Fear in a Hat is a good activity to run at the beginning of workshop to understand how delegates are feeling and promote unity as a team. Individuals write their personal fears (anonymously) on sheets of paper, which is then collected in the hat and read out aloud by the facilitator. Each person tries to describe their understanding of the persons fear. This leads to a discussion about fears. As a trainer it is your job to eliminate those fears and put your learners at ease.
Allow five minutes for learners to think about their fears and write them down. Recommended group size is at least six with a maximum of twenty and for groups aged thirteen and above.
When discussing fears I use the acronym of: Fear = False, evidence, appearing, real. The focus is that the fear is in their head and the fear of doing something is always worse than doing it.
