The Niftiest Training Tool Around

If you’re looking for a training tool that will deliver the most benefits for the least effort… a tool that can be used in any number of training situations… and change the mood of a group in a second… all while delivering heaps of learning… then I think I can claim to have found it…

...Icebreakers!

Icebreakers are one of the niftiest training tools around.

Originally, icebreakers were used solely to warm up a new group. Hence the name.

But with a bit of clever planning, a dash of daring, and a wide repertoire in your kitbag, you can use Icebreakers in all sorts of situations and…

…reap big rewards!

I love Icebreakers.

I love them because they’re quick, versatile, and great fun.

So, if you want to get more out of your courses… with the least amount of effort… just follow my guide below for seven ways to use Icebreakers… and I’ll throw in my all-time favourite icebreakers at the same time.

#1. Introductions

This is the obvious place to start because Icebreakers were… and still are… mainly used to help a new and perhaps unfamiliar group to get to know each other better.

When you choose an Icebreaker as an Introduction exercise, bear in mind the size of the group, the gender mix of the group, and also how warmed up the group already is. If a group is a still a little “cool” and serious, they may not respond to a high-energy fun introduction.

Anyhow, my favourite all-time Introduction Icebreaker is Two Truths and a Lie. It rarely lets me down and will work in any group.

Here’s what you do.

Tell the group to think of three things about themselves that they are willing to share with the rest of the group. Two of the features must be true and the other one must be false.

The aim of the exercise is for the rest of the group… or if you like, someone picked from the group… to detect the lie.

Not only does Two Truths and a Lie give you heaps of interesting information about your trainees, it can also teach people a thing or two about how easy it is to make false assumptions about others.

Oh, and don’t forget your own two truths and a lie. They’re bound to ask you.

And since you asked, here are mine: I breed labrador dogs; I’m a published author; I practise T’ai Chi. Now guess.

#2. Energizers

I suppose I discovered how versatile Icebreakers could be when I was regularly confronted with the post-lunch dip.

That’s what happens when you combine a large lunch with the human bodyclock’s natural post-lunch metabolic slowdown.

In other words, people dozing off in the early afternoon.

So, my next category of Icebreakers are Energisers, simply because they wake up a sluggish group and fill them with energy.

Most energisers are naturally active, often noisy, and a bit chaotic, so if you’re working somewhere where there are neighbours you don’t want to upset, warn them in advance.

This Energiser suitably fits all these requirements and is called All Hell Breaks Loose.

Simply make lists of energetic exercises that the group have to do, eg “Do 10 press-ups”; “Run on the spot for 3 minutes”; “Climb to floor 30 and back”; and then put them into sets of 5 each. Now hand them out to the group randomly, call “Go!” and watch the fun.

After the group return and recover, you’ll have no fear of them falling asleep again.

#3. Relaxers

Having just given you an Icebreaker that will increase the heartrate of all your group, the next set does the opposite.

Slows it down.

These are the Relaxers.

Relaxers are invaluable when the energy levels of your group are too high and perhaps behaving like a class of over-excited school-kids.

They also work when everyone is a little anxious or stressed, for example when trainees are coming up to a test or exam.

The style of most Relaxers is visualisation and relaxed breathing and here, because I can’t choose which I like best, are two of my all-time favourites, Feathers and Classical Rose.

Just say them as they’re written.

• Feathers: Sit quietly, close your eyes and imagine that you can see a white feather falling gently down in front of you against a clear blue sky. As the feather descends, you unwind and your muscles gradually lose their rigidity. Follow the feather all the way down with this feeling. When the feather reaches the ground, you are completely relaxed.


• The Red Rose: Sit quietly, close your eyes and imagine a red rose in your mind’s eye. At the start it is a closed bud, but gradually as you watch each petal slowly opens. As each petal opens, imagine yourself unwinding and your muscles relaxing. Eventually, the rose is fully open and you are completely at ease.

#4. Teambuilders

I suppose in a way that all Icebreakers are also all Teambuilders because they have the effect, whether intended or not, of gelling a team together.

A quick Teambuilder Icebreaker can do as much to bond a team together as a weekend spent whitewater rafting or abseiling down a cliff.

You can use a Teambuilder any time the group aren’t working for each other, for example, when there is conflict between group members.

One way to sense how well the group are working as a team is to observe the number of questions and comments that come your way and the number that go to and from the group. The more they’re coming in your direction and not to each other, the more you need a Teambuilder Icebreaker.

Here’s a smashing little Teambuilder Icebreaker that I’ve used many times with great effect. It’s called CO-OPERATION.

Simply write the letters of the word CO-OPERATION on 12 large cards. Split the group into 2 teams and hand one team the cards, C, -, A, R, T, O and the other team the cards P, O, E, O, I, N.

Now tell the teams… and use these words exactly… that the winning team is the first team to make a word with all the letters on their cards.

