Communication Skills: The Floor Exercise

The Floor exercise is a way to try and work on your communication skills.

You take 4 index cards and label one with "the floor," one with "positive," one with "negative" and one with "stop-action."

Once you've done this, you start talking.

If you are the speaker, you grab "the floor" card. Whoever is holding this index card, has the floor to speak and the other person is listening.

The listener can grab the index cards "positive," "negative," or "stop-action" as they listen if they need to. The "positive" card is to let the speaker know what you are hearing is positive. The "negative" card lets the speaker know that what you are hearing is negative. The "stop-action" card is to take a break from the conversation if you are feeling flooded.

If this feels helpful, give it a try. As with all things, try it then evaluate it!