Inner Control of Influence - Activities

by Eugene Soo
(Singapore)

Hi, I am having my retreat next 2 days. I am still
trying my best to find a game/activity for my group of sales advisors understand the idea of inner control of influence versus external things that they cannot control. Key idea is to let them see that it is no point wasting time discussing and dwelling on things/factors they cannot control, but rather to work on the inner self, things that they can work on to give a change to the results.

Appreciate your fast reply.

Answer

Name of the Game: My Mind

The game is played in pairs. You will need blindfolds - same as the number of pairs in your group.

Make the pairs sit far apart so that their voices do not carry to the other pairs sitting in the room.

One of the pair has to be blindfolded. The task for the pair is to act like one individual instead of two. As such the seeing member has to be the speaker, encourager, describer, problem-solver, while the blindfolded person has to be the doer.

(The reason for the blindfold is to enable the individual to not just focus on the stimuli in the external environment, but primarily listen to what the inner person has to say about the external environment. Use this information to debrief the game. Do not reveal it in the beginning.)

The task should be at the most 10 minutes long. Ask one of the members of the pairs to blindfold themselves. Then put up the slide with the following picture (or anyother picture of your choice which is not too complicated to replicate)on it.

The seeing person should use words (no touching or guiding of the hand is allowed) to describe the picture to the blindfolded person so that s/he can replicate the picture on a sheet of paper. The blindfolded person can respond with questions, doubts or opinions but not ask the partner to guide their hands.

At the end of the task or ten minutes, the game is over. The accomplishments of the various pairs are reviewed. The debrief focuses on the facilitating and hindering factors.

Very often the hindering factors are listed as the doubts and opinions of the blindfolded person, or the lack of clear instructions or even a critical attitude from the seeing person.

The learning is that the 'doing' part of an individual can either hinder or facilitate a task. The inner voice is always communicating the manner in which a situation should be handled, but the doer's doubts or unwillingness can stymie or block the inner voice. Usually, as the frequency of the blocks by a doer increases, the chances of the inner voice dying are highly likely.

In the case of the inner voice being critical of the 'doer', then too the task accomplishment gets stymied.

Overall Learning:
1. The inner voice needs to be worked on and be transformed to become nuturing/clear

2. The doer should take recourse to the treasures inside him/her to transform his/her environment/the external situation.