After completing this activity trainees/ learners will develop skills in listening, negotiating and creating different perspectives. It can also provide insights into how you and your colleagues choose to handle disagreeing opinions.

Exercise: Four words

In the Four Words exercise, the aim is for the participants to gain greater insight into how to handle conflicts, as well as which strategies different participants choose to take when a conflict arises.

Do it like this: 

Each participant will be given paper and pencil. They are then instructed to write down four words that they relate to the concept of conflict. All participants are then divided into pairs, in which they are then told to work together to select the best four words that relate to the concept of conflict. At this stage they therefore have eight words in total, and thus need to remove four in favour of the four they choose in the end. After this is done, all the pairs are paired with another pair, where they now again need to agree on the best four words out of a total of eight. Finally, the group will be divided into just two groups that need to agree on the best four words. The exercise ends with an evaluation exercise, where the participants can discuss how the collaboration worked and what obstacles arose and how they were handled. 

Equipment: 

Paper and pencils.

Location: 

The exercise works both outdoors and indoors.