When I was leading a Bible Study for leaders in our movement at Ohio University, I wanted to spend time affirming the guys in my group and helping them encourage one another. Just before we started our Bible Study, I scrapped our plan for that evening and the Encouragement Hot Seat was born.
Here’s how it works. Everyone sits in a circle, and we randomly start with one member of the group. It’s great if the group leader (or the one who has arranged for the The Seat to happen) selects a person to start with and then sets the tone for the time.
Say we start with Charlie. I, as the leader, spend 20-60 seconds or so telling Charlie what I admire about him, appreciate about him, and how I have seen him growing and developing. Each other person in the circle takes their turn sharing about what they see in Charlie until everyone in the group has spent time encouraging him. Then we move on to another person and the process repeats. None of this has to have a clear flow or direction–just let people start speaking as they feel led. People will naturally know when it’s their turn to encourage.
The Encouragement Hot Seat has become one of my favorite activities for uplifting a team or group (especially in winter months). It’s incredibly simple, and I love it for four huge reasons.
1. The person in the hot seat gets their socks encouraged off. I had to tie the guys down to the ground before they left my house that night because they were on Cloud 9. That encouragement stuck with them and I can still remember things guys said about me that night.
2. The group grows together in a unique way. That night felt like a true turning point for our Bible study. Close friendships developed that will last for a lifetime as a result of that group, and The Seat played a significant role in those friendships.
3. The receiver learns how to accept encouragement. The person being encouraged shouldn’t try to humbly reject what the person is saying or even say anything at all. They should just soak it all in and simply say, “Thanks, everyone” once their time in The Seat is up. Some people feel uncomfortable being affirmed, so this a great way to help them grow in receiving encouragement.
4. The group grows in speaking encouraging outside of select times. It becomes more natural to tell others from the group (and outside the group) what you admire about them once the encouragement ice is broken.
This is ideal for a group that’s been together for at least a few months so the encouragement isn’t superficial. If it’s a group that’s been together for years–even better. It’s amazing how much goes unsaid, even in close-knit groups.
This isn’t a quick activity, but it’s so worth it. If you have a really large group, you could split the group into a few smaller groups (I’d say no smaller than 5 or 6). I’d say a group of 5-6 normally takes about an hour, and for each 5-6 people add another hour.
We often see things we admire and respect about someone but we normally forget to mention it to that person.
Let the Encouragement Hot Seat be the remedy.