Focus On: Training Activities that Illustrate the Importance of Trust

When you think about it, trust is at the heart of all successful relationships and that includes relationships at work. Employees perform best when they trust their manager and believe that they are trusted in return. People follow leaders they trust. It’s easier to negotiate and find mutually beneficial solutions when trust is present. And, ultimately, creating an environment where everyone can thrive, regardless of background or personal qualities, requires trust.

So, trust is absolutely critical to individual and organisational success. But it’s a fragile entity and when it’s missing, or lost, the consequences can be serious.

That’s why we talk about trust a lot at Trainers’ Library and have created so much training material that focuses on this vital ingredient to success, including these three activities:

Alien Invasion

This is a simple, yet powerful icebreaker – and it’s one of our free samples. So, if you’d like to, head on over here and get your free copy of the detailed trainer’s notes.

What happens when the group are told to identify and alienate the aliens in their midst?

Police Chase

This team building game is a fantastic board game of ‘cops’ and ‘robbers’ that we invented a few years back. Participants love it and, as with everything in Trainers’ Library, it’s unique to us and only available to our members. The robbers are tasked with making it to the port without being caught, whilst the cops put up roadblocks to try and thwart their escape. Of course, there are rules to follow and limited resources, which keep the game interesting and challenging. But what happens when you start to sow the seeds of doubts in the criminals’ minds too? Will they still be able to function as a team?

As well as looking at the impact of trust on team performance, this activity also tests communication and leadership skills, problem solving, decision making and time management.

“This is one of the best activities I have ever facilitated and the feedback from delegates was excellent. I used it as part of a team building event and although it is quite a challenging task, the delegates were enthusiastic, excited and engaged the whole time. One delegate had recently paid to attend an Escape Room experience and she said that this beat it, hands down! My advice would be to thoroughly read all the Trainer Notes and briefs beforehand and ensure that all the handouts are set up in advance so that it runs smoothly. I will definitely be running this activity again!” (Mike Darbyshire)

Glasstap Sheep Trials

With better weather hopefully around the corner, here’s a great activity you can take outdoors – although there’s even a remote delivery version of this activity available, called Glasstap Sheep Trail .

It’s a race against time as a ‘shepherd’ guides his team around the course and into the correct ‘pen’ with only a whistle to help them.

This activity always results in lots of laughter but there’s lots of learning too – about leadership, communication and miscommunication, assumptions, teamwork and, of course, trust.

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