Laura Biddle
A game I like to use to help teach communication skills is a Lego Challenge. All participants draw a role they must follow as they work as a group to build a tower with Lego bricks. The trick is, that no one can speak to one another, and no one can share their role. This plays out where one person might have a role to ensure that row 4 and 7 only contain blue blocks, another person must limit the tower to only 8 rows, etc. The group then works to follow their rules without sharing their role and get the tower built. The outcomes are always fun, as frustration takes the wheel and the team tries to find other ways to communicate. They learn how important it is to communicate and share their vision and perspectives for a project. The whole experience would be much easier if they could say to one another “I need this outcome, can you help me get there?”