Mirroring to redefine vocabularies

Aims of the tool

1. To redefine terminologies connected to emotional intelligence and mentorship through practice and theories.

2. Create an experience for the participants to think about the concepts of mentoring, leadership, coaching, emotional intelligence, and communication.

3. Through this exercise, the participants will embody the feelings of non-verbal communication, observing body language, and knowing one’s preferences and needs as part of self-awareness and regulation in emotional intelligence.

4. The participants will practice and reflect on their emotional intelligence. The self-based reflection goes through the process of acting, observing, and then discussing.

Description of the tool

The objectives of this exercise are to redefine terminologies connected to emotional intelligence and mentorship through practice and theories.

The exercise combines actions with reflections and debriefing for participants to think about the concepts of mentoring, leadership, coaching, emotional intelligence, and communication.

Through this exercise, the participants will embody the feelings of lack of verbal communication, observing body language, and knowing one’s preferences and needs. This self-based reflection should go through a process of acting, observing, and then discussing.

Instructions for implementation:

The trainer divides the participants into a group of four.

The trainer explains the instructions for the exercise to the participants as follows:

1.    There are two pairs in this exercise. Pair one and pair two.

2.    There are three rounds of implementation for each pair.

3.    During the first stage of implementation, pair one practises and pair two observes. During the second stage of implementation, the pairs switch roles. Pair two implements and pair one becomes the observer.

4.    In the first round, Partner A in Pair One is the leader. This leader dances, and Partner B follows their moves.

5.    There is no verbal communication prior to or during the exercise. However, each participant should be aware of their bodies and not copy moves that are not suitable for their bodies.

6.    Partner A, who is leading in the first round, should also be sensible about the way their partners follow without any verbal communication.

7.    In the second round of the first stage, partners A and B switch roles. Now, partner B leads, and partner A follows. During this time, pair two continues to observe.

8.    In the third round of the first stage, partner A and partner B are both leading now. The two partners should have similar moves and dance in harmony together without any verbal communication.

Important hints before implementation:

·       Ensure that the pairs and partners do not exchange reflections before finalising the whole exercise. Explain that this sharing prior to the end of the exercise may impact the genuine experience of the following person.

·       The roles are: follower, leader, and observer. The roles switch three times. The third time is when both actors are leaders and followers acting in harmony together.

·       Ensure that each round lasts one minute, where observers may play the music and end it around one minute.

·       In each round, the observer chooses music that should not be less than one minute and not more than two minutes.

·       The questions for reflection should first tackle emotions and then thoughts of how things went from each person's perspective and why.

·       The trainer should prepare some theories on the terminologies explored to fulfil the different learning styles.

·       Remember that in critical learning, all theories can be examined and re-defined through a critical lens.

·       Remember to open a space for sharing on how terminologies and concepts differ across cultures.

Questions after the mirroring exercise:

Reflection stage:

The trainer posts papers with yes and no on the far left and right sides of the room.

The trainer informs the participants that this is a scale and they can feel free to move through it as they feel.

The trainer opens the space for participants to explain their answers to each question and the reasons behind them.

The trainer makes it clear that the participants may change their location on this scale and, therefore, their answers during the reflection process and at anytime.

The trainer starts with the following questions:

1.    I felt comfortable in the roles I played.

2.    I felt more comfortable leading the process.

3.    I felt more comfortable following the process.

4.    I felt more comfortable when the process was balanced.

I felt more comfortable when I was observing.

6.    I observed more harmony when roles were defined as leader and follower.

7.    I observed more harmony when roles were unlabeled.

8.    If the process were all repeated, I would do some things differently.

Reflection and debriefing stages:

Then the trainer asks the participants to set down and relax as we move on to the debriefing part.

1.    Which part of this process was more connected to emotions and which parts were connected to feelings and why? (Feelings are the thoughtful interpretation of emotions.)

2.    Which part of this process was more connected to sympathy or empathy and why?

3.    In what way may this experience relate to emotional intelligence and how?

4. How may this experience relate to or not relate to mentoring or coaching?

5. How may these explanations differ across cultures?

6.    If the experience is repeated, what would I change or do better? And how does this translate into scenarios in real life?

The trainer may end the exercise with selected literature and research on these terminologies. Ensure that participants can reflect on and comment critically on these concepts. Ensure that the selected literature is diverse when it comes to culture, making it an ethnorelative presentation.