How to Break the Ice

The Right Way to Use An Ice - Breaker

Why would you use an ice - breaker at the start of a training session?

Easy answer - to break the ice, to get people to talk to each other, to help them to settle in.

But why do we need to do this? Why does it matter?

Because we want people to feel relaxed and to get to know each other.

Again - why? What does it matter if people feel relaxed? Is " relaxed " the state you want people to be in?

The reason I raise this is because I sometimes see people using an activity at the start of a session or course which is not necessarily appropriate. They seem to think that you have to use some sort of ice - breaker but I'm not sure they have thought through what they are trying to achieve with it.

I think it's all about getting people in a receptive state for learning.

People don't just turn up in a receptive state, you need to do something to help them get into it.

What does a " receptive state " mean? Well, how would you describe someone who is ready for learning?

Here are some suggestions - curious, positive, enthusiastic, energised, confident, open, relaxed.

What does an " unreceptive state " look like? How about - stressed, tense, anxious, bored, tired, negative, suspicious, guarded, embarrassed.

There are plenty more adjectives you could come up with, but you get the idea.

The answer to the question, " Why would you do ( anything ) in a training session? " is always " Because it supports the learning ". That's the only reason you do anything. If it doesn't support the learning, why would you be doing it?

The same applies to ice - breakers. Used properly, they help to get people into this receptive stae and you need to do this because it supports the learning - people learn better when they feel positive, energised, confident, etc and, because they don't generally feel that way when they come into the room, you need to do something to help them get into that state.

Of course, ice - breakers aren't the only way to do this.

You do it through your own appearance, your language, the appearance of the room, the way you introduce the session, the materials you use, the way you promote the session beforehand. But the ice - breaker can be a major part of it.

People have numerous questions in their minds when they come to a training event and how you answer them will determine how receptive they are to the learning.

Some of these questions are, " What will I have to do? Will I be embarrassed or shown up in any way? ", " How useful will this be? ", " Will this be fun or boring? "," Who else will be there? What will they be like? How much will they
know? "

You can use the ice - breaker to answer some of these questions if you choose an appropriate activity.

What is appropriate? It depends on your group and on the nature of the course.

For example - what sort of activities will people be doing during the course? If it's very active and people will be working closely in small groups, you may need an activity at the start which allows them to get to know each other quite well and to start the process of working together so they feel more comfortable later.

If the course will involve people giving each other feedback or sharing some sensitive information about themselves, this is even more important. For example, I run workshops on Assertiveness and Confidence where people will be talking about situations they find very challenging. They need to feel at ease with each other before I can ask them to open up about these issues.

If you are running a technical course, this may not be so vital. However, people will still want to know something about each other, maybe about each other's background and knowledge, so your ice - breaker could help to bring out this information.

Your ice - breaker may reflect the nature of the course in terms of how active, energetic or " off the wall " it is.

For example, if the course is meant to challenge people's assumptions, take them out of their comfort zones or just get them moving around and doing high - energy activities, you may want to use an ice - breaker which reflects this so they get an idea of what's coming. Of course, you need to warm people up first, especially if this is something new to them, otherwise you may just increase their resistance.

I think this is the crux of what I'm getting at here - you need to think through any activity to make sure it's achieving what you want. I've seen activities used at the start of courses which actually made people feel more anxious, embarassed, self - conscious, resistant and ( in some cases ) downright hostile towards the trainer because they just weren't appropriate. They asked people to do things they weren't yet prepared to do.

So you need to know your group ( as always ), you need to know what they expect, what their attitudes may be to certain activities, what their likely state will be when they first arrive and what you may need to do to alter that, what you need them to be able to do during the course and how you need them to relate to each other and work with each other - then you can start to plan your ice - breaker.

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