Of course, the trick in this game is that neither of the two small teams can form a word with the letters on their cards. But the big team… that is, both of them combined… can.

And the secret to doing it… which they will learn from this icebreaker… is co-operation.

#5. Creative brainteasers

I have a colleague who is a wizard at lateral thinking puzzles.

You know, those which have everybody scratching their heads for the answer.

He uses them to fill in any gaps on his courses, such as while waiting for people to return from breaks, or at the start of the day.

I’ve seen people come back early just for the brainteaser!

Unlike the icebreakers in the previous section, brainteasers aren’t really teambuilders. In fact, they’re more useful as individual puzzles.

They’re also priceless as warm-ups to more detailed problem-solving exercises, particularly if you want to get people to think a little more laterally or out of the box.

The great thing about brainteasers, of course, is that you can collect book-loads of them from any decent bookseller… as long as you acknowledge the source when you use them. You can even get trainees to tell you their own favourites and so add to your collection.

My favourite is “That’s Torn It!” which I first read in a book by Gary Kroehnert (a great compiler of icebreakers, by the way). Here’s how it goes.

Give everyone a 3” by 5” card and tell them to make two tears from the middle of the top side about 1” apart and 1” deep.

Now tell them to hold the card at the top of the right-hand corner with their right hand and at the top of the left-hand corner with their left hand.

The task now is to tear the card in three pieces without letting go of the card. You’ll find that people will want to rip the card with their hands but this will only tear it in half, not in three.

All sorts of creative solutions are possible with this game.

For starters, they could ask you…as the only person with free hands… to help them. Or they could use their teeth.

The fun, however, is in discovering just how inventive they can be.

#6. Contact Icebreakers

Our penultimate set of Icebreakers are Contact Icebreakers.

A lot of trainers I know steer away from getting their participants to physically touch each other in an exercise possibly out of fear of safety issues or the consequences of unwanted contact between delegates.

But I’ve seen many other trainers get great results from using physical icebreakers once they’ve settled the safety or contact issues.

I have to say that it’s rare to run a Contact Icebreaker without everyone ending up in fits of laughter at some stage.

There are many Contact Icebreakers to choose from.

Based on the laughometer scale, the one that gets my vote is The Girder.

Here’s what you do.

Before the delegates arrive, mark out with a piece of masking tape a girder-shaped rectangle on the floor. It should measure 18” wide by one shoe size long for every delegate on the course.

When everyone assembles, tell them to go and stand inside the tape in Indian file formation. They must imagine that they are standing on a girder which is suspended 100 foot in the air. Anyone who steps outside the tape will plunge to a horrific death below.

When everyone is lined up inside the tape, tell them that if they want to get off the girder they have to complete three tasks.

The first task is to re-arrange themselves in order of age from one end to the other without falling off. Set them off and time them.

Once they have completed this task, tell them how long they took and announce the second task. This time they have to re-arrange themselves in house number order... but they must work better as a team and do it in half the time of the previous round. Again, set them off and time them.

Assuming they have succeeded, tell them that the last task is to re-arrange themselves in shoe size order which they must achieve in half the time of the previous round.

Prepare for mayhem as they try to do this in record time!

You’ll quickly discover why this exercise is called a Contact Icebreaker.

#7. Quickies

Although I’ve chosen seven categories for these Icebreakers, there really is no limit to the kinds of fun exercises you can find, or invent, for your courses.

So, this last category, which I’ve called Quickies, is for all those Icebreakers which don’t fall under any other category but which take no time to set up or run.

And that’s the beauty of Icebreakers.

They’re so short that, even if they bomb and fail, you’ve not really wasted much time. And you can always learn from your failures.

So, here for my final Quickie Icebreaker is an exercise that is so quick and simple to set up and run… that you’ll wonder how you ever got by without it.

It’s called Before and After and you plan it and run it before and after a break. What you do is clear the training room at a break time, and, when everyone has gone, make ten quick but noticeable changes to the room.

These changes can include things like… moving the flipchart to the other side of the room, putting up a new poster, closing an open window.

Now quickly re-join the group and when you re-assemble, challenge the group to spot the ten changes.

Award nominal prizes to the most observant individual or team.

And you’ll have your group energized and alert for the rest of the session!

So there you go! My Icebreakers Hall of Fame.

I hope they encourage you to start collecting your own Icebreakers and using them on every course you run.

Why do they work?

Well, who knows for sure. My guess is that it’s because all Icebreakers are fun and playful. And, as someone once wisely said, we all learn far more from play than we do from work.

Copyright, ManageTrainLearn.com

Eric Garner is the MD of ManageTrainLearn, which started out as a management training company in 1996 and is now a leading innovator in the creation of e-learning products designed to help you become a better manager, better trainer and better learner. Visit the company's website to sample their fascinating free training resources (including icebreakers that will make your courses sparkle!) Sign up for their free 10-day Leadership Skills e-course by sending a blank email to leadership@freeautobot.com.

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