INTERACTIVE OF THE MONTH
This interactive exercise is one of more than 300 exercises and variations contained in Moving Beyond Icebreakers.
See chapter 4 of the excerpts from the book for what we mean by "processing."
FEBRUARY:
Exaggeration
Goals: Communication, Different perspectives, Acting
Time: Roughly 30 seconds per participant (not including processing)
Physical contact: None
Physical challenges: Must be able to mimic and exaggerate a movement from another participant.
Number of participants: 15 or fewer
Space requirements: Open floor space is ideal, but the exercise can also be done around a table.
Materials needed: None
Preparation: None
Instructions
- Have the group stand in a circle.
- Ask for a volunteer to begin.
- The first person makes a tiny movement.
- The person to their right makes the same movement, but does it in a large, exaggerated way.
- This person then makes a different tiny movement.
- Proceed around the circle in this way. End with the first person exaggerating the movement of the person to their left.
Processing suggestions
- In times of stress, small things can get exaggerated.
- The same thing can be perceived very differently depending on how it is communicated.
- Sometimes people may exaggerate movements that the person did not intend to make. How do patterns sometimes get repeated unintentionally in the group and elsewhere?
- This exercise can be used to discuss issues of gossip and ''he said/she said.''
- Watch the way people made their movements for aspects that might be valuable for processing. People have different styles that will be obvious.
- How does having a variety of styles both enhance the group and also present challenges?
- Some people will have difficulty with this exercise. Not everyone is comfortable with exaggeration or making ''big'' statements and those people will have a hard time doing this under pressure. How does this affect the group's work?