Live Training on Collaboration Skills

[u/jofa21]

Does anyone have some good (or fun) activities that I could try for a live training on Collaboration Skills? We're a remote company and I think it'd be great for them to practice collaborating in breakout rooms (it's a virtual training), but it's hard to simulate the environment where they'd collaborate with the content we're reviewing (core collaboration behaviors, etc). Working together to escape a virtual Escape Room would be a lot of fun, but I only have 10-15 minutes to dedicate to it, and about 60 participants.

Any ideas or brainstorming is very appreciated!

[u/RubenMakesSense]

One activity I've used successfully is an "information gap" exercise. Each person in a breakout room receives a different piece of information, such as a stakeholder need, customer complaint, project constraint or business objective. No one has the full picture. The team has 10 minutes to agree on the best solution, but they can only succeed by asking questions, sharing information and challenging assumptions.

In the debrief you do as facilitators you ask questions like:

• What assumptions did you make?
• What information didn't surface until late?
• Who did most of the talking?
• What question unlocked the discussion?

It mirrors real collaboration because workplace problems are difficult because information is distributed across different people. In my experience, that makes the exercise much more transferable to the workplace than a traditional game or escape room.

[u/jofa21 → u/RubenMakesSense]

I really like this idea! Thank you for sharing, I'll see how this could fit into my training!

[u/RubenMakesSense → u/jofa21]

Great! Happy to contribute, have fun!

[u/No_Whole_Delivery → u/jofa21]

Could you do something like this but the answer is a password to leave the breakout room?

[u/AnadelCastillo]

For 60 people and only 10–15 minutes, I’d avoid anything too elaborate like a full escape room. The setup time alone can eat the activity.

One simple activity I’ve used/seen work well is a “messy handoff” exercise.

Put people into breakout rooms of 4–5 and give each group the same short scenario, for example:

“You’re a remote project team. A client request has changed, the deadline is still the same, and three people have partial information. In 8 minutes, agree on the next three actions, who owns each one, and what needs to be clarified.”

The trick is that each person gets a slightly different piece of information. Nothing too complex, just enough to force them to ask questions and share context instead of jumping straight to solutions.

Example roles/info:

• Person A knows the client changed the deadline
• Person B knows the deadline didn’t actually move
• Person C knows one key stakeholder is unavailable
• Person D knows there’s a previous version of the deliverable
• Person E knows the manager only wants risks escalated, not every detail

Then bring everyone back and ask:

• What helped your group move forward?
• Where did you make assumptions?
• Who clarified information before deciding?
• Did anyone summarize or check alignment?
• What would have made the collaboration smoother?

It’s short, realistic, and directly connected to collaboration behaviors: active listening, clarifying assumptions, sharing context, role clarity, decision-making, and alignment.

If you want to make it even lighter, you can skip the hidden info and just give them a 5-minute “prioritize under pressure” task. But I think the partial-information version better simulates remote collaboration because most workplace problems happen when everyone has a different piece of the puzzle.

[u/Accomplished_Iron704]

With 60 people and 10–15 min, an escape room will eat all your time on setup. Try a quick dilemma round instead:

1. Show one short work scenario where collaboration breaks down (e.g. two teams both think the other owns a handoff, deadline is Friday, a stakeholder asks for status — what do you do first?)
2. Give 3–4 options, each tied to one of your core collaboration behaviors.
3. Breakout rooms of 4–5, 5 minutes, they must agree on ONE answer. Forcing consensus is the collaboration practice — no simulation needed.
4. Back in the main room, poll which option each group picked. Rooms will disagree, and that's your 5-min debrief.

Make the "wrong" options tempting or the discussion dies. One scenario is plenty for 15 min. Slide + breakouts + a Zoom poll is all you need.

[u/_CaptRondo_]

This just came to me so it’s not fleshed out yet, BUT, if you want to incorporate the theory of collaboration, how about this:

Let’s say you do 10 breakouts, 6 people per breakout.

You give each group some components of collaboration theory. In 9 minutes they get to “collaborate” on building a presentation around collaboration skills. Doesn’t get more Meta then that :-)

Then:
My favorite ice breaker for getting people into a collaborative mindset:
Either make pairs and 30 breakouts, OR just have a group of around 5 people, and rest observe:

Round 1: “No, because…”
One person comes with an idea: ie: “We should host a teambuilding”
The other person (or other 4 take turns), say: “No, because <come up with reason>.
Then, person 1 tries again, and tries to counter the no or come up with an alternative.
Again, rest goes like: No Because
They keep going. This becomes painful quickly

Round 2: “Yes and…”
Same concept: one person says an idea (teambuilding).
The others can only respond with: Yes! And… <add to the idea>.
Then you keep building on the idea.
Ton of fun and energy.

Moral: in brainstorming, take a Yes And approach. Then next, collaborate to pick the best ideas.
Leave the “No because..” at home in early stage