Coaching exercise with a dice

Coaching largely revolves around conversations. As ordinary as that may sound, there is already a lot going on in that. One conversation gets going naturally, while another stays stuck in short answers, careful hesitation, or circling around the real issue again and again.

In those moments, it usually does not help to ask faster, deeper, or sharper questions. More questions, more intensity, more pressure do not automatically make a conversation better. Sometimes that only makes someone withdraw even more, or keeps the conversation at the level of polite answers with very little movement.

How do you get a conversation going?

At moments like these, a simple exercise can make a real difference. Not because it takes over the conversation, but because something shifts. A die, for example. There is a roll, a question, a theme, and suddenly something is on the table that you can look at together.

That often changes the atmosphere straight away. For a moment, it no longer has to be about finding the right answer or saying something important immediately. Something playful appears, without becoming superficial. That is often exactly what makes it easier to begin.

Its strength is not in complexity, but in simplicity. Choose a theme card, roll the die, take the matching question, and continue from there. At first, it does not need to be more complicated than that.

At the same time, there is real thought behind that simplicity. The questions open up a slightly different angle, bring new perspectives closer, and help a conversation not only get started, but also move somewhere meaningful.

What helps when someone says very little?

That is what makes this coaching exercise with dice so useful. Not as a fixed format, but as a way to loosen up a conversation when it does not open up by itself. It offers enough structure to create clarity, and enough freedom to follow what is happening in the moment.

That is often where the real value lies. It does not stay at the level of a light opening. From a simple start, more depth can gradually emerge. First a question, then a response, then something that can open up further. Without pulling or forcing, yet with enough direction to lead towards a new insight, a breakthrough question, or a next step.

The exercise gets something moving, after which you as a coach can use your own skills to deepen the conversation, reflect, and guide it further. That is exactly where its strength lies: the dice does not carry the conversation, you do, by working with what the exercise brings into view or makes easier to discuss.

Closing also matters. A conversation does not only need to open up; it also helps when it can land somewhere. Not tightly wrapped up, but clear enough to continue with afterwards.

How does more openness begin to emerge?

This often works just as well with young people. Not because the format is childish, but precisely because it feels less heavy. When talking still feels like a big step, when answers remain short, or when someone is holding back a little, it often helps when the starting point does not ask too much straight away.

In that sense, a simple coaching exercise with dice can be exactly enough. Not to force anything, but simply to begin somewhere. And because the format feels light, it can create space for something that might otherwise have remained out of sight a little longer.

Maybe that is exactly why these kinds of exercises stay with people. They do not pretend that a conversation has to be complete, deep, or special straight away. They simply offer a beginning, with just enough direction to move beyond the point where a conversation might otherwise have stayed stuck.

Curious what Coaching exercise with the dice looks like in practice?

Sometimes a small, playful starting point is enough to get a conversation moving. From there, you as a coach can use your own skills to deepen the conversation and guide it further.

Curious? Take a look at Coaching with the Dice or Coaching with the Dice for Young People on our product page.