Finding the right diversity training materials is tough for all trainers. I am constantly looking for new and exciting ideas to keep my training fresh and alive. I was really surprised when I came across a website called gamethingy which sells a range of training board games.

I use the original game size for training small groups (6 and under) however I know that they sell much larger versions for over 6 people to play. The Diversity Training Game that I chose covers race, religion and belief, sexual orientation, age and disability.

The questions are a variety of simple yes and no answers, multi choice or straight forward question and answers. The best part of the game for me was the time2talk section which raises some great issues for group discussion. The trainees found the training game really fun to play and there was some lively debate.

Discussing diverse issues in a work environment is tough for most staff so being able to cover them this way was really helpful. We have a very diverse staff and one of the situations was: You overhear a colleague talking about another colleagues ‘odd religious habits’, what should you do? We had a number of devout Christians and Muslims in the group and it was great to hear them discussing issues they had faced at work and how that made them feel. Many of the trainees understood very little about the faiths and beliefs of the others within the group and the discussion helped them bond further as a team.

One of the sections of the game focuses on disability and although we do not have many disabled staff we do have lots of disabled customers. Again the questions stimulated debate and we discussed not only how we can work better as a team but also how we can help our customers enjoy spending time with us.

The original game was £99 and I can use it again and again. There were also blank question cards inside so I could add a couple of questions and scenarios which were important to the group.