ECCAY RESOURCES
Exercise nr. 1
GOSSIP OF RESOURCES
| Minimum number of participants | Average time length | Individual setting | Group setting | Special Equipment | Unit | Online | Challenge/ competition |
| 3 or more | 30' | no | Yes | No | 1, 3, 4, 6 | Yes | No |
As Peter Szabo (who created this exercise) wrote:
“Resource gossip is a five-minute small group activity. It can be used during training as SF form of feedback or also with teams and organizations. In just a few minutes it creates an atmosphere of mutual appreciation and acknowledgement within a group, while at the same time reinforcing the individual in doing more of what works. It is also a wonderful exercise to focus on existing solutions and learn from that.”
In group of three, in rotation, one will be in silence listening, for an established time, to the other two, who will talk about the resources, talents and beautiful things they imagine, see or suppose of the person listening.
For example:
"The way he is dressed reminds me of a person who pays a lot of attention to details…”
“Yes, and I was struck by his smile, he looks like a person who knows how to put the people who work with him at ease...".
Aim / Benefits
It helps people being more aware of their resources and how visible these can be to the outside world.
This exercise aims to shift the gaze from criticism to appreciation, from lack to resources. All in a conversational and transparent form.
The exercise facilitates the exchange of resources in the group, enhances individuals and creates belonging, energizing the group.
It also gives experience of the fact that you can immediately focus on the positive or negative aspects, depending on how you approach it.
Related units
Why?
This exercise can be related to Unit 1 as it is a way to explain the Solution Focused mindset (focus on resources and skills).
It can be related to Unit 3, as it shows relationships as mutual influence and cooperative systems.
It can be related to Unit 4, as it helps enhancing motivation and cooperation in group.
It can be related to Unit 6, as it helps participants considering how to approach to their ecosystem and how to mobilize them in a useful way.
Materials
Time length (approximately)
No of participants
How to do the exercise
Create small groups of three people, better if they do not know each other very well.
Explain of the exercises work.
We suggest emphasizing the importance of focusing only on the good things, talents or resources participants imagine in the other person.
Explain that each round, when one person is listening silently and the other two talk about his/her resources/ skills/talents, last from 3' to 5’.
Once the rules have been explained, people are invited to stand in small groups well apart and decide who goes first to listen.
Step 2:
Start the first round.
Pay attention to the minutes.
After 3’ (5’ minutes max.) invite the groups to change roles and start a new round.
When the second round is finished, invite the group to change roles again and start the third round.
After 3 rounds, all members of the small groups of three should have experienced the role of silent listener, when the other two discuss each other of the resources/talents/skills they see in him/her.
Step 3:
Once the 3 rounds have finished, invite the individual groups to exchange their emotions, thoughts, ideas about the experiences.
To facilitate the discussion in each small group, you can invite them to answer to questions like the followings:
What do you think of this experience?
What was it like to listen to people discussing of good things about you?
What was it like to imagine resources of someone you do not know, or little know about?
Give each small group a limited time to discuss about the experience (3’ to 5’ minutes).
Explain that there will be a debriefing phase where all the participants will have the opportunity to share with the others their thoughts, feelings and ideas.
Final step / Conclusion:
Once each small group has discussed about the experience, you can invite people to stay seated where they are, to stand in a circle or find a seat in the courtroom as they wish.
Then you can start the Debrief phase.
Debrief
You can highlight that people’s lives are always richer than we think, because everybody has always nice sides of himself/herself.
The atmosphere at the end is usually very friendly and everybody smiles.
Participants are often surprised about how many good things the others see in them.
It is useful in our opinion to help the participants to notice the differences in emotional state in the group from the beginning to the end of the exercise.
Tips and Tricks
For this reason, we suggest just to invite them to participate, but do not oblige them.
If a participant does not want to do exercise, you can ask him/her to take the role of a tutor, helping the other small groups stick to the rules.
It is also possible that what is said may shake them up a little and they may be moved and/or cry. In this case, a bit of irony and lightness can be of great help.
On-line version
Platforms such as zoom, Teams, can be used.
The use of boards such as MIRO (www.miro.com) or MURAL (www.mural.com) can also help, but we recommend keeping the exercise on a conversational level.
Print
eccay-curriculum-en.pdf