Energizers and Ice-breakers for WECoaches

Type

Energizer

Exercise Name

Massage and dance your hearts out

Specific objectives

• To get rid of any insecurity or awkwardness between the WECoach and the coachee.
• To energize your bodies and minds.
• To feel comfortable and establish an initial WECoach and coachee experience.
• To be empowered, inspired and relax with each other.

Duration

Max 15 minutes

Material/room

You will need a phone & Wi-Fi to put the song on. Speakers if possible and maybe some pillows to use. The room is important to be comfortable with a friendly atmosphere.  

Nr of participants

This energizer could be used either with a peer-to-peer approach (WECoach and coachee) or within a group.

Description

The WECoach will explain to the coachee the purpose of energizers to make the coachee feel comfortable prior to the activity. As women, we need to be empowered and feel comfortable with ourselves. In order to do that, you need to first relax. Therefore, use your pillows to sit on and offer a back massage to each other while sitting on the floor. It is easier for the WECoach to offer the first back massage for 2 mins and then for the coachee to do the same to the WECoach.

As soon as you both relax, the WECoach will ask the coachee to share her favorite song, a song that motivates, inspires, and empowers her. Then, the WECoach will play the song either from the computer or phone (preferably connected to speakers) and you will both dance your hearts out until half the song or until the end of the song. Dance as weirdly as you wish, but feel your body and your mind easing. Take all your bad energy out, all your insecurities and awkwardness away from your existence and feel free, share laughs, and open up your minds to your new coaching journey together.

Methodological advice

Let the coachee dance independently as she wishes to feel more comfortable and maybe ask her to pause the song at the time she will feel like she is more comfortable with you. This exercise is important to both the WECoach and coachee, since it is a unique moment that you must share together!

Variations

In case any of your coachees have any injury or disability and cannot proceed, maybe close your eyes together and move your body while sitting, trying to visualize your journey together.

The massage activity is based on cultural norms, hence if touching is not culturally appropriate in your context, please either proceed with the second part of the activity by skipping fully this part or adjust it accordingly by doing self-massage instead. An example could be: yoga face massage.

Weblinks, Videos, Pictures, further material

Not needed

Type

Ice breaker

Exercise Name

Shielding your river of life

Specific objectives

• To reflect about past life experiences, present situations both happy or sad, and future plans.
• To raise awareness on the personal learning process and get to know each other by sharing emotions and thoughts.

Results:

• To raise awareness about knowledge, competencies, and skills already acquired and the one needed for future.
• To realize the personal key point of learning and development.

Duration

Approximately 1 hour

Material/room

Paper, markers, pencils, colour papers, scissors

Nr of participants

Individual activity

Description

Part 1 (30 min)

The WECoach should introduce the activity:

• Explain the metaphor of the river as a symbol for the person’s life.
• Indicate that a river sometimes flows slower, other times faster, that there are obstacles, etc. Make the coachee understand that their task is to point out the significant elements that have contributed to shaping their River of Life the way it is now.
• Give the coachee enough time to think.
• Ask the coachee to use any of the supplies and their drawing skills during the exercise. Get as creative and expressive as you wish.

Get a piece of paper. Firstly, both of you will have time to think about your past experiences and imagine your future ones. Which were the key moments? Who was helping/supporting/inspiring them? What did they achieve? What they would like to achieve next?

Try to answer these questions by drawing your lives as a river, using images to visualize any happy moments or obstacles on paper.

Part 2 (10 min)

The WECoach and coachee will come back to the table and explain their rivers of life, sharing as much of your experiences as you wish. Evaluate your thoughts and share your feelings and aspirations about the future.

Part 3 (20 mins)

As the WECoach, draw a shield on a piece of flipchart paper. The shield needs to be split into 4 quadrants.   

• In the top left quadrant, the delegate needs to record how other people will describe them.
• In the top right quadrant, the delegate will record what they are most proud of. (This can be work-related or personal).
• In the bottom left quadrant, the delegate will record factors that motivate them. 
• The bottom right quadrant can be left blank. The reason for this is so that during your discussion, when the coachee receives feedback from you as the WECoach, you can build up a portfolio of action points about which the coachee may wish to do something – things such as aspects of her behaviour she might need to be aware of and work on with you.

