Leadership activities are short, hands-on exercises used in leadership development to build communication, trust, decision-making and situational awareness. Leadership training activities fit into the time most teams already have, such as a team meeting with twenty minutes spare, the second half of an away day or a monthly session with new managers. Finding something worthwhile to fill that time is harder than it should be.
The leadership activities below can all be run in under an hour, and most need little more than a room, some paper and a willing group. Each one includes the time it takes, the group size it suits, what you will need and the questions to ask afterwards.
An activity without a debrief is a game. The learning comes from the conversation afterwards, when people connect what happened in the room to how they lead day to day.
Key Points:
Before choosing an activity, be clear about what you want people to take away from it. A group struggling with delegation needs something different from a group that has just been created.
Here are a few principles to help whichever activity you choose:
These short leadership exercises work well at the start of a session or in a team meeting where time is tight.
Time: 15 minutes
Group size: Any
You will need: Flipchart and pens
Ask everyone to think of the best manager they have ever worked for and write down three things that person did. Then repeat the exercise for the worst. Collect the answers on two flipcharts.
The lists will almost always be about behaviour rather than expertise. Listening, trust, fairness and clear direction appear on one side. Micromanagement, inconsistency and taking credit appear on the other.
Debrief: Which items on the “best” list would your own team say about you? Which items on the “worst” list might they say on a bad day?
Time: 10 to 15 minutes
Group size: 8 to 20
You will need: Open space
Ask the group to arrange themselves in a line by date of birth, day and month only, without speaking, writing or using phones. They will need to find another way to communicate.
Someone usually emerges to organise the group, and the method they choose says a lot about how leadership forms when the normal tools are taken away.
Debrief: Who led, and how did that happen? Did anyone hold back an idea? How did the group check it had got it right?
Time: 15 minutes
Group size: 6 to 12
You will need: A long, light pole such as a tent pole or garden cane
The group stands in two lines facing each other and holds out their index fingers at chest height. Rest the pole on their fingers. The task is to lower it to the ground with everyone keeping contact at all times.
The pole tends to rise rather than fall, which causes frustration and some laughter. Progress only comes once someone takes charge and the group slows down and coordinates.
Debrief: What changed when progress started? What does this tell you about giving clear instructions when everyone is trying hard but pulling in different directions?
Time: 15 to 20 minutes
Group size: Any
You will need: Sticky notes in three colours
Each person writes on sticky notes what they think leaders in the organisation should stop doing, start doing and continue doing. Notes go on the wall under the three headings and the group groups similar ideas together.
It is a simple activity, but it surfaces honest views quickly, particularly if notes are anonymous.
Debrief: Which themes came up most often? Which one item, if acted on, would make the biggest difference to the team?
These leadership games put people under light pressure, which is when natural leadership habits show. Many of them sit well alongside our problem solving activities if you want to build a longer session.
Time: 35 to 40 minutes, including debrief
Group size: Teams of 4
You will need: 20 sticks of dried spaghetti, one metre of tape, one metre of string and one marshmallow per team
Teams have 18 minutes to build the tallest free-standing structure they can, with the marshmallow on top. Most teams plan carefully, build their tower and only put the marshmallow on at the last moment, at which point the structure often collapses.
Teams that build, test and adjust as they go usually do better.
Debrief: How did your team plan? When did you first test your idea? Where in your own work do you wait too long before testing something?
Time: 30 minutes
Group size: Teams of 3 to 5
You will need: Two identical sets of building blocks per team
Build a simple model out of sight of the group. One person from each team, the leader, can look at the model but cannot touch the blocks. The rest of the team cannot see the model and must build a copy based only on the leader’s instructions.
The gap between what the leader thinks they have explained and what the team has understood becomes obvious very quickly.
Debrief: How did the leader check understanding? What did the builders need that they did not get? How often does this happen when you delegate a task?
Time: 20 to 30 minutes
Group size: Pairs
You will need: Blindfolds and a set of soft objects scattered across the floor
One person in each pair is blindfolded. Their partner guides them across the room using only verbal instructions, avoiding the “mines”. Swap roles and repeat.
This works well for exploring trust and the quality of instructions. Running several pairs at once adds noise and makes clear communication even more important.
Debrief: What made you trust your partner? What kind of instruction was most useful? How did it feel to depend entirely on someone else?
Time: 45 minutes
Group size: Teams of 4 to 6
You will need: A list of 15 items salvaged from a sinking boat
Each person ranks the 15 items in order of importance for survival on their own. Teams then agree on a single ranking together. Both rankings are compared with an expert answer.
In most groups the team ranking beats the average individual ranking, but only when everyone is heard. When one confident voice dominates, the team often does worse.
Debrief: Whose ideas shaped the final list? Was anyone right but ignored? How do you make sure quieter voices are heard in your own team?
Time: 30 minutes
Group size: Teams of 4 to 6
You will need: A simple written task such as planning a team event, and a timer
Give one person in each team the full brief. Every five minutes, a new person takes over and the previous lead must hand over the work in under a minute. Nobody else can see the original brief.
