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Exercises/Trust & Psychological Safety Openers
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Exercises for Trust & Psychological Safety Openers

Low-stakes activities ease a group into vulnerability, keeping the emotional cost of participating small while still building trust. Use these early in a new group's life, before conflict or deep disclosure exercises, to establish that it is safe to speak up.

Explore exercises grouped by theme. Read each run sheet to check the task, group size and setting before choosing.

108 exercises

Levitation

Relationship Mapping · 5 to 15 minutes

The Rock

Relationship Mapping · 5 to 15 minutes

Lap Circle

Circle Dialogue · 5 to 15 minutes

Poll and Predict: Characteristics of Effective Facilitators

Team Reflection · 15 to 30 minutes

Lean Walk

Team Reflection · 5 to 15 minutes

Come To Me

Relationship Mapping · 5 to 15 minutes

Human Camera

Relationship Mapping · 5 to 15 minutes

The Comfort Confession

General Collaboration Exercise · 5 to 15 minutes

Awareness Race

Relationship Mapping · 15 to 30 minutes

Safety Stories

Relationship Mapping · 15 to 30 minutes

Swinging Log

Team Reflection · 15 to 30 minutes

Strategic Network Test

Prompted Conversation · 5 to 15 minutes

Wishing Tree and Scarecrow

Youth Group Game · 30 to 60 minutes

Connections of Trust

Team Reflection · 15 to 30 minutes

Big Ups

Relationship Mapping · 5 to 15 minutes

Good to Great Workshop

Team Reflection · 60+ minutes

The Blind Side

Psychological Safety Opener · 30 to 60 minutes

Whale Watch

Team Reflection · 5 to 15 minutes

Block Bridge

Team Reflection · 5 to 15 minutes

Secret Coaches

Relationship Mapping · 5 to 15 minutes

People to People

Psychological Safety Opener · 5 to 15 minutes

The Heisenberg Principle

Relationship Mapping · 15 to 30 minutes

Pairs Compass Walk

Team Reflection · 5 to 15 minutes

Wind in the Willows

Relationship Mapping · 5 to 15 minutes

Critical Uncertainties

Relationship Mapping · 60+ minutes

What's the News?

