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Exercises/Reflection and Learning/Social Awareness Exercise Explores Bias & Inclusion - Poker Face
Team Reflection · Reflection and Learning

Social Awareness Exercise Explores Bias & Inclusion - Poker Face

Social Awareness Exercise Explores Bias & Inclusion - Poker Face is a team reflection exercise for reflection and learning: it helps participants reflect on experience and turn observations into learning.

5 to 15 minutesTIME
Medium group (9-25), Pairs, Small group (4-8)GROUP SIZE
ActiveENERGY
In person, RemoteSETTING
High cognitive loadCOGNITIVE LOAD
Strengthens Learning Transfer This reflection and learning exercise strengthens Learning Transfer, one of the eight Gathering Effectiveness pillars.

How to run it

  1. Randomly distribute one card from a playing deck of cards to each person. Instruct people not to look at their cards.
  2. Ask each person to place this card on their forehead so that it faces the other people.
  3. When ready, invite your group to mix and mingle.
  4. As they interact, instruct everyone to engage with and treat all others based on the face value of the card on that person’s forehead.
  5. All interaction must remain silent, ie no verbal forms of communication, but gestures are permitted.
  6. After 1 to 2 minutes of interaction, stop the activity and remind people not to look at their cards (yet.)
  7. Ask your group to divide and gather into one of three groups - low-value, middle-value and high-value cards.
  8. Divided into three groups, people may then look at their cards.
  9. Poker Face Social awareness exercise to explore bias & inclusion.
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 +

Ask each person to place this card on their forehead so that it faces the other people.

When ready, invite your group to mix and mingle.

After 1 to 2 minutes of interaction, stop the activity and remind people not to look at their cards (yet.)

Ask your group to divide and gather into one of three groups - low-value, middle-value and high-value cards.

Divided into three groups, people may then look at their cards.

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: Social Awareness Exercise Explores Bias & Inclusion - Poker Face. Readiness: Publishable Draft. Core moves: Ask each person to place this card on their forehead so that it faces the other people.; When ready, invite your group to mix and mingle.; After 1 to 2 minutes of interaction, stop the activity and remind people not to look at their cards (yet.); Ask your group to divide and gather into one of three groups - low-value, middle-value and high-value cards.. Return a concise facilitator script with timing, wording, safety notes, and remote/in-person adjustments.

Origin unverified

  • Where we observed it: The strongest current observations come from Playmeo; aggregators are listed as additional observations, not origin proof. (1 source observed, including Playmeo.)
  • 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