The Empty Chair
The Empty Chair is an arrival check-in exercise for psychological safety: it helps participants build trust while keeping the stakes low.
How to run it
- Here are some questions one might tune into while sitting in that chair have the decisions and the discussion served you the organization well?
- The Empty Chair Timing 5 - 15 minutes Purpose/Objectives - Quick Description Dedicate an empty chair to represent the organization / institution where individuals can step up to represent Process A simple, less esoteric practice to listen in to an organization's purpose consists of allocating an empty chair at every meeting to represent the organization and its evolutionary purpose. Anybody participating in the meeting can, at any time, change seat, to listen to and become the voice of the organization. Here are some questions one might tune into while sitting in that chair have the decisions and the discussion served you the organization well? how are you at the end of this. PHHWLQJ" What stands out to you from today's meeting?. In what direction do you want to go? at what speed? are we being bold enough? too bold?. Is there something else that needs to be said or discussed. Logistics Place an empty chair in the room and post the above questions next to it Cool Possibilities/Options Schedule "chair" time for meeting participants to be able to check in periodically through the meeting. Assign partners to participants so that as one person sits in the chair, his/her partner can record the. thoughts/serve as a sounding board Keep a pad of paper next to the chair, and have folks write their thoughts - check periodically through the. GD\ Have the chair reflect things other than the company e.g., voice of the customer, etc. . 397 People Science Data Capture Capture the thoughts from the chair Tags 5 - 15 minutes, focus, front of the room, individual, perspectives, reflection 398
- Participants sit on chairs in one large circle in the room. Within the circle there should be one empty chair.
- Continue the energiser until you think it has run its course and everyone is smiling.
Run this exercise live
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What participants need now
Materials:
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Prompts to use +
Here are some questions one might tune into while sitting in that chair have the decisions and the discussion served you the organization well?
The Empty Chair Timing 5 - 15 minutes Purpose/Objectives - Quick Description Dedicate an empty chair to represent the organization / institution where individuals can step up to represent Process A simple, less esoteric practice to listen in to an organization's purpose consists of allocating an empty chair at every meeting to represent the organization and its evolutionary purpose. Anybody participating in the meeting can, at any time, change seat, to listen to and become the voice of the organization. Here are some questions one might tune into while sitting in that chair have the decisions and the discussion served you the organization well? how are you at the end of this. PHHWLQJ" What stands out to you from today's meeting?. In what direction do you want to go? at what speed? are we being bold enough? too bold?. Is there something else that needs to be said or discussed. Logistics Place an empty chair in the room and post the above questions next to it Cool Possibilities/Options Schedule "chair" time for meeting participants to be able to check in periodically through the meeting. Assign partners to participants so that as one person sits in the chair, his/her partner can record the. thoughts/serve as a sounding board Keep a pad of paper next to the chair, and have folks write their thoughts - check periodically through the. GD\ Have the chair reflect things other than the company e.g., voice of the customer, etc. . 397 People Science Data Capture Capture the thoughts from the chair Tags 5 - 15 minutes, focus, front of the room, individual, perspectives, reflection 398
Participants sit on chairs in one large circle in the room. Within the circle there should be one empty chair.
Continue the energiser until you think it has run its course and everyone is smiling.
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: The Empty Chair. Readiness: Publishable Draft. Core moves: Here are some questions one might tune into while sitting in that chair have the decisions and the discussion served you the organization well?; The Empty Chair Timing 5 - 15 minutes Purpose/Objectives - Quick Description Dedicate an empty chair to represent the organization / institution where individuals can step up to represent Process A simple, less esoteric practice to listen in to an organization's purpose consists of allocating an empty chair at every meeting to represent the organization and its evolutionary purpose. Anybody participating in the meeting can, at any time, change seat, to listen to and become the voice of the organization. Here are some questions one might tune into while sitting in that chair have the decisions and the discussion served you the organization well? how are you at the end of this. PHHWLQJ" What stands out to you from today's meeting?. In what direction do you want to go? at what speed? are we being bold enough? too bold?. Is there something else that needs to be said or discussed. Logistics Place an empty chair in the room and post the above questions next to it Cool Possibilities/Options Schedule "chair" time for meeting participants to be able to check in periodically through the meeting. Assign partners to participants so that as one person sits in the chair, his/her partner can record the. thoughts/serve as a sounding board Keep a pad of paper next to the chair, and have folks write their thoughts - check periodically through the. GD\ Have the chair reflect things other than the company e.g., voice of the customer, etc. . 397 People Science Data Capture Capture the thoughts from the chair Tags 5 - 15 minutes, focus, front of the room, individual, perspectives, reflection 398; Participants sit on chairs in one large circle in the room. Within the circle there should be one empty chair.; Continue the energiser until you think it has run its course and everyone is smiling.. 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 Relationship Makers Handbook; aggregators are listed as additional observations, not origin proof. (2 sources observed, including Relationship Makers Handbook, 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.