Great ice breaker ideas start with three words

Can you sum up your job description in three words or less? Think you could describe yourself or your personality in only three words?

Give it a try the next time you’re preparing for job interviews, recommends UK management advisor Colin Beveridge (via Human Race Horses). You may find the exercise to be a powerful self-evaluation tool, he says.

But if you’re not interviewing anytime soon, try the idea out as a quick ice breaker idea at your next meeting or event. We’ll call it the Three-Word Challenge, even shorter than the six-word ice breakers we shared late last year.

Simply start off your meeting by asking everyone to describe their job, what makes them happy, or even an interesting, unknown fact about themselves. Give them a few minutes to mull it over, then go around the room and have everyone share.

Be prepared to give good examples to get them started. Michael VanDervort at Human Race Horses recently shared these great three word self evaluations:

• Help people think (Beveridge)
• Make information useful (VanDervort)
• I think differently
• Evaluate, encourage & execute

The possibilities are endless. Try the Three-Word Challenge as an ice breaker and let us know how it goes.

How would you describe your job in three words?

Six-word icebreakers, keep it short

When Ernest Hemingway was challenged to write a story in only six words, he responded with:

“For sale: baby shoes, never worn.”

SMITH Magazine reignited the six-word story challenge in 2006 by asking readers to describe their lives in six words or less. The response was so overwhelming that they compiled the stories and created a book, Not Quite What I was Planning: Six Word Memoirs from Writers Famous and Obscure.

“They sent in short life stories in droves, from the bittersweet (“Cursed with cancer, blessed with friends”) and poignant (“I still make coffee for two”) to the inspirational (“Business school? Bah! Pop music? Hurrah”) and hilarious (“I like big butts, can’t lie”).”

The six-word memoir is not just a lesson in writing, but a concept that can be used to stay on task and on time around the office.

Take the idea of the six-word memoir and turn it into an introduction game or icebreaker:

• As everyone takes a seat at your next meeting or training exercise, tell them they have two minutes to write down their job description only using six words. When the two minutes are up, go around the room and have everyone share their name and six-word memoir.

Or, use it to keep your brainstorming sessions focused and to the point:

• Inspire your group with this video from SMITH Magazine and then ask the group to come up with ideas that can be written in six words or less. Whether you’re brainstorming new slogan ideas or identifying core issues, keeping ideas under six words will keep everyone focused.

Saying anything in six words or less can be a challenge, but it’s an exercise that delivers a great lesson on the value of clear communication. Use the ideas above or create your own six-word activities to challenge your next training group.

Have any ideas on how to use the six-word challenge to inspire employees? Leave a comment and let us know.

Using ice breakers to engage new groups

One of the hardest things to do is transform a group of strangers into a receptive learning team at the start of a training session. In a recent discussion on in the American Society for Training & Development (ASTD) group on LinkedIn, people weighed in on their thoughts about ice breakers as a tool.

Discussion began in response to: “How do you start a training session when you are not dealing with an intact work group? Do you use ice-breakers, games, or some other technique to engage the group?”


Breaking down walls

Kevin, a project administrator, recommends using an ice breaker that encourages learners to share personal information in order to break down emotional walls. Prompt group members with unfinished statements like “The most embarassing thing that happened to me was..." or "The TV show that I watch that most people don't know is...”

Some group members warned against playing ice breaker games that get too personal and make people uncomfortable. To avoid the vulnerability people feel sharing personal information, Suzann recommends using a less intrusive “bingo” type ice breaker. Have people group themselves into categories like favorite color, born in a certain state, or traveled internationally.

Suzann, a staff and curriculum supervisor, has also used icebreaker activities based on group member work experience. As people introduce themselves they share how long they’ve been with the company and in what positions. Knowing the group’s experience levels helps create unity and puts the trainer in a position to shift the “focus from the front of the room to the learners.”


Engaged listeners

Maria combines Suzann’s “experience in the room” technique with voting activities using handheld polling devices. The electronic handheld devices engage group members by having to press a button to respond to questions and provide instant gratification in a graphic model from responses in the room. The method offers anonymity when someone is unsure of their answer, instead of having to raise a hand, and “distracts those who customarily sit in the back of the room and read the USA Today or use their crackberries.”

Responding to another commenter’s “name tent” ice breaker idea, a learning and development specialist named Lisa puts a twist on the introduction activity. As people show up for class they write their name on one side of their name tent and a picture representing their lives on the other. Lisa tells her class that whoever stumps her with their picture gets a special prize, such as an extended lunch break.

“By the end of the class they are all working together to try and stump me. Most of them do not even care about the prize - its all about winning,” Lisa said. The game works best when you have ample time to go through the names, because it could take a while depending on students’ Pictionary skills.

Open with ice breakers for effective learning

Ice breakers can help you open a meeting or training session by lightening the mood and encouraging audience participation. If you have a team working together for the first time or are introducing new employees, they can also ease the discomfort that goes along with meeting strangers.

“Ice breakers and energizers heighten the effectiveness of learning sessions when targeted to the training, speaking, or facilitation topic and the needs of the learners or participants,” according to Scott McArthur at McArthur’s Rant.

Enhance audience retention and foster learning by opening up your next training session, meeting or seminar with a fun, new ice breaker activity.

Here’s one easy ice breaker idea, all you need is a pen and pad of sticky notes:

What’s my name?

As each person enters the room, have them write the name of a famous person on a sticky note. Have participants stand or sit in a circle. Keeping the names hidden, place sticky notes on the participants’ foreheads.

One by one, each person asks ‘yes’ or ‘no’ questions to determine the name of the famous person posted on their forehead. Depending on how much time you have, set a limit to how many questions each person can ask before they guess the name on their sticky note.

Go from person to person until everyone has guessed right or wrong. If you have a large group, break them down into manageable teams of 5 or 6.

When using a new ice breaker idea at work keep three things in mind:

1. Carefully choose the right one, McArthur liked this list - Ice Breakers, Energizers, and Activities
2. Follow the Do’s and Don’ts of ice breakers - keep it simple and don’t force people to participate.
3. Make sure the activity you choose isn’t listed in the “Top Worst Corporate Icebreakers,” or you “can kiss your dreams of a professional first impression goodbye.”