| Game |  Opener |
Team-building |
| Categories: | Energizer |
Review |
 Communication |
Topical: Supervisory |
Purpose: To show managers and supervisors the value of coaching skills.
Time Required: 20 minutes.
Size of Group: 12 to 15, but participants should work in small groups of 3 to 4.
Materials Required: Small tool kits, including a six-piece wrench set; six nuts of varying sizes; prepared “performance situations.”
The Exercise in Action: Renee Collins, a trainer with Grainger Co. in Cincinnati, uses all the tools at her disposal—literally—when teaching coaching skills to managers and supervisors.
Each group of three to four participants receives a tool box, including a six-piece wrench set and six nuts of varying sizes. Each nut has a case study, or performance situation, attached to it that requires a particular response on the part of managers. Collins calls these, appropriately enough, “nutcases.” Each wrench has an accompanying coaching skill taped to it, for example, skills such as praising, redirecting, constructively criticizing, negotiating, or resolving conflict.
Participants then choose a nut with its accompanying case study, read it, and determine which wrench, or coaching skill, to apply to address it best. For example, participants might get a situation where an employee is promoted into a new job and needs reassuring because of initial uncertainty. In this case, “praising” is the right coaching choice. Participants confirm if their choice is correct by seeing if the wrench size they choose fits the nut.