas for caution here:

Useful Reading For:
Managers, including first time managers, and anyone who wants to develop their ability to give, or receive, constructive feedback.

Opening Words:
Feedback offers us an opportunity to gain insight into how others perceive and experience us and yet, on occasions we resolutely refuse to hear it. This can happen when we have a knee-jerk response to something that hurts us. Yet, given time, we may bring ourselves to consider the view put forward. However, outright refusal to listen and reflect on feedback also occurs when it contradicts or is not consistent with strongly held beliefs we hold about ourselves, about others or about our view of the world.

This was the case for Richard who was unsuccessful in his application to go on his organisation’s leadership development programme. After the selection process, he was given feedback that suggested he needed to focus on developing his communication and inter-personal skills. A specific comment related to the dismissive way he dealt with ideas and contributions from colleagues. When talking this through with him he was quite scornful about the feedback, seeing it as carping criticism. He felt that his organisation did not want “charismatic leaders” as he considered himself to be.

Useful Reading For:
Everyone - whether giving or receiving feedback.

Article Overview:
Martin Haworth explains how getting someone else out of their 'frying pan' can get you into a 'fire' and explores a better way of helping your team members when they are struggling.

Opening Words:
How tempting is it to fix things? You know, you are passing by one of your teams’ cubicles and they are doing something you know all about. So you give a hand...

And then it's fixed, and you feel a rosy glow all about how you've 'helped'. But who is this about, you or them?

You see, it can be so frustrating, for someone already frustrated, when some smart-ass boss comes along to show their superiority. In fact, after it's fixed, all they get is a general feeling of inadequacy. And more frustration.

Useful Reading For:
Everyone, especially managers, team leaders and experienced staff.

Article Overview:
In this article, Nicola shares practical tips on delivering bad news while minimising negative impacts on your team’s morale.

Opening Words:
Delivering bad news is an inevitable part of being a manager, but how you approach it can significantly impact how the message is received. Delivering difficult news requires care, clarity, and empathy, whether about layoffs, underperformance, or even promotions not being granted.

Useful Reading For:
Team leaders, supervisors and managers.

Article Overview:
This article from Carol Wilson, looks at: What is a coach? Who can train as a coach? Keys to successful training of workplace coaches. Certification for workplace coaches. Who can be coached in the workplace? How to measure the benefits of coaching.

Opening Words:
Some people are born to be great coaches: the good news is that it is possible to make great coaches too.

There is nothing new or mystifying about coaching – it is simply a style of communication which engenders trust, mutual support, personal growth and great leadership. Some natural coaches learn their skills through the good fortune of being born to parents who are natural coaches. Others have teachers, or later mentors, as their role models.

For many years I worked with one of the world’s most famous natural coaches while helping Richard Branson set up the Virgin Empire and going on to run some of his companies. The coaching principles of openness, positive feedback, ownership and a blame-free culture were core values at Virgin, decades before the word ‘coaching’ was applied in its current sense. A few years earlier, Socrates also recommended coaching skills – although I don’t believe the words ‘executive coach’ are specifically mentioned in his writings! References to the skills have popped up in various forms many times since.

Useful Reading For:
Managers wishing to develop workplace coaches and anyone involved in coaching in the workplace.

Article Overview:
You have attended the coaching skills workshop. You feel inspired. How do you introduce your new skills into the workplace? Jennifer Hampson discusses the way forward.

Opening Words:
You’ve attended a coaching skills workshop. You feel inspired. You’ve been coached and found it thoroughly beneficial. Now you’re wondering how you can use coaching in real life with your team. You start pondering your options:
• I could just start asking more open questions.
• I could build coaching into regular meetings.
• I could look out for ‘Coachable Moments’.
• I could find other ways just to build it in without them really noticing.
• I could tell my team I’ve been on a course and I’m going to be coaching them from now on.

Useful Reading For:
Managers and anyone else wishing to increase their use of coaching skills.

Article Overview:
In this article, Nicola offers some guidance on how to recover from a difficult conversation and move forward constructively.

