Staff Training

Icebreakers are a staple of almost every training program. Used properly, they can be a great tool to introduce and energize a diverse group of attendees to contribute to the day’s events. Used poorly, they can make participants extremely uncomfortable and potentially shut down the room. Everyone has attended at least one training session during their career where the icebreaker has not worked as planned, leading to uncomfortable situations, boredom, or inattentiveness.

Think back to your worst icebreaker experience. You likely felt stupid, inept, distracted or bored. You spent the bulk of the exercise trying to understand the point of the activity and how it related to either the topic at hand or training in general.

First, to define icebreakers, they are the introductory activities meant to familiarize attendees with each other, the facilitator, and the subject matter. They are usually short exercises, designed to build a positive climate in the room.¹ Icebreakers can be used to encourage people to participate, and also to introduce or illustrate a specific topic or point. These activities are very useful when the participants come from different backgrounds or groups in an organization, when the facilitator does not know the participants well, when new teams need to bond, or when the topic is foreign to all the participants.²

Sometimes the icebreaker activity is announced; other times, attendees walk into the situation, which is explained at its conclusion. As an example, I once attended a “Train the Trainer” session. Upon entering the room, the chairs were in disarray. The facilitator was discussing the setup with another person; chairs were moved, moved again, and finally we were all told to grab a chair and sit anywhere. The sound system did not work, no one knew where the lights were, and the computer/projector did not work. It was a clear and memorable depiction of what not to do when presenting a training program. The discussion focused on what was wrong, the first impression of the training session and the trainer, and how that first impression affected audience expectations.

Icebreakers can be helpful in a variety of settings, but need to be carefully selected and planned. Careful planning is the difference between an effective presentation and a detached audience. Here are some tips to successfully incorporate icebreakers into your next presentation.

First, identify the “ice” you need to break. Is the situation simply people who have not yet met, or is it more complicated? Are varied backgrounds and cultures the issue, or is it workplace status? ³ For complex situations, focus on similarities, not differences, such as the nature or culture of the organization rather than individual cultural differences.

Define objectives for the training. Is it problem solving, team building, brainstorming? What will the icebreaker event contribute? Are you breaking down barriers to encourage participation, or clearing the air to move on to solutions? Team building exercises, for example, are useful for a disparate group brought together to solve a problem. If team building is the subject of the training, a small-group exercise can provide insight as to how teamwork can improve the workplace.