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Ice Breakers: Preparing the Stage for a Successful Meeting

By Alan Gillies

Republish: EasyPublish™ Published: 24Jan2009 Word count: 518 Viewed: 529 time(s) Get Free Content For Your Site

Ice breakers are meant to establish a comfortable environment for proceedings to occur by making the participants feel at ease. These practices are all the more important when the participants don't know each other well enough to make a good start. An ice-breaker will make the parties involved feel relaxed and also set the right tone for a meeting to proceed. This relaxed state of mind will help the participants to be more focused and receptive so they can actively listen to any discussion.

Ice breakers are used not only in the beginning, but also when the meeting is in the midway or reaches a difficult situation. The content and timing of using an ice-breaker doesn't need to be given excessive consideration - as some people instinctively know how to use an ice-breaker. With minimal training, others can easily learn this skill as well.

Ice-breakers are basically small exercises that inspire individual enthusiasm - making interpersonal situations more favourable, with the usual overall result of more meaningful interactions. Some of the commonly used ones are:

1. True or False - Ask each person to tell three facts about him/her, two of which are correct, and one false. The other members are to guess at the incorrect statement. The person who guesses the False statement is then the next in line for the continuation of the game.

2. Inferring - Ask everyone to write a list of his/her choices, for instance, favourite animal, flower, and hobbies. Read out these details to the group one by one without revealing the name of the individual being discussed, and then ask the others to guess who was just being talked about.

3. Ask the participants to state two or three adjectives about themselves that start with the same letter as the initial of their first name. This generally enhances everyone's thought process.

4. Physical exercises will remove any lethargic feeling some may have, for instance, ask the participants to stretch their arms and legs.

Some of the Do's and Don'ts that can help in the successful use of ice-breakers are:

Do's

- The game chosen should be appropriate and suitable for the group concerned.

- Make the instructions as simple as possible to understand.

- Keep an eye on the participants to ensure that they are enjoying the process.

- Irrespective of how much effort you have put into devising a good ice-breaker, it may not work. So, always have a back-up plan in place.

- Make sure that you have the right number of people for the game.

Don'ts

- Don't go for ice-breakers which might make the participants feel uncomfortable, physically or mentally.

- Don't force anyone to participate.

- Don't be unorganized. Have all of the material you might need, as any delay can quickly make the atmosphere lose direction and focus.

- Don't underestimate the time that might be needed for completing this activity.

- Don't limit the use of ice-breakers to the start of a meeting

Finally, as a general rule of thumb - insert Ice-Breakers whenever needed.

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