Opening Words:
We’ve all had those uncomfortable conversations at work with a colleague, team member, or even a boss.

You know the ones I’m talking about - the tension, the knots in your stomach, and that sinking feeling that things didn’t quite go as planned.

Even when the conversation is over, you’re still left with lingering emotions, and it can feel like the hard part is behind you. But recovering from a difficult conversation is just as important as the preparation.

Suitable Reading For:
Team leaders, supervisors and managers.

Article Overview:
In this article, Nicola highlights how the proper preparation and mindset can help you to handle tough upward conversations effectively and strengthen your professional relationship.

Opening Words:
Years ago, a manager came to me about a difficult conversation they needed to have with their boss. I saw that familiar look of dread in their eyes. I had that same look early in my career when facing tough upward conversations.

Having navigated both sides of these discussions - as an employee and later as a senior leader - I've learned that preparation and the right mindset make all the difference.

Suitable Reading For:
Team leaders, supervisors and managers.

Article Overview:
In this article, Nicola identifies the signs and behaviours of micromanagement and explores practical ways to address them while maintaining a professional and productive relationship.

Opening Words:
Micromanagement is one of the most common yet damaging leadership styles in the workplace. It stifles creativity, lowers morale, and can make employees feel undervalued and frustrated.

If you've ever worked under a micromanager, you'll know the feeling of being watched too closely, given excessive instructions, or constantly needing approval before making decisions.

But how do you recognise a micromanager?

Suitable Reading For:
Team members, team leaders, supervisors and managers.

Article Overview:
This interesting article from Sheila Williams, looks at personal conflict in the workplace and looks at how our preferred behaviours can bring us into conflict with others who have different preferences.

Opening Words:
In a week of battling against the winter elements I have also been exploring conflict of a different nature – person to person. The type of interpersonal conflict that can for no apparent reason (at least to the warring parties), spring up in the workplace. Part of this has led to an exploration of how we deploy our personal strengths and whether over-use of these, in certain circumstances, can tip them over into becoming weaknesses.

We develop behaviours that, when used to good effect, over time, become our preferred way of doing things. We consider them as our personal strengths. However, the more we use them and the more success we have with their use then the more we can slip into auto-pilot mode, with an expectation that their use will always produce success. In this way, we sometimes overlook the fact that using a particular personal strength may be inappropriate to the context or situation in which we find ourselves.

Useful Reading For:
Line managers and trainers.

Article Overview:
In this article Jennifer introduces the GROW model and explains the fundamentals of coaching. It provides an outstanding introduction to coaching skills.

Opening Words:
Let's start with an assumption. You really do want to coach. In other words, I don't have to convince you of the benefits of coaching for yourself, your coachees, and your organisation. You're already motivated and raring to go.

So, how exactly do you get started?

1. It's OK to Start Small:

Sometimes we worry about how people might react if we suddenly do things differently. Don't let this put you off. How about starting small and building up from there? For example:
• Start asking more open questions.
• Practise listening much better to people.
• Summarise what you're hearing.
• Keep your opinions out of it.
• Keep the conversation focused and constructive.
• Base conversations on the GROW Model, i.e.:
G(oal) - What do you want or need to achieve?
R(eality) - What's the situation right now?
O(ptions) - What could you do to get there?
W(rap-up) - What have you decided to do? When exactly?

Useful Reading For:
Anyone who wants to increase their understanding of coaching and the GROW model.

Article Overview:
If your work is about personal development, social development, team development, leadership development, management development, or 'anything' development you should find some useful ideas and tips in this article from Roger Greenaway about reviewing for development.

Opening Words:
Much advice about reviewing (or debriefing) assumes that the main purpose is to facilitate learning. So what should you do differently when the emphasis is on facilitating development?

