Terrific. Can be shortened or lengthened as you need. I’ve used it as recommended to explore assumptions in equality settings, but also really well as an icebreaker for an interview skills workshop. Once I’d revealed how badly people listened, we went on to discuss the way some people assume they know what the question is about and don’t listen carefully enough to understand what the interviewer wants.

I really liked the audio file, the story was familiar but different enough to be interesting and it made a change than listening to the trainers voice.

Both these modules (Assumptions – The Witches of Glum and Goldilocks – a Listening Exercise) are excellent for demonstrating the need for ‘active’ listening skills and how easy it is to make assumptions and ‘hear’ what you think was said.

These modules worked extremely well and prompted lots of interest from the participants and also some key learning points were easily identified.

It then required some simple facilitation skills to identify ways to become better listeners and again to highlight some easy steps that everyone could take to improve their skills.

We use the witches of glum as a useful exercise in the induction programme. As our company is a financial retail business we deal with all types customers from all walks of life. We teach new starters that they should not make assumptions on a customer’s appearance. Just because they look scruffy doesn’t mean that they may be poor. By reading out the story it is clear that people make assumptions to what the answers should be rather than actually listening to the facts. I then have a discussion with the group asking them why they made the assumptions and it really makes them think about it.

Successful eyeopener about the danger of making assumptions. One participant remarked afterwards: "I have just realised what a dreadful listener I am", which was a great learning point for all.

However, some of the statements are ambiguous and biased towards eliciting an incorrect "true" answer. For example: "The king was an old man who could no longer walk." Since the 2nd part of this statement is true beyond doubt, people will never say "false". I solved this by reducing the statements to only one fact. Some examples: "The king could no longer walk".

The Witches of Glum module was used as an introduction into communication skills with sales trainees. The delegates appreciated the story and questions and quickly learnt through the course about the assumptions they had made and as a result, were easily able to relate this to how they communicate with customers and colleagues.

This was an effective module near the beginning of the course; the delegates had an increased awareness of natural assumptions and listening skills which effectively introduced further modules within the course.

This week I ran a seminar for members of the local branch of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development in Shropshire. The topic for the presentation was “Diversity for Dummies”. This was my first venture into this type of presentation of this topic as I have only recently begun to train in the topic with the Ford Motor Company. As an alternative to risking ‘Death by Powerpoint’ I decided to use “The witches of Glum” as a medium for getting across how easily we drop into making assumptions and the potential impact making those assumptions. I used the exercise exactly as provided and was delighted with the way that those present took to it and enjoyed the different way of making a valuable learning lesson. Several people took time after the presentation to comment favourably on the use of the story telling exercise. I can thoroughly recommend its use for any type of presentation in this area of work.

The Witches of Glum exercise has been used within our customer service course. It has allowed us to use a fun exercise to identify the pitfalls of assumptions and stereotypical situations. The delegates have found this to be amusing as it is a clear break away from the business theme of other exercises. The trainers notes are very well laid out and it is what all exercises should be, simple and yet effective.

I have recently used this exercise to introduce a session on cultural differences as the organisation was transferring its HR shared service to another country. The training itself was quite challenging as it was perceived to be a big change to how our managers currently operate however, I used the exercise to introduce the final part of the day. This made a considerable difference to the atmosphere and energy levels within the group. They began to understand the assumptions we make about other cultures and they became receptive to altering their communication style to ensure their interaction was effective.

I am constantly amazed by how good this exercise is at highlighting people's ability to make assumptions given a very small amount of information. I've used this in a number of different sessions where it was important to highlight the amazing ability people have to fill in the gaps of the story with their ideas and remembered bits of old fairy tales. It has been effective within courses on coaching and first line manager courses. I have read the questions out from the materials and this worked just as well as writing them all out on the flip chart.

This activity is so popular that staff often ask to do it again at other events.

We are running a series of sessions on HR Skills for Managers , the first of which deals with Managing Diversity Are You a Fair Manager?

Having identified what diversity is the trainer asks the delegates to sit back, listen to a story and expect to answer some questions about the subject afterwards. The story is, of course, Assumptions The Witches of Glum.

This is a great little exercise that really demonstrates to the delegates how readily assumptions are made and how guilty of it they are. At least 50% of the delegates get less that 50% of the statements right each time we run the session perfectly illustrating the learning point. Give it a go, youll love the results!