The document outlines a series of training skills related to group work, detailing methods and types of group exercises that enhance learning experiences in training courses. It includes planning creative, intuitive, and structured group activities like icebreakers, role plays, team-building, and performance exercises. The objective is to foster collaboration and personal growth among trainees while providing practical skills applicable in the workplace.

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Groupwork and Training
Training Skills
MTL Course Topics
Groupwork and Training
TRAINING SKILLS

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Groupwork and Training
Training Skills
MTL Course Topics
The Course Topics series from Manage Train Learn is a large collection of topics that will help you as a learner
to quickly and easily master a range of skills in your everyday working life and life outside work. If you are a
trainer, they are perfect for adding to your classroom courses and online learning plans.
COURSE TOPICS FROM MTL
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ARE YOU READY?
OK, LET’S START!

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INTRODUCTION
Groupwork is an essential feature of effective training
courses. Groupwork enables people to learn from one
another; it enables workplace situations to be simulated;
and is the forum in which we test our views, gather new
information and practise our skills. A well-planned training
event is designed around a varied and creative mix of group
working.

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WORKING WITH GROUPS
The kinds of groupwork you are likely to use on a training
course will be planned, creative or intuitive.
1. Planned groupwork will be part of your pre-course
plan. An icebreaker or group exercise used in the early
stages of the course may, for example, be planned to
get people working together. There are excellent
reference material in books on groupwork.
2. Creative groupwork arises out of joint discussion with
the group, and can be based on what they want to do.
3. Intuitive groupwork emerges from moment-by-
moment attention to where the group is in its
development and what kind of challenging activity it
needs to move on.

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THE POTENTIAL IN GROUPWORK
Every experience of groupwork has the potential to teach
your trainees three things:
1. How to successfully complete the set task
2. How to work together with others
3. How to learn something about themselves.
To achieve all three objectives, you will need to plan the
task, the composition of the team, and how the exercise is
run. This means giving the group a challenging, relevant, and
motivating task; observing interactions in the group and
reflecting your observations back; and allowing trainees
time for reflection afterwards. In this way, you can achieve a
“triple whammy” of teaching your trainees something they
can implement back at work; something about how they are
with other people; and something about their own values,
temperaments, attitudes and place in the world.

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TYPES OF GROUPWORK
There are at least seven different types of groupwork used
on a typical training course.
These include:
1. icebreakers, such as short introductory exercises; relaxers;
and enliveners
2. the group exercise, which allows the group to work on
any problem and come up with their own views
3. role plays, which allow groups to try out their skills and
receive feedback: for example, a recruitment interview on a
course for selectors.
4. team-building exercises, which are aimed at changing the
way the group works together
5. team games, which can be a mix of team development
and skill development
6. T-groups, in which the group discuss their own problems
7. team performance, in which the group develop their own
training exercise.

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INTRODUCTION ICEBREAKERS
Icebreakers are group exercises which unfreeze hostile
climates. They are short, easy to apply and can change the
pace and energy level of the group.
The following three icebreakers can serve as alternatives to
personal "round-the-room" introductions:
1. Snapshot: the whole group draws a group self-portrait
on a flipchart, adding their names and comments
2. Normally: each trainee describes what they would
normally be doing if they weren't on the course
3. Same, same: trainees jot down five things about
themselves, and then go and find other people in the
group who share the same characteristics.

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QUICKIE ICEBREAKERS
Quickies are icebreaker exercises which act as fill-ins, quick
review sessions, or activities to change the pace of a course.
Here are five Quickie icebreakers:
1. Hot ball A to Z: trainees throw a hot-ball (woolly ball),
from person to person. When someone catches the ball,
they say a word connected with the course themes,
moving from A to Z.
2. Spot running: run on the spot for a few minutes.
3. Seat change: everyone changes seats so that they are
not next to anyone they've already sat beside.
4. Graffiti chart: the group put any comments about how
they feel right now on a graffiti flipchart.
5. Mountain call: the group split into four and stand in the
four corners of the room. From here they take turns to
call out a course theme as if they were calling from a
mountain top.

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RELAXING ICEBREAKERS
Relaxers are group exercises that slow the pace and allow
people to relax. They can be combined with visualisation
exercises to carry out quiet reviews of course material.
Feathers
Sit quietly, close your eyes and imagine that you can see a
white feather falling gently in front of you against a clear
blue sky. As the feather descends, you unwind and your
muscles gradually lose their rigidity. When the feather
eventually touches the ground, you are completely relaxed.
The Classical Rose
Sit quietly, close your eyes and imagine a red rose in your
mind's eye. At the start it is a closed bud, but gradually each
petal opens. As the petals open, you unwind and your
muscles relax. Eventually, the rose is fully open and you are
completely at ease.

