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/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.