By the end, teams can compare what they delivered with what was asked for. It is an effective way to show how much is lost in a rushed handover, and links well to our discussion of task-orientated leadership and when it helps or hinders.
Debrief: What got lost along the way? What would a good handover have included?
These leadership training activities focus on specific skills. They work best with a group that already knows each other and is comfortable being open.
Time: 45 minutes
Group size: 4 to 12
You will need: Paper and pens
Each person draws a line representing their career and marks the moments that shaped how they lead, both high points and low points. They then share two or three of these with a partner or small group.
This activity builds trust quickly and helps people see that leadership is learned through experience. It is a useful way to open the debate about whether leaders are born or made.
Debrief: What patterns do you notice? Which experiences taught you the most? What experiences could you create for the people you lead?
Time: 45 minutes
Group size: 6 to 20
You will need: A list of around 15 leadership values and pretend money
Each person is given the same budget and bids on the values they most want in their own leadership, such as honesty, recognition, fairness or ambition. They cannot have everything, so they have to choose.
The choices people make, and the values they are willing to give up, lead to a revealing discussion about what drives their decisions as leaders.
Debrief: Which value did you spend the most on, and why? Would your team guess the same? Where do your stated values and your daily behaviour not quite match?
Time: 50 minutes
Group size: Groups of 3
You will need: A simple coaching model such as GROW, printed on a card
In each group, one person is the coach, one is the coachee and one observes. The coachee brings a real, low-stakes work issue. The coach has ten minutes to help them think it through using questions only, with no advice. The observer gives feedback. Rotate until everyone has played each role.
Most new coaches find the “no advice” rule very difficult, which is the point of the exercise.
Debrief: How hard was it not to give advice? Which questions opened up the conversation? What did the observer notice that the coach missed?
Coaching is one of the most valuable skills a leader can develop, and one of the hardest to judge in yourself. An assessment can show where each manager stands before you invest in further development.
Time: 40 minutes
Group size: Pairs or threes
You will need: Short written scenarios
Give each pair a scenario where a team member needs feedback, such as missing deadlines or doing excellent work on a difficult project. One person plays the manager and gives the feedback using a simple structure: the situation, the behaviour and its impact. Swap and repeat with a new scenario.
Practise positive feedback as well as constructive feedback. Many managers find specific praise as hard to give as criticism.
Debrief: Which scenario was hardest? What happened when the feedback was specific rather than general?
Time: 50 minutes
Group size: Groups of 3
You will need: Scenarios drawn from real situations the group is facing
Ask each person to describe a difficult conversation they need to have in the next few weeks. In threes, they rehearse it, with one person playing the other party and one observing. Allow two attempts each, with feedback in between.
Rehearsing real conversations is far more useful than generic role play, and many people go on to have the conversation within days. Where the conversation involves a disagreement, the Thomas-Kilmann conflict model is a helpful way to think through how each person is likely to approach it.
Debrief: What changed between the first and second attempt? What will you say in your opening sentence when you have the real conversation?
Time: 40 minutes
Group size: 4 to 10
You will need: A real upcoming project or decision, flipchart and pens
Ask the group to imagine it is a year from now and the project has failed. Each person writes down every reason they can think of for why it went wrong. Share the reasons, group them and agree what could be done now to prevent the most likely ones.
It gives people permission to raise concerns they might otherwise keep to themselves, and it is a useful habit for any leader making an important decision.
Debrief: Which risks had nobody mentioned before today? Why might people in your team hold back concerns, and how could you make it easier for them to speak up?
Start with the development need rather than the activity. As a rough guide:
If you are building a wider programme, our guide to core leadership training topics can help you decide which skills to focus on first.
A single activity can be a useful prompt, but on its own it rarely changes how someone leads. The managers who get the most from these exercises are those who go back to their teams with one specific thing to try and someone to talk to about how it went.
Build in a follow-up. Ask each person to report back at the next session on what they tried and what happened. This is a large part of what good leadership training looks like: short bursts of practice, applied at work and then reviewed.
Coaching Triads, Feedback Practice Rounds, Leadership Lifeline and the Pre-Mortem all work well with small groups. They rely on honest discussion, which tends to come more easily in a group of three to eight people.
Leadership games, such as the Marshmallow Challenge or Minefield, use a task unrelated to work to reveal how people behave. Leadership exercises, such as feedback practice or coaching triads, build a specific skill directly. A good session often uses one of each.
Little and often works better than an occasional away day. A short activity once a month, with a clear link to a skill the group is working on, will build more capability over a year than a single large event.
Activities like these are a great way to start a conversation about leadership. To build lasting skills, your managers need structured, practical development. Our leadership workshops are packed with hands-on exercises and can be tailored to the challenges your team is facing. If you are just getting started, try our free management training course, or explore our full range of management courses in the UK.
Written by Sean McPheat
CEO of MTD Training and Amazon bestselling author. Sean writes about leadership, business, and personal growth, drawing on 20+ years of experience helping over 9,000 companies improve performance.
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Updated on: 10 November, 2026
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