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Exercises/Closure and Transfer/Happy Face - Free Energiser
General Collaboration Exercise · Closure and Transfer

Happy Face - Free Energiser

Happy Face - Free Energiser is a structured group exercise for closure and transfer: it helps participants close the session and carry learning into the next action.

5 to 15 minutesTIME
Medium group (9-25), PairsGROUP SIZE
ActiveENERGY
In person, RemoteSETTING
High cognitive loadCOGNITIVE LOAD
Strengthens Follow Through This closure and transfer exercise strengthens Follow Through, one of the eight Gathering Effectiveness pillars.

How to run it

  1. Place participants into pairs (it’s best if they don’t know each other too well) and ask them to choose who is person A and who is person B.
  2. Ask person B to take the pen and paper and close their eyes. Person A should make sure they do not open them during the entire activity.
  3. Explain that person B should draw a happy face on the paper. At this stage, the face should have two eyes and a happy mouth. They have 30 seconds to do this.
  4. Next, ask person B to put the pen in their other hand. Now they should draw the happy face’s nose and ears. They have 30 seconds to do this.
  5. Ask the B’s to open their eyes and look at their drawing.
  6. Ask how many B’s asked their Manager for advice and feedback while they were doing their drawing. Next, ask how many A’s offered advice and feedback while the A’s did their drawing.
  7. Ask the people who did NOT get feedback to hold up their drawings. Usually, the drawings are not great.
Live facilitator

Run this exercise live

The facilitator console stays in this browser. Its QR handoff is a short-lived participant snapshot containing only public exercise instructions, phase, prompt, and timer state.

Prompts to use +

Place participants into pairs (it’s best if they don’t know each other too well) and ask them to choose who is person A and who is person B.

Ask person B to take the pen and paper and close their eyes. Person A should make sure they do not open them during the entire activity.

Explain that person B should draw a happy face on the paper. At this stage, the face should have two eyes and a happy mouth. They have 30 seconds to do this.

Next, ask person B to put the pen in their other hand. Now they should draw the happy face’s nose and ears. They have 30 seconds to do this.

Ask the B’s to open their eyes and look at their drawing.

Ask how many B’s asked their Manager for advice and feedback while they were doing their drawing. Next, ask how many A’s offered advice and feedback while the A’s did their drawing.

Run this with your AI assistant +

Works with Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, or your own local model: paste this prompt and your AI will co-facilitate this exercise with you.

Adapt this exercise for my exact room. Exercise: Happy Face - Free Energiser. Readiness: Publishable Draft. Core moves: Place participants into pairs (it’s best if they don’t know each other too well) and ask them to choose who is person A and who is person B.; Ask person B to take the pen and paper and close their eyes. Person A should make sure they do not open them during the entire activity.; Explain that person B should draw a happy face on the paper. At this stage, the face should have two eyes and a happy mouth. They have 30 seconds to do this.; Next, ask person B to put the pen in their other hand. Now they should draw the happy face’s nose and ears. They have 30 seconds to do this.. Return a concise facilitator script with timing, wording, safety notes, and remote/in-person adjustments.

Origin unverified

  • Where we observed it: The current corpus has one observed source organization: TrainerBubble. (1 source observed, including TrainerBubble.)
  • What that means: we track where an exercise has been observed in public sources. We do not claim to know who created it, or how popular it is.
  • No efficacy claims: appearing in this library is not a claim that the exercise is proven effective. Facilitator judgment and context decide whether it works for a given room.
  • Corrections: if you have evidence of an earlier or more accurate source, read our methodology and trust boundary and tell us.

Pairs well with