Relationship Mapping · 5 to 15 minutes

Big or Small Wedding

Prompted Conversation · 15 to 30 minutes

The Wall

Team Reflection · 15 to 30 minutes

Free Money

Team Reflection · 5 to 15 minutes

Start Empathy

Relationship Mapping · 15 to 30 minutes

Balloon Propulsion Greetings

Psychological Safety Opener · 5 to 15 minutes

Wild Woosey

Team Reflection · 5 to 15 minutes

Spot the Difference

Team Reflection · 5 to 15 minutes

I Trust You, But

Team Reflection · 5 to 15 minutes

Leadership Advice from Your Role Model

Psychological Safety Opener · 15 to 30 minutes

Critical Incident

Team Reflection · 30 to 60 minutes

Low-Tech Social Network

Relationship Mapping · 15 to 30 minutes

Nothing Fails Like Success

Psychological Safety Opener · 30 to 60 minutes

Pathfinder Minefield

Team Reflection · 15 to 30 minutes

Find the Nail

Team Reflection · 5 to 15 minutes

Emoji Card Reflection

Mood Check · 5 to 15 minutes

The Beam

Team Reflection · 15 to 30 minutes

Time Capsule

Psychological Safety Opener · 30 to 60 minutes

Talking Behind Your Back

Relationship Mapping · 5 to 15 minutes

Human Spring

Relationship Mapping · 5 to 15 minutes

Building Bridges: Strengthening Team Trust

General Collaboration Exercise · 60+ minutes

TP Shuffle

Team Reflection · 5 to 15 minutes

Oxytocin Repeater

Relationship Mapping · 5 to 15 minutes

Helping Behavior

General Collaboration Exercise · 15 to 30 minutes

Keystone

Team Reflection · 5 to 15 minutes

Multivine Traverse

Team Reflection · 30 to 60 minutes

Blind Maze

Team Reflection · 15 to 30 minutes

Moon Walking

Team Reflection · 5 to 15 minutes

Group Compass Walk

Team Reflection · 5 to 15 minutes

Building Trust and Courage Together Workshop

Relationship Mapping · 60+ minutes

Facilitating Activity Transitions

Team Reflection · 5 to 15 minutes

The Empty Chair

Arrival Check-In · 5 to 15 minutes

Curiosity Ping Pong

Relationship Mapping · 5 to 15 minutes

Group Grope: Trust

Team Reflection · 30 to 60 minutes

Ten-Question Personality Questionnaire

General Collaboration Exercise · 5 to 15 minutes

Nurturing Intentional Empathy

Psychological Safety Opener · 30 to 60 minutes

SAFE-BOLD Framework

Ideation Warm-Up · 30 to 60 minutes

Commonality Sorting

Relationship Mapping · 5 to 15 minutes

Online Contract

Relationship Mapping · 15 to 30 minutes

Altitude

Relationship Mapping · 5 to 15 minutes

Yurt Circle

Circle Dialogue · 5 to 15 minutes

Charades Relay

Applied Improv · 5 to 15 minutes

Paper Stone Stacking

Personal Disclosure · 5 to 15 minutes

Slice and Dice

Team Reflection · 5 to 15 minutes

The Vulnerability Equation

Relationship Mapping · 15 to 30 minutes

Robot Walk

Relationship Mapping · 5 to 15 minutes

Trust Wave

Team Reflection · 5 to 15 minutes

Mohawk Walk

Team Reflection · 30 to 60 minutes

Sherpa Walk

Relationship Mapping · 5 to 15 minutes

Trust Line

Team Reflection · 5 to 15 minutes

Collaborative Classification

Team Reflection · 30 to 60 minutes

Trust Walk

Adventure Initiative · 15 to 30 minutes

Rebuilding Trust Through Small Commitments

Team Reflection · 60+ minutes

Egg Drop

General Collaboration Exercise · 30 to 60 minutes

Walk and Lean

Team Reflection · 5 to 15 minutes

Little Book of Stoicism Workshop

Personal Disclosure · 60+ minutes

Secret Strengths

Relationship Mapping · 5 to 15 minutes

Community Planting Day

Team Reflection · 60+ minutes

Cave Rescue

Team Reflection · 30 to 60 minutes

Team Radar

Team Reflection · 30 to 60 minutes

The Ladder

Team Reflection · 15 to 30 minutes

Common Ground Challenge

Psychological Safety Opener · 5 to 15 minutes

Trust Fall

Team Reflection · 15 to 30 minutes

Pruie

Relationship Mapping · 5 to 15 minutes

Swinging Tyres

Team Reflection · 15 to 30 minutes

Heads Up

Applied Improv · 5 to 15 minutes

Address Toxic Micro-Cultures

General Collaboration Exercise · 60+ minutes

River Crossing

Team Reflection · 15 to 30 minutes

3 Series

Psychological Safety Opener · 5 to 15 minutes

The Gauntlet

Team Reflection · 5 to 15 minutes

Leaders Eat Last Workshop

General Collaboration Exercise · 60+ minutes

Toxic Positivity Antidote

Team Reflection · 15 to 30 minutes

Human Knot

Circle Dialogue · 5 to 15 minutes

Hard True or False Trivia

Prompted Conversation · 5 to 15 minutes

Discussion Guidelines for Challenging Topics

Prompted Conversation · 5 to 15 minutes

Untrustworthy Eyes

Psychological Safety Opener · 5 to 15 minutes

Scenes from a Chat

Relationship Mapping · 5 to 15 minutes

Superlatives

Relationship Mapping · 5 to 15 minutes

Pin Down

Relationship Mapping · 5 to 15 minutes

You

Psychological Safety Opener · 5 to 15 minutes

All Winners

Team Reflection · 5 to 15 minutes

Hot Seat

Prompted Conversation · 5 to 15 minutes

Iron Lungs

Relationship Mapping · 5 to 15 minutes

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