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THE GROUP EXERCISE
The Group Exercise is the basic format for all groupwork.
It consists of the following steps:
1. Set the whole group as individuals a task eg "How can the
company improve customer service?" Allow five minutes for
trainees to write down their ideas.
2. Now split the group into teams of 4 or 5 (or alternatively
ask them to split themselves).
3. Instruct the teams to go into their own space and discuss
their ideas. At the end of, say, 25 minutes, they must record
their views on a flipchart.
4. Before they return to present their views, the teams must
also agree a team name, and decide how they will present
their views using everyone in the team.
5. Teams return and present their views.
6. The whole group discusses both the team's views and
how each team worked as a team.

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ROLE PLAY
Group role play exercises offer the chance to practise skills
and responses in situations which imitate those in the
workplace. They are particularly useful for rehearsing set-
piece situations such as interviews and group meetings.
These are key points in succeeding with role plays:
1. role plays should only be attempted when there is a
high level of trust in the group
2. trainees should be allowed to volunteer or hold back
from participating until they feel ready
3. role plays can be conducted in large or small groups
4. others in the group should act as observers; the group
can be instructed in how to give feedback to each other
5. set-piece role plays can be usefully video-ed and then
played back to participants for comments
6. "ghost-cards" can be slipped to participants in a role
play, such as "stop listening" or "get angry" or "make it
difficult" to alter the situation.

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T-GROUP TRAINING
T-group, or sensitivity, training aims to train people to work
better in teams by confronting their personal feelings about
others in the group.
Exercises can range from openly discussing personal blocks
about others to mime and movement work aimed at freeing
or expressing deep-seated emotions.
While T-group training may have a valuable role to play in
dealing with major blocks in teamwork, it needs an
experienced and sensitive facilitator and a supportive team.
Some of the issues uncovered in the training room can be
highly personal and potentially embarrassing.

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BUILDING THE TEAM
Many of the groupwork exercises on a training course can
have team-building as their principal aim. There are four
types of team-building exercise:
1. Co-ordinating games: the team members receive bits of
a puzzle and have to work together to find the solution
2. Team problem-solving: the team are given a problem to
solve. This can test any of the following team skills:
leadership, communication, planning, and organising.
3. Team competition: the group splits into teams in
competition with each other. A good example is a team
quiz.
4. Outdoor training: the team meets in an outdoor
environment to complete a task. This could be any task
in the vicinity or an adventure training exercise such as
mountain climbing and abseiling.

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THE SIGMA RAY EMITTER
The following are instructions for an Outdoor training
exercise in a location close to a training centre:
Your team are members of an emergency bomb disposal
unit. Two boys have just discovered a brown box nearby
which has been identified as a highly dangerous sigma ray
emitter. One of the boys touched it and is now critically ill in
hospital.
Your task is to find the device and bring it back to this base
before it goes critical in 40 minutes.
You cannot touch the device without having to immediately
retire for medical treatment. Nor can you approach within a
metre of the emitter or drop it to the ground during
recovery.
Metal, wood and rope may be used without fear of
conducting the dangerous rays.
Hurry! There is no time to lose. (Thanks to BACIE)

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TEAM GAMES
Team games are sometimes used as set-pieces or grand
finales to courses. They work best when teams have
become established, have high levels of openness and trust
and people are ready to mix work and fun.
The role of the trainer during a team game is...
1. to explain the task clearly
2. to make sure that the correct materials are provided
3. to act as observer and recorder of how the teams work,
possibly including video recording
4. to act as impartial arbiter if problems arise
5. to intervene if things start going seriously wrong
6. to make sure everyone is involved
7. to organise the post-game presentation
8. to lead de-briefing sessions.

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TEAM PERFORMANCE
A "Team Performance" exercise is one that is decided wholly
by the group themselves. It may be the climax of a
successful training course in which the team have reached
high levels of group working.
A trainer might introduce a team performance exercise in
the following way:
"Now that you have had practice of working together, the
next exercise is for you to devise, plan, organise and deliver
yourselves. There are only two rules: everyone must be
involved in the final presentation and it must relate to the
themes of the course. You have 30 minutes at the end of
which I will return to watch your presentation.“
If they are well-timed and well-judged, team performance
exercises can be the most empowering exercises of training
courses.

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THAT’S
IT!
WELL DONE!

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THANK YOU
This has been a Slide Topic from Manage Train Learn