To Boldly Go, Where No Ice-Breaker Has Gone Before

As professional trainers and meeting facilitators we often begin with an ice-breaker. If all goes well, participants become more relaxed and more focused on the topics at hand. A good ice-breaker can set a solid foundation for team building. Participants get to know you and each other better and, hopefully, warm up to the topic!

Unfortunately, it does not always work that way. Sometimes ice-breakers fall flat. For example, when the participants know each other very well, they may think it’s a waste of time. Especially when the ice-breaker is familiar. As participants sink into their chairs and think, “same old, same old,” the ice grows stronger. Yikes!

Borg (ice) cube

Here’s my simple recipe to get started on a high note:

• Keep the ice-breakers short.
• Prepare and practice so you can execute confidently
• Surprise your participants.
• Have fun!

After a series of training sessions, I realized that the participants had enjoyed our ice-breakers so much they had incorporated them into their internal meetings. I now had waves of new trainees who were already familiar with these ice-breakers. With familiarity came lower engagement, and their participation was becoming rote, predictable, stifled. So I decided to shake things up a bit and make up something new. You might want to try one of these three. They fit so well with introductions, you do not need to announce them as ice-breakers.

#1 Made-up word moniker

Make up a new description of yourself by combining two or three words.

Mine is Resolutionary—from Resolving and Solution with a dash of Revolutionary. It expresses my Resolve to bring Revolutionary Solutions to business problems. Easy, right? Someone else said “Data-Ninja”. in other words, “Quantoid and proud of it!”.  Now that’s information you can use when you are building your team, isn’t it? The participants loved their made-up monikers so much they amended their name tents to include their new descriptions as middle names. By the end of the session, we were referring to them as super powers from their not-so-secret identities. Fortunately, no one graduated to costumes…

Speaking of costumes….

#2 Fictional character

If you were a fictional character, who would you be and why?

Star Trek Captains

Someone once said, “Santa Claus”! It was not a surprise to anyone in the room since she was known to love Christmas so much she had more than eight Christmas trees in the house and decorated from Thanksgiving to … April. But it produced a lot of laughter as her coworkers affirmed how well they knew her. Some others were complete surprises.

Mine is that I am the captain of the starship Enterprise. If you don’t know what I am talking about, you are officially not a nerd. I used to say “I am the evolution of the Star Trek captain. Let’s see, bad actor (Shatner in TOS*), French (Jean-Luc Picard, in TNG*), Black (Avery Brooks in DS9*), female (Janeway in Voyager). I embody them all. ;-)” That was many years ago, before Scott Bakula and Enterprise or even the franchise reboot with Chris Pine. That’s when I stopped watching. Sorry fellow Trekkers. TNG girl all the way here. Sir Patrick’s performance? Mic drop!

I would share that I chose the role because of the characters’ bold, ethical leadership, how they exemplified the best of diversity and inclusion, of collaboration and creative problem solving in the face of insurmountable odds. And they did it in one hour including commercials. Imagine what we can do with the time we have!

So you see, As i am sharing what matters to me, I am inviting the participants to do the same. Of course, I am also making a commitment to the values i have expressed, and I know I will be held to it. Have you ever created a ground rule about being on time and then walked in late to a chorus of very excited trainees, gleefully expecting you to pay your dues? Well, that was the last time I instituted a penalty of singing in public for tardy course attendees. 😉

So, what about you? Who would you be?

#3 – Favorite quote or favorite saying

I tend to rotate among favorites, depending on the challenges or strengths of the team. Here are three examples.

“Out beyond ideas of right doing and wrong doing, there is a field. I’ll meet you there.” –Rumi

If I am trying to establish trust so participants feel more comfortable sharing the reality of their current state

“I think there is a world market for about five computers” — Tom Watson, IBM chairperson, 1958

If I am trying to put participants at ease with taking a chance or taking a stand

“In times of change, learners inherit the Earth; while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.” — Eric Hoffer

If my intent is to emphasize the learning process even more than the outcome

These ice-breakers are short, easy to use, and revealing. It’s not just about breaking the ice—it’s about creating the right environment for your session. It is about building trust by being prepared, professional, approachable, and just a little vulnerable. It’s about being authentic and intentional. It’s about listening and creating individual relationships but also helping them to relate to each other in a different way. It’s about creating the building blocks of collaboration, telling and showing what they can expect from you. It’s about finding out who your participants are, and making sure they feel seen and heard, creating a context in which you can intervene if the session requires a more rigorous intervention later.

If you would like to use these, my #1 recommendation is to think about your answers ahead of time because you might need to show them how it’s done. And remember, they will take their cue from you, so look them in the eyes, smile, relax, and most of all, have fun!

Your turn. What are your favorite or least favorite ice-breakers?

* TOS = The Original Series | TNG = The Next Generation | DS9 = Deep Space Nine