Exercises
Experience the Game of Change Exercises
In this section you may gain full access to the Game of Change Exercises. We invite you to download them, read carefully and pilot them individually or in group.
1. Exercise: Getting to Know Each Other - Finding your place
The exercise is a „get to know each other“ – activity. It is designed for use as an icebreaker in the first-time meeting of a group that is quite unfamiliar to each other. This activity eases the self-introduction situation and helps participants discover commonalities with each other. This creates a basis for cooperation and strengthens the encouraging atmosphere.
2. Exercise: Mindful awareness - Presencing
The connection between body and mind is promoted, as is the conscious connection to the earth, the sky and the environment. This supports the perception of one’s own body, needs and impulses. It is an important basis for successful collaboration and essential for the Game of Change.
3. Exercise: Journaling
Free associative writing reduces censorship in one’s own thinking and strengthens contact with intuitive perception. The method can be used to open the channels of association and intuition in general, or to explore a specific topic.
4. Exercise: Creating a safe space, Container building
This exercise is an essential part of the beginning of the entire game. Creating a safe space for a group or team fosters trust and establishes ground rules for engagement. This includes the three essential qualities of interaction: open mind (seeing), open heart (feeling), and open will (intention).
5. Exercise: Story Sharing
By sharing personal stories and listening attentively, access to one’s own feelings and the connection to others and to the topic of change is strengthened. This connection is essential for the Game of Change and supports the co-creation of the shared story as well as an enjoyable implementation phase.
6. Exercise: Find a Topic - The Common Change Intention
This exercise serves to develop a group theme from the participants’ individual topics. This can be formulated as a common motto or as a common intention.
7. Exercise: Finding the best fitting staging-format 3D-Modelling
3D Modelling can clarify how ideas for possibilities might emerge and play out over a game’s progression. 3D Modelling encourages and reinforces the experience of engaging with the body’s impulses in the design process and following them in implementation. 3D Modelling also strengthens trust in the body’s impulses and offers an opportunity to gain valuable experience of being able to rely on your intuition, even when it comes to a topic that you usually think about and discuss.
8. Exercise: Role embodyment
This exercise can help participants to empathise with their character and take their first steps in their role.
9. Exercise: Roots and Wings
This exercise can help participants to deepen the connection with their role-character and take further steps in embodying their role. The participants find information about the background story of their role and their future goals.
10. Exercise: Stepping Stones - Creating the Framework for the Staging
The exercise is intended to give the participants some pointers for finding the format of the production in a playful way.
11. Exercise: Impro Warm-up - Do Something
The Do something-exercise is a warm-up exercise based on improvisation methods. It helps the participants to get into right mood for playing the Game of Change. It is also a gentle step towards stepping into one’s role in the game and supports the participants to use their intuition, to listen to others and to dare to try out something spontaneously.
12. Exercise: Stuck Exercise
This exercise can be used by individuals or teams as a practice for letting the intelligence of the body guide us in decisions and actions. Fully embodying our situations gives us direct feedback that informs our decisions. Noticing the interdependence of many factors and influences in every situation gives us a broader perspective.
13. Exercise: Prototyping
A prototype makes an idea tangible and testable. It shows what an initiative could look like and can be changed several times. Prototyping refines and tests ideas to check their feasibility. In the Game of Change, prototyping is a good way to test ideas instead of discussing them at length.
14. Exercise: 20 Minutes Dance
This exercise helps to perceive the moment and synchronize body and mind. This allows us to reach a deeper level of awareness and promote creativity and intuitive impulses, which are important for a lively gaming experience in the Game of Change.
15. Exercise: Giving presents
This improvisation-based exercise helps the participants to get into a playful mode, use their intuition and collaborate with other participants.
16. Exercise: Reflection on the Game
The purpose of this exercise is to reflect, identify key learning aspects, and incorporate elements like individual reflection time followed by group discussion.
17. Exercise: Marking Moments
This exercise helps to land the experience, define the most meaningful events and it supports applying the insights in future situations. It also supports the participants of the game to take time to revisit the process and identify the change that has taken place.
Curious to experience more?
Go back our Play Corner to explore all our key resources:
- Quick Guide: this explains how to navigate on the digital version of the Game of Change
- Implementation Guide: this is the comprehensive guide that outlines how to apply the methodological approach and validation process
- Card Game: play with our beautiful set of cards clustered around 3 dimensions
- Exercises: discover the full set of exercises which you may use individually or in group
- Video Play List: discover our videos that illustrate key approaches related to Theory U, Strategic Staging, Cards and the Game of Change methodology