Among the best tips for leadership workshop activities is to offer activities that will help people define their special skills and strengths. As well, it is important that activities build a sense of cohesiveness within groups and that participants feel comfortable interacting with one another. Activities should be explored in a comfortable space that is well lit and allows participants enough room to move around and engage with one another. Many leadership workshop activities can be found in books and training manuals, as well as on the Internet.
When helping to develop leadership abilities among staff members, students and volunteers, it is important to first help participants identify their own strengths and special abilities. This is best done through leadership workshop activities that promote self-awareness. If a group is familiar with one another, a good activity is to have participants take turns complimenting one person for a particular attribute and then ask that person to name one strength or skill that she appreciates about herself.
Leadership workshop activities work best when a group is comfortable with one another. Even if participants have never met before, spending time building a sense of unity and trust is important for an effective leadership workshop. Various ice-breaking activities work well for this purpose and can often be found in printed leadership training materials or through online sources.
Though the focus of most leadership workshop activities is to build strong individual skills, there is also a lot of value in guiding future leaders toward being effective team members. Most group leaders advise that at least one leadership workshop activity be dedicated to teaching participants how to follow and learn from other leaders as part of a team. Some leadership workshops have approached this task by having participants take turns being blindfolded while another participant or a group of participants offers verbal instructions on completing a manual task.
Developing workshops around activities that help strengthen listening skills may also be a good idea. Experts in this area often use leadership workshop activities that build effective communication skills, which are essential to good leadership. Such activities can range from icebreaker activities to other skill-building activities that require detailed listening skills and feedback.
In order for leadership workshop activities to be enjoyable and effective, it is important to select the right workshop location. Things like room temperature, space and visual surroundings all help set a tone for the workshop's success. Using the right sound equipment and setting ground rules for using other equipment, such as cellphones, laptop computers and recording devices, is also important to the overall success of leadership workshop activities.