Themes: Group Dynamics
Objectives
- To create a group dynamic
- To make the participants function as a team throughout the week
- To make participants work together in harmony
- To build trust between the participants
Duration and Planning
- 15 minutes : Famous Person
- 15 minutes : Interview Round
- 40 minutes : 10 points
- 20 minutes : Debriefing
Materials
- Paper Tape
- Chairs
- Envelope for each participant
- Board markers
- Pastel Paint
Recommended Method
In this section, we will implement 3 different activities with the involvement of the whole group and in pairs to develop a group dynamic and make the participants more familiar and closer with each other for building trust as the activities later to be implemented requires teamwork and individual work.
“Famous Person”
The facilitator asks the participants to write a famous name on a piece of paper and put someone else’s back. Person tries to guess what name is pinned on his/her back by asking others around the room yes or no questions. The aim of this activity to make the participants familiar with each other and their interests.
“Interview Round”
The participants find someone from the group that they haven’t talk before and make pairs. Later, the facilitator tells the participants to ask each other random questions about hobbies, school/job, favourite colour, favourite food etc. The round continues with three times and each round they have to change the partners in the pairs. In the end participants should have a explanatory sentence with the name of the person such as “Ricardo was my partner, loves guitar, funny and charming guy.
“Four pointers”
This activity aims to make participants built a team together and make them able to work in a meta level. The facilitator mark two lines “A” and “B”, 10 meters apart and put 10 points on the ground. As the group is consisted of 20 people, the objective of this activity is to get the team from line “A” to line “B”, using only four points of contact with the ground.
The group must :
- Cross at one time
- If one touches outside of the points, they have to start again
- They have to be in contact wit heach other
- The task should be completed in 20 minutes
When the participants goes jointly from A to B line together, than the activity is finalised and debriefing process starts.
Debriefing
Prior to the finalisation of the activity, the facilitator can use the following guiding questions to implement the debriefing of the session, in that way, the participants will be aware about the general goals of the session and activity and it will lead them to talk about their experience.
- How do you feel about the overall activities?
- What do you think about the activities up to now?
- Did you feel uncomfortable, if yes why?
- Did you learn extraordinary things about each other?
- Why do you think we did these activities?
Facilitators’ Note
The activities that are explained under this segment is highly intimate and requires touching. Before implementing, pay attention to the group dynamics and try to get the idea that the methods are implementable with the group or not. In case that, somebody is uncomfortable with participating, do not force them to engage but find a way to engage them in a different way by improvising the idea of the method.
Additional Information and Readings
Other activities related with “Getting to know each other” and “Building group dynamics” can be as well implemented according to target group.
