Interaction Activity

Today I went to a leadership and team building workshop and over there I got the opportunity to do something that I found extremely interesting.

First we were divided into groups of 2- one is the instructor, and the other is the drawer.

We had to sit with our backs to one another, so we couldn't see each others face but we could hear one another.

Now the drawer was given a piece of paper and a pen. The instructor was given a card with a simple diagram drawn on it.

Now this is what we had to do:

The instructor had to describe the picture to the drawer but the drawer could not say a word; they could only draw. So if they did not understand the instructions given to them by the instructor they could not ask the instructor to repeat or ask questions or anything.

So now the outcome.

I ended up being an instructor. When I saw the diagram I thought, "Oh this will be easy."

It wasn't.

I kept wanting to ask my partner if they understood what I was saying. I didn't even know if she could hear me. But I had no way to clarify.

Finally once everyone finished the coordinator asked all the drawers how they felt for not being able to talk to their instructors.

Basically they all said that they felt confused. The problem was interpretation. All of us interpret things differently and so when I said draw a line in the middle of the rectangle she did not know if she should draw it along the length or the width.

What we learned from this exercise is that when communicating with others we need to try to be as clear as possible but at the same time let them or encourage them to ask questions and explain what they understood.

Again we repeated the activity but the only difference this time was that the drawer could interact and talk. This time all the teams except 2 got their pictures to look the same.

I just thought it was amazing exercise that explained the importance of communicating both ways. We see in many places people always complaining that their children don't understand them or the children say that their parents don't understand them. Well the reason for this is that either the parent keeps placing orders upon their child but the child cannot give feedback about what they feel and vise versa. We need to learn to give ideas but at the same time be ready to expect and accept other interpretations.