Describe a game or exercise you could incorporate into this type of training environment. Consider the type of training being presented and the group size.

8-3

A few years ago, Helen went to Amelia Island for a seminar that was heralded as an Advanced Seminar in Process Consultation. She even called the instructor to be sure that it would be advanced—not an introduction to.

After the seminar, Helen soon realized that the other 11 attendees were from prominent companies across North America and possessed a great deal of experience as trainers. However, they were not as advanced as she was at process consultation. About halfway through the five day seminar they were put into groups to learn about the different ways of intervening in a team’s process. After receiving the information, the two groups were told to go off separately and develop a game for training the other group.

Each of the participants in Helen’s group told of a game that was used in previous training and how much everyone liked it. Helen suggested developing a role-play whereby they could demonstrate the various components of process intervention. One of the other trainees said No one likes role-plays. That’s right agreed another, and the group moved o to the more enjoyable games they were discussing. When they finally decided that they would play the spiderweb game, Helen asked how they would tie the training into the game. Unanimously, they said that it was not necessary.

The professor did not say we needed to do that was the reply. The game is to get the group interested in training. We’ll move to the training after the game is finished was another reply. Helen insisted that they somehow tie the game to the process consultation training they had been given, and reluctantly two of the group worked with her to accomplish this connection.

Back in the training room, the other group went first, getting Helen’s group to play a game. After the game was completed, the professor asked but how does this activity tie into the training? They all looked puzzled, and everyone in Helen’s group looked at her rather sheepishly. When it was their turn, Helen’s group did tie the training to the game, but the professor commented, it looks like you first decided on the game you wanted to play, and then tried to work the training around the game; it should be the other way around. First understand what the training is trying to accomplish, and then find a game to meet that requirement.

The point of this story is that exercises and games that do not tie into the training objective are a waste of valuable training time. Although games are fun, their main value lies in their ability to reinforce the learning while providing a break in routine