Two Activities that Develop Listening and Collaboration Skills
Help participants practice listening, building on the ideas of others and deliberating as a group
Dear collaborative discussion friends,
This week we are highlighting two activities that help participants practice building on the ideas of others and working together as a group to reach a common decision, while also helping them develop their listening skills. All the activities in the toolkit have an activity key that indicates the level of the activity (beginner or advanced) and other characteristics using icons. Activities that support listening skills are denoted with the following icon.
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This week's activities:
Activity 2.6 - Building on the Ideas of Others
Activity 5.8 – Practicing Deliberation with Others
Two activities that help participants build on the ideas of others, deliberate as a group, and develop listening skills
Activity 2.6 Building on the Ideas of Others uses the improv method of “yes, and” to help participants learn how to have a collaborative, rather than competitive discussion. This activity helps participant understand how responding to ideas with “yes, but” versus “yes, and” changes the nature of the conversation.
Participants are given a less serious topic of discussion, such as planning a vacation and asked to discuss this topic and respond to each other’s vacation ideas or suggestions with “yes, but”. They are then asked to try planning a vacation again and this time respond with “yes, and” to each other’s ideas. After these two quick rounds of discussion, participants are invited to reflect on the two conversations they had and how they felt during each conversation. They asked to think about which method (“yes, but” or “yes, and”) had them feeling more excited about the vacation they were trying to plan. Participants are then asked to discuss a more serious topic using “yes, and”. They are encouraged to listen closely to what their conversation partner is saying, find the pieces of truth in what they say and then build on the other person’s idea with their own. Participant then debrief as a group on whether “yes, and” means you have to agree or if it can be used to constructively disagree and how using this phrase changed how they listened and other aspects of the discussion.
This activity helps participants move away from the urge to be competitive or win in a discussion and towards more listening, collaboration and thinking together with others. It provides participants with a method for having truly collaborative discussions that result in better ideas and foster a sense of connection.
Activity 5.8 Practicing Deliberation with Others introduces the concept of legislative juries. This activity helps participants use their collaborative discussion skills for the purpose of reaching a decision or a specific outcome as a group.
This activity is designed to help participants differentiate between broad, exploratory discussion and deliberation, which is discussing with the aim of reaching a decision as a group. Participants are first introduced to the concept of legislative juries. Participants are then told that they are part of a legislative jury. If this activity is being done in a classroom, this will be a mock jury and if being done in a community setting, it could be a real one. Participants are then tasked with crafting four different ballot initiatives for the chosen topic. Participants are asked to discuss the various different possibilities in small groups. Participants are encouraged to listen to each others ideas, imagine boldly, change their opinions if the discussion persuades them, build on the ideas shared, and deliberate to reach a unanimous decision on the final four ballot initiatives as a group. Each group is then invited to share their final four policy options with the full group.
This activity helps participants practice using their collaborative discussion skills, including listening, to deliberate with others in order to reach a common decision or a specific outcome.
Upcoming Events
Registration is now open for our annual Collaborative Discussion Coach Summer Training! The cost of the training is $265. We are able to offer a discounted price due to the generous support of the Interactivity Foundation. Our programming should never be cost prohibitive. Please contact us if a scholarship is needed. The deadline to register is May 5, 2024. Learn more and register here!
Looking forward to collaborating,
Ritu Thomas & the Collaborative Discussion Team