Below the bottom of the shield the delegate will record their philosophy, strategy, or approach towards work.

Methodological advice

Choose a space in the room with which you feel more comfortable since this is a reflective exercise. Tip: Put a nice song on to get inspired.

Make a debriefing session by asking questions about how it was for both of you to share, what you have learnt and what conclusions you can draw from the activity. Both of you need to share your thoughts and feelings. In that way, you will bond even more as a WECoach and coachee. 

Variations

In case the coachee gets emotional, make sure to give the person space and support. Try to be as sensitive as possible and let the person tell you what they wish without being too invasive in their personal stories. The point is to give adequate time and space to the other person to feel comfortable. As the WECoach we encourage you to start first to make the coachee feel more comfortable.

You can ‘tailor’ the information you want the coachee to supply you with in the four quadrants shield depending on what you want to achieve from the ice breaker.

Weblinks, Videos, Pictures, further material

River of Life Method (Web)

On being river of life exercise (PDF)

Using the River of Life as a Tool (video)

Shields (PDF)

Type

Ice breaker

Exercise Name

Reflecting on Self: entrecomp Emojis Icebreaker

Specific objectives

• To initially introduce EntreComp to the coachee
• To reflect on what it means to be an entrepreneur
• To reflect on EntreComp’s competences
• To set her learning goals on a personal level
• To create the value of your entrepreneurial coaching journey

Duration

Approximately 1 hour

Material/room

EntreComp flower, markers, sticky notes, flip chart

Nr of participants

Individual activity or group activity 

Description

Opening & Introduction: As the WECoach you should give a general overview of the session’s aim and objectives (2’) and then ask the coachee to brainstorm on the following question “What does 'Being Entrepreneurial’ mean to you” (2’).  Collect the coachee’s answer and write them down on a flip-chart (3’) and discuss briefly the terms. Use them to introduce the definition of “entrepreneurship” given by EntreComp, along with the general EntreComp framework (you can project the EntreComp flower on the screen or show a poster or handout) (7’).

Then, ask the coachee to reflect on the questions: “Which EntreComp-related skills and attitudes do you have? How do you use them in your daily life?”, by checking the EntreComp flower. (5’) Once the reflection is finished, ask the coachee to choose her 3 most relevant competences and to rate them by sticking a positive, neutral, and negative emoji drawn on a sticky note on the poster, next to the respective competence. (5’)

Finally, reflect on the purpose of the coaching journey by asking the coachee to explore EntreComp and reflect on some follow-up questions, for instance: “Through your enterprise idea, do you apply these competences in your specific issue/field/sector? How could you do this? What is the main type of value created (social, cultural, or financial) in your enterprise idea?” so as to start co-creating the value of Entrecomp based on the individual needs of the coachee. You can start developing your brainstorming session and mapping your coaching journey based on the coachee’s enterprise plan.

Methodological advice

Show the EntreComp flower or other material after the first reflection exercise to obtain unbiased responses.

Keep in mind that, although you are introducing value creation, the link to the EntreComp must be present during the activity to bring it back in the next step. If your focus is on competence mapping, ask them to stick the colour-coded note with the activity onto the most important competence area on which it delivers.

Remind the coachee that it is a brainstorming process that should promote a constant flow of ideas. As the WECoach you may support the process, if requested by the coachee, with special care to not disrupt or lead it. Offer examples, if needed, always based on the five goals outlined in the EntreComp into the Action user guide:

1. I want to mobilise,
2. I want to create value,
3. I want to appraise & assess,
4. I want to implement and
5. I want to recognize.

At the end of the session, it is important to evaluate it by asking how the coachee felt, what she realized and how this activity was helpful to her journey. Share both your feelings since this is a bonding relationship and it is important for both of you to share your thoughts and emotions to really connect.

Variations

You can ask the coachee to read the EntreComp prior to the first session so as to be more familiar with the competences during the discussion.

Weblinks, Videos, Pictures, further material

Workshop format inspired by entrecomp (PDF)

The EntreComp Framework (webpage)

EntreComp into Action – Get inspired, make it happen: A user guide to the European Entrepreneurship Competence Framework (PDF)

EntreComp Support Material (webpage)