Tuesday, August 22, 2006

The Power of Exercises

Exercises are an important part of any group program - whether it is a workshop, a retreat or a group coaching program. What exercises do you have in your back pocket?

Over my next few blog posts I am going to be sharing some information and resources on exercises to use throughout a group program. As an experiential educator, exercises are the foundation of any program I run.

Reflect on what exercises you have available at your disposal. If you are a coach, what exercises do you currently use with your individual clients that could be translated into the group context? My guess is that you can come up with a list of at least 10 - 15 that could be modified for the group context.

To start filling your "back pocket" (what I call as those activities I always have in the back of my mind which I can pull out at any time" do a web-based search for terms such as "icebreaker", teambuilding exercises, group exercises. I often recommend to coaches and other group facilitators to start a file, or even a binder, with exercises they have come across that are interesting. You will never know when you can use them!

A note on copyright (a pet peeve of mine when it is infringed upon, as I discussed last week to a group of business students I was lecturing to on this subject). Make sure that you have copyright access/authorization to any materials you are using. Check what the author of the activty has said in terms of use, attribution etc.

Stay tuned, lots more to come on exercises...What's your biggest question regarding exercises? - I'd be happy to include it in a future blog post.

Cheers,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, CPT, CPCC, CHRP
Potentials Realized
Web: www.groupcoachingessentials.com - Group Coaching Essentials Website
www.potentialsrealized.com - Potentials Realized Website

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