Five Communication Skills Taught by Board Games
Intent: Inspire you to play board games and think about various educational elements within them.
Have you ever been uncomfortable presenting in front of a room? Do you freeze up in situations of conflict? Do you often find yourself scared to ask questions, even if you don’t understand? Well playing board games can guide you through all of these feelings and allow you to enrich your own skills in a safe space. You often hear board games having educational value, and what I find most people think when that’s said is either basic math skills or interesting facts. Well, in reality board games help you develop all sorts of valuable life skills, including the ability to communicate more effectively, which is what I want to talk about today.
In essence playing a board game is a display of how we learn things. Think of learning to ride a bike, we are first shown a bike, explained how to ride, sometimes even with a demonstration. We then proceed to get on the bike and try ourselves, we’ll sometimes fall, sometimes succeed and progressively get better. Through your time playing games, you’ll have to learn the rules and then you’ll have to apply what you’ve learned in a shared experience. You then have an opportunity to reflect, and then to learn and adapt once you play again. Now the best part: board games are fun. They’re meant for you to get together with family, friends or even people you barely know to share an experience. Often, you don’t even know you’re learning all these valuable skills!
Now think about the games you’ve played, think about the feelings you’ve felt and reflect how you’ve grown from the various experiences. Lets dive in, here’s five communication skills that I’ve obtained from board games that you too can obtain as well.
Presenting information in a concise manner.
I once had the most exciting day. I went to the dog park and you will not believe what I saw! It was three baby Australian Shepherds, they must have only been six weeks old. I’ve always wanted to go to Australia, it just looks so beautiful but the creepy crawlers definitely scare me, a spider a size of the fist? Eeep. Wait, what was I talking about again?
Have you ever had a moment where you just got lost in your own story? I know I have, as you can tell. Reading the rule book and teaching board games is one of the most valuable skills I’ve obtained. I am always the one to teach games especially since I’m a really bad auditory learner, so I genuinely just need to be the one with the rulebook.
Through this experience I’ve learned how to quickly give instructions and teach all sorts of games ranging from simple to complex. Each time I teach a game I can tell I’m improving as I know how to prompt for questions, how to weave in the answers through my explanations and how to ensure everyone has the right tools to play the game. My focus is always for people to have a great time and understand what they’re doing.
This is a skill that can easily be transferred to many leadership opportunities. For example, explaining the workload to and managing a team, describing an activity that you will lead, or even rallying up the family to all take part and make breakfast. There’s truly so many different ways board games can help you present information in a concise manner.
Being comfortable with asking questions.
When I was younger and especially coming to Canada and not knowing English, I would ask many questions. When I say many questions, I mean an immense amount of questions. In fifth grade, I got an assignment and quickly got out of my desk to ask the teacher for clarity on various aspects I was not sure on. I just really needed the validation on my thoughts. The teacher erupted in anger and stated that I ask way too many questions and need to take a second to either figure it out myself or ask those around me. It was a jarring experience and from that point on I wasn’t comfortable asking questions.
Board games provided a safe space for me to get comfortable with asking questions again. When rules are being explained it is easy to ask small clarifying questions and build up to larger concepts you may not understand. It’s also essential for you to know the rules before you play, as board games are usually not automated, there’s instances you have to ask questions to understand. It’s often a space where asking questions is encouraged as everyone learns differently and in order for everyone to have a combined great experience it’s better when everyone understands.
Beyond that, there are many games that have the act of asking questions necessary, even think of some of the classics like Battleship. Asking if somebody has a ship at A4 may seem like it doesn’t make a difference but to someone who is uncomfortable asking questions it’s an exercise that significantly improves the comfort level in a safe and fun space! In modern board games, there’s cooperative strategy games, which require you to ask the right questions in order to progress and succeed through the mission. Think Gloomhaven, sure you can’t reveal your actions but you can still ask how everyone is going to act within the round and collaborate so you can work together effectively!
Dealing with hard conversations and conflict management skills.
This is one of the reasons I think everyone should experience and play board games. One of, if not THE most valuable skill I’ve obtained from board games is conflict management. As board games are inherently fun, the conflict that occurs within them is significantly less “scary,” which allows you to really get comfortable with having hard conversations and dealing with conflict.
