Whenever you meet with a new group, the leader inevitably wants to do some “icebreakers.” The motivation is good–a team functions better when they know and understand each other.
But people don’t like them. Introverts, especially, feel awkward sharing personal information, and sometimes the “fun” questions can feel invasive. They also don’t do a lot to build team cohesiveness. How does everyone knowing what type of animal you’d be if you could switch help you develop a marketing plan for 2023?
But just jumping into the work can be awkward as well.
Why Traditional Icebreakers Fail
The idea is to build rapport by sharing things that friends know about each other. But it forces the order incorrectly. My friends know these things about me because we’re friends. We aren’t friends because they know my favorite color.
To keep reading, click here: Stop Using Traditional Icebreakers and Do Improv Instead
No to improv. I am an introvert and all of this sounds awful too!! LOL I would much rather do 2 truths and a lie and not have to do a dance in front of my coworkers. I also do not have an improv mindset.
We brought in an improv troop one time because one co-worker LOVED it and did it as a hobby. They had a stage and everything and would randomly pull people from the audience. I wanted to die.
How about, “Welcome, please feel free to introduce yourselves to each other on the break. Now, Subject One.”
I completely shut down the ice breaker thing at a training; we all at least kind of knew each other, but the instructor said, “Tell everyone something they don’t know about you!” (yes, the exclamation was in her voice.) When it was my turn, I told about the time when I was 16 and found a dead body in a car that had been there for a few weeks and started going into detail. This was almost a month after the 1972 Rapid City flood. She shut it down immediately and we went on with training.