One (partly right) answer is that development arises as a direct result of what is experienced during the 'activity' and that learning mostly happens after the activity when reviewing the experience. For example, the sense of achievement on completing a rock climb happens as the climber completes the final move. Such achievements have an impact on development - whether or not much learning arises directly from the achievement. It is during reflection and review after the climb that the climber can learn more from the experience than was possible while engrossed in the climbing. The climber may learn through feedback during a review that their communication was poor or that their recklessness was endangering others, or during a review they may learn how they can also control other fears in other situations. A review can take learning in many directions that were not fully apparent at the time of the developmental experience.

Useful Reading For:
Anyone involved in the development of others.

Article Overview:
In this excellent article, Sheila Williams looks at the challenges of coaching a team using her own experiences. The article includes a helpful list of questions to ask before undertaking team coaching.

Opening Words:
How many teams do you belong to at work – three, four, five? Research from Clutterbuck Associates suggests we may be members of as many as six or more different teams at any one time. When team members have clarity about their roles and contributions, team performance in key results areas is measurably improved - creating a positive impact in the organisation as a whole, in terms of service quality, organisational performance, motivation and morale.

Team coaching can be particularly challenging, whether the coach is the team leader or an external coach. It is a complex activity involving the facilitation of 1:1 and team interactions, observing and giving feedback on team processes and behaviours, and dealing with tensions and conflict which are often hidden beneath the surface.

Useful Reading For:
Trainers and line managers.

Article Overview:
This article looks at how coaching can help people achieve a healthy work life balance. Apparently, a survey by CIPD found that professionals in the UK would sacrifice up to 40% of their annual salary in order to achieve a better work life balance.

Opening Words:
A survey by the CIPD claimed that professionals in the UK would sacrifice up to 40% of their annual salary – an average £13,253 a year - if it meant achieving better work-life balance.

Why has work-life balance become such a hot topic in recent years? The sheer number of choices available today can leave the average professional sinking under a mountain of obligations, leisure activities and family commitments.

Entertainment for our grandparents was limited to a sing-song round the piano and, for their children, a game of hop scotch in the car-free street outside. They didn’t have to spend their weekends searching for the elusive best deal on new cars, fridges or the bewildering array of media technology available today; and two weeks in Yarmouth provided an annual treat, without hours of net-surfing for that last-minute, dream holiday.

Useful Reading For:
Anyone involved in coaching or looking at how coaching can affect our lives.

Article Overview:
In this article, Adrian explains why clarity is crucial when setting expectations for your team.

Opening Words:
One of the first lessons I learned as a manager was the power of clarity.

Early in my career, I assumed my team members instinctively knew what was expected of them. After all, we had meetings, emails, and conversations - surely, they understood what needed to be done. But I quickly discovered that assumption was a recipe for frustration.

Suitable Reading For:
Team leaders, supervisors and managers.

Article Overview
In this article Carol Wilson explains the essential coaching skills and the five levels of listening. This is a really good introduction to performance coaching from a well-respected author.

Opening Words:
Although the use of the term ‘performance coaching’ is a relatively new development over the last 20 years, there is nothing new about the skills themselves and they can be identified as far back as in the writings of Socrates, who said, “I cannot teach anybody anything; I can only make them think”.

Performance coaching (which expression includes life, career, fitness, business, executive, finance and any other category of coaching in the modern sense of the word) is about communicating in a way that enhances understanding, clarity, awareness, responsibility, self-belief and productive relationships.

The essential coaching skills are:
• Active listening.
• Questions that enhance self-directed learning.
• Clarifying.
• Goal setting.
• Shifting perspective.
• Holding the coachee accountable.
• Effective feedback.
• Creating trust and empathy....

Useful Reading For:
Anyone who wants to learn about using performance coaching in a work environment for the first time.

Article Overview:
In this article, Nicola explores hidden cost of underdeveloped managers and what you can do about it.

Opening Words:
You promoted them because they were good. They knew the work, understood the team, and had the respect of those around them. And yet, here you are again, fielding a problem that should never have reached your desk.

It is not a one-off. It is a pattern.

Suitable Reading For:
Senior Leaders, CEOs, Founders and Directors.