Breaking the Ice for Tighter Teams
Photo by Kevin Curtis on Unsplash
Whether you’re seated at the dinner or conference table, these ice-breaking techniques can get your strategic-planning retreat off to a strong start.
The icebreaker is a staple of company retreats. Most people use it to make everybody feel more relaxed, get to know one another, and presumably work better together when the real strategic work begins.
I love icebreakers and count myself a big fan of using them in a deeper way as a part of the strategic planning process itself, rather than as a prelude or warm-up to it.
For me, an icebreaker should accomplish three goals. They are:
To enable your team to understand one another on a personal level, which will build trust, especially among those unaccustomed to working closely, such as a loosely formed project team;
To use the personal insights gained during the icebreaker to deploy different personality types in their sweet spots during strategic planning sessions; and
To lift your entire team out of their tactical, day-to-day mindset and into the strategic, 50,000-foot mindset.
This may sound like I’m asking a lot of the humble icebreaker, but these outcomes should follow naturally from a well-planned icebreaking activity. The key is to make sure your team commits to it.
As a rule, the longer the retreat, the longer the icebreaker. For a two-day retreat, I typically do a 45- to 60-minute icebreaker. This gives the team a more decisive break from business as usual while calling on them to deepen their collaborative mindset in a fairly short time.
Here are some ideas for icebreakers I’ve used in the past.
1. Conscious Leadership
Conscious Leadership teaches a high degree of self-awareness both in individuals and among team members, focusing on the things that fuel our positive energy or trigger our negative shut-down. This makes this broad topic an ideal icebreaker for a team that’s about to spend a big chunk of time stepping outside their daily departmental roles, talking, debating, and so on.
If you want to go deeper with Conscious Leadership, here are two ideas:
Watch “Locating Yourself” and then have each person describe their “location, above or below the line.” Have them talk briefly about what is most likely to take them “below the line” on any given day. What brings them “above the line?”
Watch “Are You Choosing Curiosity?” and then have each person share where they think they like to be right. Discuss how the team might help them when they feel threatened and need to “feel right.” Ask whether they will give the team permission to note when their need to be right seems to be stemming the flow of curiosity.
2. Personality-type testing
Tests such as the enneagram or Myers Briggs Assessment can give you a serious and fun way to break the ice. This is because they tell us how we view the world at a basic level and deal with problems, and even point out situations in which different personality types are likely to complement or clash with each other.
There are several online tests you can take for various prices. The Enneagram Group offers a simple, $20 one to get the ball rolling and then go deeper if there is interest. You can also pay a bit more for deeper tests if you want to go that route. Most people have heard of the Myers Briggs Assessment and a lot of people have taken it at one time in their lives.
The key is for everybody to take the test prior to the retreat and come ready to share not only the results but also what insight the test gave them.
At one of my previous companies, we used both the Myers Briggs and enneagram to good effect. For example, at one retreat I used my knowledge of being intuitive and “feeling” to better understand the needs of my sales director, who had an analytical and “thinking” approach to planning. Both of us had something valuable to contribute but needed to get outside our own heads if we were going to be able to learn from one another.
At a different retreat, the realization that my operations director dreaded conversations about “vision” (even more than I had imagined he did) tipped me off that he would be better suited for breakout sessions that focused on systems.
3. On the lighter side
If you want to keep your icebreaker on the lighter side, during a lunch or dinner meeting while you’re waiting for your food, you can check out a website I use for some quick/simple ice-breaker questions. Some of my faves on this site include:
If you could instantly become an expert in something, what would it be and why?
What is the scariest thing you’ve ever done for fun?
You have to wear a t-shirt for a year with no more than three words on it. What are those words and why?
Who’s your hero and why?
Another one I like for a dinner/drinks setting is two truths and a lie.
Of course, there are plenty of techniques falling between personality testing or Conscious Leadership and two truths and a lie! Here are two examples:
Read this link about “love languages” at work and come prepared to label yourself with one and only one descriptor. Be prepared to give some examples for the group;
You’ve died in your sleep at the ripe old age of 109! You lived a wonderful life. Tons of people speak at your funeral. What do they say about you? Take 5 minutes or so and share your eulogy with the team.
Any opportunity you use to help your team be more “present” at your retreat can offer exponential rewards both in improved morale and group decision-making behavior.
What is your team doing to break the ice when you go on strategic-planning retreats? I’d love to know.
Sincerely,
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All credit to my ghostwriting partner, Dave Moore, who is instrumental in getting my thoughts out in a coherent manner & into these blogs. Thanks Dave!