I have been to enough meetings and seminars in my career to have experienced the good, the bad, and the ugly in icebreakers. Meeting planners often want to open the session they’re planning with an activity to engage the attendees and get them talking. They worry (and rightfully so) that attendees will criticize the icebreaker as being a ‘game’ taking up their limited meeting time. That does not have to be the case, given appropriate and pragmatic planning an icebreaker activity could have a huge positive impact in setting the context for the meeting.
More specifically, icebreakers act as a pattern interrupt, helping people to stop and focus on the here and now. This ensures participants are present and focused before entering in to the substantive ‘facilitated’ part of the meeting. Probably the best use of icebreakers are as ‘metaphors’ or ‘lessons’ that speak to the meeting purpose or the core of the problem or opportunity to be discussed. How people behave during the icebreaker can be reincorporated in the facilitated session to further accentuate a point or intended outcome.
For the most part, icebreakers build quick familiarity between participants. This is especially important with people who don’t know one another. Icebreakers get people talking to those who may feel apprehensive to disclose personal or emotional information. Where status or expertise in a room can cause rifts between people being candid and open, good collaborative icebreakers that put everyone on the same level help to alleviate status concerns. Finally, effective icebreakers help to set the tone for the spirit and climate you want to have for the meeting. A fun icebreaker helps to also set a lighter tone which may be necessary before entering into a difficult conversation.
There is no end of speakers, trainers, and team builders who will sell you their book of 34 surefire meeting icebreakers. The internet is a great resource for this subject, and you can also look at some of the freebie offerings to see if you can adapt them to your purpose. One starting point would be About.com; Christopher M. Knight’s site gives you the Top 7 Meeting Icebreakers; and Ezine @rticles has a Top 10 Meeting Ice Breakers, by Amy Linley.
There are times, however, when we shouldn’t consider using icebreakers. In the course of my internet readings on this subject I came across an article which said that Dorothy Strachan in her book “Questions that Work” suggests that “you don’t need icebreakers when there’s no ice.” This may be a firm grasp of the obvious on her part, but people actually need reminding of basic things like this, otherwise they might feel obliged to have an icebreaker.
Essentially if people know one another and feel comfortable with their peers icebreakers will be perceived as meaningless or a method for filling time. In these cases it’s best to do a starting exercise for the purposes of helping to reveal meaningful information that can assist in helping the group to identify expectations (i.e. “what are your expectations for this session?”). Or, you can use an activity that can potentially uncover resistance upfront by having participants identify their concerns, and solutions to those concerns for the event.
When participants are likely to have concerns about the subjects or material to be presented it is important to validate those concerns. Maybe even have the beginnings of a list of possible issues from which individuals can select and build upon to define their concerns. Obviously, people have a right to their concerns, and even more obviously you can’t address or move past them until they are identified.
When the icebreaker is completed, it’s important to have a good debrief to help drive home the learning that ultimately will set the tone for the upcoming facilitated session. I have only experienced a couple of presenters that had mastered this aspect of the icebreaker. What they did was to help the meeting group to transition our view of the icebreaker as being just a ‘warm up’ to something which provided insight or learning (i.e. about how the group works together to deal with issues or make decisions).
Some suggestions for questions to use during a debrief:
1. What did you learn from the icebreaker?
2. How is what you learned from the icebreaker tied to our following discussion?
3. What lessons did we learn from our icebreaker that we can apply to our upcoming discussion?
4. What did we learn from the icebreaker that we need to keep in mind to help us (for example) engage in a successful dialogue?
The questions above imply that the icebreaker was a learning exercise, it related to the purpose of the meeting, that applicable information was provided, and useful knowledge was gained by the participants. Regardless what icebreaker you use, make sure that you’ve put in some thought as to the purpose of the icebreaker and its ability to set the tone for the meeting. An effective icebreaker can literally make or break the ice for the session. (Sorry… I couldn’t resist the analogy.)
P.S. Have you ever written something and had it come out more helpful and “nicey – nicey” than you intended? Probably not, but that is where I find myself now. Actually, I meant to go off on a tirade about all of the meetings I have attended which had an obligatory icebreaker. Meetings where there was no thought put into what or why to have an icebreaker for this particular meeting?
Probably the worst situation is where a large audience is told go around the room to introduce yourself, and you realize that you know all but 5 of the people there. Couldn’t the facilitator just introduce the five new people to the group and let things take their course from there? Well, I am sorry to say that I lost my initial opportunity to come out roaring with attitude. It must have been the Polar Bear reference in the very beginning that threw me off. (I guess I didn’t know when to bring in the “roar” after that.)
Do you have a worst icebreaker memory you need to share? Go ahead; you can’t keep it bottled up inside for ever!