Business communication skills games

How it Works

There are 6 different shapes repeated in 5 different colours; a total of 30 quality laminated plastic cards.

• Arrange the participants to sit in a circle facing outwards so they cannot see each other properly
• Remove two of the cards and distribute the remainder to the participants
• Participants may not show, exchange or pass the cards between group members
• They do not know how many cards, shapes or colours the group has. Their objective is to establish this and the shape and colour of the missing cards
• Observe the group interaction (participants learn by doing).

Look at these examples of the shapes and you can see the difference. But what if one person has the shapes on the left and someone else has the shapes on the right and they cannot see each other's shapes; can one person describe their shapes accurately for the other person to notice the difference in shape? The answer is usually no.

They often assume when one person describes their shape as having a round edge to the right, a flat bottom and a triangle edge on the left; it is the same as the shape they are holding.

They also assume when one describes another shape as a cross with a half circle at the bottom, it is the same as their shape. That is when they all hold the cards the same way round; often some people will hold their cards like playing cards (in portrait) and then the shapes look different again.

The game is even more complicated, because (they are not told this) there are six different shapes in five different colours. They have to identify what the shapes and colours are by describing what they have and listening to what the others to get the complete picture.

Enjoyable as well as educational, Colourshapes is the ideal communication skills game for training sessions about communication, interpersonal skills, teamwork, telephone techniques, problem solving, influencing, selling and negotiating.

Used by companies, organisations, schools and universities for training courses, seminars or conferences, colour shapes game is easy to play. It is also ideal as an ice-breaker or part of an assessment programme.

The art of communication

Communication plays a big part in many business activities. However, it is only successful when the information conveyed is clear and unambiguous. Messages which are open to misinterpretation can cause confusion, wasted effort and missed opportunities.

Colorshapes game teaches good communication skills by replicating many of the issues that occur in the workplace; including:

• assumptions
• muddled thinking
• conflict
• poor listening skills
• barriers to communication
• lack of understanding and team cohesion.

See the bigger picture

If you have used the popular Coloublind team activity you will know of the benefits from using this training activity.