Intended for:
This free training game activity works well as part of any programme covering negotiating skills. Alternatively it can be used during any programme requiring participants to work as teams, such as Team Building Training or Communication Skills.
Training course contents:
Instructions to help you run a fast paced competitive training game to help energise participants in a training programme can be downloaded in Word format from the link at the bottom of this page, or you can follow the notes below.
This game works well as an accompaniment to our ‘Art of Negotiation’ course.
Resources Needed – you will need to purchase 4 children’s jigsaw puzzles containing around 20 pieces. The puzzles should contain the same number of pieces but must be 4 different pictures.
You will need to prime the puzzles before you start this activity. Before starting the activity take 6 jigsaw pieces from each box and share these pieces between the other 3 boxes. By the time you have finished each box will have 6 missing pieces but 6 that do not belong.
Arrange participants into four teams. Hand each team a jigsaw puzzle and explain that they will be racing against each other. The team to finish their puzzle fist is the winner.
Explain that they have most of the pieces to complete the puzzle but that some of the pieces they need are held by other teams. They also have some pieces belonging to the other teams. They will need to get the missing pieces to complete their puzzle.
Start the activity by shouting ‘go’.
When the first team completes the activity call a halt.
Ask the teams to evaluate their performance during this activity.
Lead a debrief by asking each team to share what they thought they did well and what they would do differently another time.
Close by sharing your own observations with the teams.
In particular, how well did they negotiate with each other? Did they treat each other fairly or did competitive instincts take over?
Objectives:
To help energise participants during a training session and/or to provide participants with the opportunity to practice negotiating skills in a competitive situation.