You’re all playing when you notice the player to your left do something you’re pretty certain is not allowed. You begin to wonder, why did they do that? Is there something you missed in the rules, do they have a hidden ability, or … could they be cheating? If this was the first time you may have let it slide, but they’ve done it numerous times now and you’re confused. You decided to bring it up and ask “Why did you do that?”
In that chain of actions, you’ve already learned so much!
You actively make a decision when it is worthwhile for you to speak up. There’s so many instances in life that you have to make a choice to speak up, which often aligns with your values. The more you do it, the more comfortable you are and board games let you build up that threshold.
Not jumping to conclusions. You took the time to ask yourself questions of why the individual did what they did. This piece I find is often missing in real life as we act impulsively and in the moment, without pausing to think. Another element that board games allow you to work on.
You ask, rather than putting blame on the individual. This allows a more collaborative problem solving environment rather than attacking the individual. It could be a genuine misunderstanding.
Now that situation could have gone so many different ways and that’s the real beauty of it. You get to experience all of those emotions and actions and get familiar with them, so that when the setting is not as fun and more serious, you’ve had exposure and know how to proceed.
Conflict management is essential in our lives and it’s a skill many people avoid building. In board games not only can you disagree but you can learn together with the people around you, especially your loved ones. The knowledge and language you build can carry to your important relationships.
Giving and receiving feedback and criticism.
You know that feeling you get when the intended outcome does not go your way? A range of emotions occurs, disappointment, anger, frustration or just confusion. You will lose in board games, it happens and it’s important to be okay with that feeling. Board games allow you to discover how you handle loss, and what your natural tendencies are. It is a game, but it’s important to feel those emotions and learn from them to better communicate with others.
You’re also given the toolkit to explain how you deal with these feelings. “I’m frustrated, I need a moment,” is a completely valid response. We were playing Puerto Rico once with a group of friends, and I kept making the same mistake and getting punished for it. I thought I was clever and could set up a path to score many points but it kept being taken from me. I simply didn’t learn from my mistake and lost miserably. I found myself frustrated, and highly disliked the experience but upon reflection I laughed it off because I knew my mistake and I grew from it in the end.
One of the most valuable skills is asking for feedback and criticism. If you lost a game and saw someone did significantly better than you, ask them what they did and learn from their process. It will allow you to build a relationship with that person, hopefully learn something and continue working on how you handle situations where you are not successful. This skill will translate extremely well in a family, work or more casual environment like playing sports. Being comfortable with asking for feedback and criticism allows you to constantly grow and be more receptive of differing outcomes.
On the other hand, you will learn when it is the correct time to help others or let them learn for themselves. I teach and play many games, and I consistently have to stop myself from telling people what to do. One of the best parts about an experience is discovering it on your own. If people need help they will ask for it, and if I really see someone go down a rabbit hole I ask clarifying questions to ensure that they understand the choice they are making. Another essential life skill that I’m sure will be extremely handy when having children but also in many team, work and family environments. Your feedback isn’t always asked, and that’s okay. Knowing the right time and knowing what to say is a fantastic element that can be learned from playing board games.
Collaboration and working as a team.
There’s really no teamwork without communication. I’ve had so many group projects, team assignments or just collaborative tasks where I needed to work together with the people around me. Proper communication is essential in those cases or else you end up doing the same task, or avoid doing something all together.
Being part of a team takes quite a lot of variety of communication skills. You’ll essentially do all the items on this list, present information, ask questions, deal with conflict and provide and receive feedback. A good team has all of these traits and balance them well within the team.
I’m sure you’ve encountered one person who takes control and tells everyone what to do, well board games can help educate that person that that may not be the best way, especially where there’s pertinent information that other team members hold. They may try to control the game but many games require that collaboration to be successful. These experiences also help you learn to deal with people that dominate the conversation and push you out of the decision making.
Playing board games will allow you to learn essential teamwork skills in a safe space . You’ll hold various roles including being the one to ask questions, present information, communicate with images, or resolve conflict with the team leaders. One of the best elements is seeing all that progress, it feels truly rewarding seeing yourself grow.
What communication skills have you learned from board games? What is a game that provides the most opportunities when learning communication skills? Let us know in our various social media!
