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Tool 1: "Icebreaker" activities

This activity was suggested by Lisa Rasor, former director of volunteer training at Headquarters Counseling Center, in Lawrence, KS.

Forced choice exercise:

In this exercise, the facilitator puts signs in three different parts of the room. The facilitator will ask the mentors and protégés if they would consider themselves a listener, a talker or a doer. Those are the only three choices, so it's a forced choice--you have to choose one of those areas.

Another possible question is: "Do you consider yourself adventurous, creative or idealistic?" Sometimes, people might say, "Well, I can be any of those." But they still have to choose just one possibility.

And so the groups that gather in those different areas will talk about why they chose that area, why they chose adventurous over idealistic. And then, they will just get to know each other that way with that forced choice, and find some things in common. Then, do a few more sets of those, different sets of forced choices.

Additional forced choice questions include:

  • Do you consider yourself compassionate, just, or philosophical?
  • Are you a realist, an optimist, or a dreamer?
  • Are you punctual, serious, or spontaneous?

Sometimes, mentors and protégés find themselves in groups with different people; sometimes, they'll go through three sets and have one other person that's in all three sets, and they'll go, "Wow, we might have a lot in common." So this can be a very good group building exercise that will help the mentor/protégé relationship in the future.

Tool 2: Evaluation Form

This is a form that will help mentors and protégés evaluate how effective the program and their relationship are.

Evaluation Form

In the interest of anonymity, we ask that you do NOT put your name on this form.

Session Presenter / Facilitator:

Date:

What were your objectives in this program?

 

On a scale of 1 - 5, with 5 being the most useful, how useful did you find this information? 

1                    2                    3                    4                     5

On a scale of 1 - 5, with 5 being excellent, how well presented was this session?

1                    2                    3                    4                     5

What did you like most about this training session?

 

What did you like least about this training session?

 

What would you change about this training session?