Introduction

Building Community & Embracing Diversity

The Art of Compassionate Communication

Facilitation Skills: Decision Making & Conflict Resolution

Personal Empowerment & Leadership Skills

Celebrating Life:
Art & Creativity

Using Games to Build Community

Games are powerful tools that can be used to build community; and of course games are fun. We can play different games to get to know each other when starting a new project with a group of people, to build trust among the members of the group, or to improve our communication skills and increase the quality of our interactions... Games are useful also when we get stuck in a difficult situation (a complex decision, a conflict...) and have to find new ways to solve it. Creativity is developed through games and fun.

Whether we consider ‘getting to know one another’, so-called ice-breaker games, or complex team building challenges, the essential ingredient is always ‘effective communication’. All these activities strive to break down barriers and replace them with effective lines of communication. Effectively facilitated, they will encourage increased communication and hopefully break down natural barriers that are brought to any interaction. Shyness, language difficulties, cultural norms, emotional fears, physical differences - and most importantly, preconceptions - are examples of barriers that exist to hinder effective communication and that may be overcome by using appropriate games.

The facilitator of these cooperative activities is the critical element in creating their appropriate application. It requires a sensitivity to the group needs at a given time, an ability to remain flexible enough to know when an activity is either not working and should be modified or stopped altogether, and the ability to recognize when the benefits accrued from an activity should allow it to be extended.

Tableau vivant in Lakabe - a silent and motionless group of people arranged to represent a scene or incident.
Click on image for more info about cooperative games

Our Totem - a collaborative painting where each participant draws a part of an animal she/he identifies with.