Identifying leaders in the workplace helps create a well-organized and stimulating environment for all employees. To identify and strengthen skillsets, implement leadership training activities.
What are leadership activities?
Leadership activities provide managers with the conditions they need to practice and improve leadership qualities. Throughout engagement with leadership activities and training games, employees and managers learn how to improve responses to situations requiring care and attention. Training a leader is not easy but with leadership games, a controlled situation can be used to carefully educate and empower employees.
Benefits of leadership activities:
Employee retention
Empowerment of future leaders
Better decision-making
Improved ability to handle high-pressure situations
Improved communication skills
Increased understanding of diversity
Increased emotional intelligence
Leadership Activities and Training Games
1. Survival Training Game
Divide your employees into two groups and present them with a situation requiring survival skills. Examples include plane crashes and shipwrecks. Next, identify a list of objects that could potentially be useful in the survival situation.
Have each group pick only five items from the list to help them survive the situation. Once each team has decided on each of their items, have them justify their choices by explaining how each chosen item would be used to survive.
Benefits of survival training games:
- Promotes critical thinking
- Encourages creativity
- Promotes strategic thinking
- Strengthens problem-solving skills
2. Hypothetical Training Game
Invite each of your employees into your office individually and present them with a hypothetical situation difficult to solve. Ask them to develop a solution for addressing the issue.
An example of a difficult situation is, “What if you made a decision outside of established protocol that negatively impacted company revenue? How would you explain your decision and how would you work to correct the mistake?”
Benefits of hypothetical training games:
- Promotes rational thinking
- Taps into analytical thinking
- Encourages accountability
- Strengthens problem-solving skills
3. Obstacle Course Training Game
For this leadership development activity, divide your employees into teams of two. You’ll need a blindfold and a set of obstacles, like office furniture. Or, turn it into an outdoor activity and take your employees to a nearby park.
Have one group member wear a blindfold. Instruct his teammate to guide the blindfolded person through the obstacle course using only the following words: forward, backward, left, and right.
Benefits of obstacle course training games:
- Promotes effective communication
- Encourages trust between partners
- Promotes effective listening
4. Select A Leader Training Game
Divide employees into groups (no more than five people in one group). Place each group in different parts of the office so they can discuss among themselves. Have them identify leaders they admire, whether living or dead, and have them collectively appoint one leader for their group.
Once each group has come up with a final decision, call all groups together and have them present the leader selected for their group. Inquire further about their decision-making process.
Provide feedback for each leader selected, identifying desirable leadership traits and characteristics.
Benefits of leader selection training games:
- Promotes teamwork
- Encourages engagement
- Reveals positive leadership traits
5. Break the Ice Training Game
Provide team leader training with an icebreaker task. Have participants come up with five questions meant to break the ice. An example of an icebreaker question is, “Have you met a famous person?”
Let each person ask their questions and have those answering the questions raise their hand when the question applies to them. For example, if three people raise their hands when asked if they’ve met a famous person, that’s a total of three points for the person who came up with that icebreaker question. At the end, the person with the most points wins.
Benefits of breaking the ice training games:
- Relieves tension
- Develops interpersonal communication
- Encourages discussion
- Creates connection
6. Leadership Qualities Training Game
Create activities for leaders by first identifying 20 positive leadership qualities. Write them down using “I am” statements. For example, “I am comfortable with making important decisions in high-pressure situations.”
Have your employees line up facing you – they should be standing next to one another. Read each of the statements out loud and ask those who feel those statements apply to them to take one step forward.
Ensure your employees know they should justify their position when asked to. As the game progresses, ask the remaining employees to rationalize their next steps forward.
Read through each statement until a winner is identified.
Benefits of leadership quality training games:
- Identifies employees with leadership traits
- Promotes connection and understanding among employees
7. Tower Building Training Game
For this leadership training activity, you’ll need a few supplies. Feel free to get creative and substitute any of the items if necessary.
- Uncooked pasta
- Newspaper
- String
- Tape
- Toothpicks
- Blocks
- Marshmallows
Divide your employees into two teams and have them build the tallest tower they possibly can using the items you’ve provided. Set a time limit of 20 minutes and let them get started.
The tower should be able to stand alone and hold the weight of a small marshmallow, which will be placed on top at the end of the exercise. The team who is able to build the tallest stand-alone tower that supports the marshmallow wins.
Benefits of tower building training games:
- Encourages group communication and collaboration
- Strengthens problem-solving skills
- Promotes creative thinking and innovation
- Improves team dynamics
Incorporate creativity and imagination when engaging with leadership training games. Decide which leadership traits are of most value in your business setting and create activities that promote the use of that trait. Giving workers the opportunity to engage with one another through low-pressure games and activities helps to bring cohesion to the group.
Activities should be conducted once per month, is possible. Write these into your shared calendar so your employees can look forward to leadership training on a regular basis. As you continue, leaders will begin emerging from your workforce, providing you with the information you need to shift duties and offer promotions to employees displaying the leadership qualities your business needs.
