1. Ice Breakers – the do’s and don’t’s
Ice breakers are a great way to start a training program. Most of the successful trainers usually have some
form of ‘ice breaking’ before hitting the main topic or theme of training. The fundamental rationale for
an icebreaker is to ensure that the participants are more at ease and if possible are able to relate with one
another. While the ice-breaker way of starting a training program is an excellent method, there are some
fundamental Dos and Donts that one needs to take care of:
Dos:
1. Have the ice breaker in such a way that it allows all the participants to join in. Any ice breaker which
only involves participation of a few usually does not give the required results.
2. Whenever possible make sure that the ice breaker also involves some physical movement. This was
the participants feel much more relaxed after the icebreaker.
3. Plan the ice breaker to match the theme of the program. Doing a 16 circles exercise for a creativity
program would go much better than say, tell about yourself on a balloon
4. Have a fixed time for the time breaker – say 10-12 min after the initial bell.
5. Keep the spirit through the icebreaking session, high. An ill managed ice breaking process leaves the
participants confused and deflated.
6. If possible conclude the ice-breaker. Eg, ‘like we now observed, when we know a few more details
about a person than what we know, we tend to relate with them better’ etc.
Don’ts:
1. Have an ice breaking session that is too long. In a one day training program, neither the client, nor
participant (and nor you) would be happy with a 45 min ice-breaker!
2. Don’t make the ice breaker too physical – a tiered participant is the last thing you want when you start
off a program.
3. Don’t have the ice breaker where a lot of mental jogging happens eg. recall events from your past
where “something happened”. Cooling participants off from such a huge emotional thing can have its
own consequences.
4. Never have an ice breaker which may show one or more of the participants in poor light.
5. An ice breaking session which may gender insensitive.
Remember, ice breakers are meant to break ice at start of programs, not break the programs itself!
Regards,
Simplifymytraining.com