Ice Breakers: Meaningful or a Waste of Time?
In addition to the obligatory introduction round, which at best conveys a brief profile of the person present, good ice breakers help create a positive and creative atmosphere. Especially in Design Thinking workshops, it’s important that participants feel comfortable, hierarchies are broken down, and the team gets to know each other better. The targeted use of ice breakers therefore offers the opportunity to learn surprising or at least unexpected information about other team members, which tends to stick in memory better than mere facts about the person.
5 Interesting Ice Breakers to Try
These ice breakers are easy, quick, and can be implemented without much material effort. To further break up the character of static meetings and generate more dynamism, workshop participants should, if possible, step forward in each method shown, pin up their answers or results, and briefly present them.
Our Top 5 Ice Breakers at a Glance
1. The Desert Island
A classic, but still very effective and easy to implement. Participants are asked the question: “If you were stranded on a desert island, what would you have with you?” This ice breaker offers a high degree of flexibility as the question can be adapted as needed, either by keeping it very open – name 1-3 things of your choice – or by limiting it from the start – which books, music, or tools would you have with you.
2. Many Colorful Gummy Bears
Everyone loves sweets, and in our office, gummy bears are especially popular. So it makes sense to incorporate them into the workshop. First, a bag of gummy bears is passed around and everyone takes one. Depending on the color of the bear, a specific question about oneself must be answered. This method also offers a lot of flexibility regarding the questions. They can be specifically related to the workshop content or completely deviate from it, such as asking about hobbies, the last travel destination, or favorite color.
3. Who Am I?
In this ice breaker, each participant receives a blank sheet of paper. On it, everyone writes or draws a brief description of themselves. Then all sheets are collected again, mixed, and placed face down in the center of the table. Throughout the workshop, a paper is revealed from time to time, and the team tries to collectively figure out who it belongs to.
A possible variation of this method is created by having participants additionally note a favorite thing on a specific topic. There are no limits to the imagination when choosing the topic, from favorite movie to favorite music to favorite sport.
4. Two Truths and a Lie
Each participant writes three random facts about themselves on moderation cards, one of which is not true. These cards are pinned to the wall and the rest of the team then tries to collectively uncover the lie. Depending on how much team members are willing to reveal about themselves, this ice breaker can be a lot of fun and bring the team closer together.
5. My Superpower
What superpower does each person bring to the team? Everyone thinks of their very special superpower, writes it down, and pins it up for all to see. Then, each person briefly explains to the others how exactly this ability is useful for the success of the workshop, the project, or the company.
Summary
Starting a workshop with an ice breaker is therefore quite sensible to engage all workshop participants from the beginning, tune them into a common mindset, and maintain their motivation throughout the entire time. Short and easily implemented ice breakers also promote creativity and help the team get to know each other better. The 5 examples mentioned serve as inspiration and can be flexibly adapted to the prevailing conditions and team constellations. We wish you a lot of fun testing them.
