Purpose
At the end of a training course, you should always allocate time so that delegates can review what they have learned in the course so you can get a chance to reinforce key lessons. In addition, this is also a good opportunity to provide feedback. When this feedback is delivered by other delegates it can be even more effective. Hence, this exercise is designed to help delegates receive positive affirmations, reinforce learning on those areas and make the experience more memorable.
Objective
Provide positive affirmations about other delegates based on what you thought of their performance.
What You Need
- You can optionally use the Clock Buddies tool. See variations below.
Setup
- Divide the delegates to two groups.
- Ask the first group to form a circle facing outwards.
- Ask the other group to form a bigger circle and face the first group.
- Each person should now have someone in front of them. If you have an odd number of delegates, you should participate as well.
- Ask the delegates in the inner group to think about the performance of their partner during the course. They should then share one way that the person “shined” during the training course. This is the positive affirmation.
- Allocate 2 minutes for this.
- Ask the outer circle to shift clockwise one person.
- Now that each person has a new partner, ask the delegates in the outer circle to provide a positive affirmation for the person in the inner circle.
- After 2 minutes, ask the outer circle to shift clockwise again.
- Now, ask the inner circle to provide the positive feedback.
- Continue alternating as above until the outer circle has completed a full rotation.
Timing
Explaining the Exercise: 5 minutes
Activity: 2 min * (N / 2) = 8 minutes for 8 delegates.
Group Feedback: 10 minutes
Discussion
Was there a pattern in the feedback you received from others? What does this suggest?
Variations
Rather than using the elaborate circular pattern described above to pair delegates, you can take advantage of a handy tool known as Clock Buddies. We have created this free tool for you, so all you need is a list of names and the system will generate all possible pairings for you. This tool is very popular with teachers as it makes the whole process of pairing straightforward and also entertaining for younger audiences.