🧊The Quest #26: Icebreakers are back

Building connection, icebreaker software tools and more

Apr 12, 2021

Hello Friends!

Greetings from Barcelona ☀️where I have just started the OnDeck Course Creator Fellowship. Big props to Andrew Barry and Jackie Williams for an amazing launch event yesterday. More on that below👇.

Many thanks for your feedback on the last edition of The Quest. A special shout out to Nick in Amsterdam, Michaele and Barry in Bracebridge, Connie in Toronto, Romy in Stuttgart, and Mark in Hong Kong 🙌.

If you are joining The Quest for the first time, welcome to our weekly exploration of creativity, facilitation, and learning.

You can catch up on last week’s edition on Living with Uncertainty, and all past editions here.

This week it’s all about the power of icebreakers🔎

How icebreakers are making a comeback
Can software create community? Meet Icebreaker.
Why warm-ups will fundamentally change your work from IDEO
A free online tool and ebook for asking icebreaker questions
And more…

Let’s dive right in.

🧊Icebreakers are Making a Comeback. And that’s good news.

Would you rather have legs as long as your fingers or fingers as long as your legs?

I had never contemplated that question.

Until last night.

It was the launch event for the OnDeck Course Creator Fellowship. I was feeling excited and nervous at the same time. I scanned the participant list before the event. It sent my pulse racing. These people were all so accomplished. Would I fit in?

Fast forward to the event. I was playing a round of Would You Rather with 3 complete strangers on a platform called Icebreaker. The software helps people in a group get to know one another with guided conversation games. More on Icebreaker below👇.

Thanks to the game, we now know one crucial fact about each other.

We’d all rather have fingers as long as our legs.

Throughout the session, we also shared childhood memories. Significant life events.

We shared our dreams and fears for the program we were starting together. It was fun and engaging.

It made me feel more connected to this new group of fellows that I’ll be learning with for the next 8 weeks.

Over the past year, there has been a boom in software programs that are codifying and automating the process of building community in groups.

I know right? How could you automate something as important as the community-building process of an event?

That’s why I was surprised to experience how well the program worked.

Icebreakers have earned a bad rap. Often justifiably. The mere mention of icebreakers can set off panic bells for a lot of people. So much so that a lot of facilitators have come to avoid the term altogether. They are called warm-ups and connection exercises to dodge people’s resistance. Whatever you prefer to call them, they are a key part of building community (see my Twitter thread here for more)

With more people working and learning remotely, icebreakers are making a comeback. And this is good news for learning. Done well, they can boost motivation, participation, and connection. More on that here 👇

So how can we do icebreakers well so that they energize and motivate learners instead of turning people off?

That’s our quest for this week.

Can Software Create Community & Engagement? Meet Icebreaker.

I’m sure you’ve noticed too. New software platforms for online community building seem to be popping up everywhere. Up to now, I have written them all off. The ones I have seen strike me as superficial at best. Cringe-worthy at worst.

But my experience last night with Icebreaker made me re-think. Having looked through the Icebreaker platform with my most skeptical facilitator’s eye, it appears as though the Icebreaker team has done its homework.

👉Do you want to try it out together? Hit reply to this message to express your interest before Friday, April 16. If I hear back from 20+ people I’ll organize a special session for Quest members (they are free!).

Have you already tried it? I’d love to hear about your experience.

The eBook of Team Questions

A free e-book from another community-building platform called range.co. The e-book covers the why, how, and what of asking icebreaker questions. It includes 60 questions organized by categories like aspiration, showing up, and making changes.

I was drawn into the Managing Conflict category. This one made me think:

“What was a real-life situation where you stood up for someone or something?”

Download it here. Also, check out this question-generating tool.

What are your go-to questions?

4 Reasons Warm-ups Will Fundamentally Change Your Work

Still skeptical about the value of icebreakers? This article from IDEO makes a case for why creative warm-ups are the thing that can radically change your game. It includes a bunch of ideas for creative warm-ups that you can use. No software needed!

💌From The Quest Community

Skillpod - Own Your Story. May 31 - June 4. An interview prep course for young adults transitioning from school to work. It’s the course I wish I had taken when I was graduating from university. It will be run by my rock-star sister Connie:). More info here.
Brene Brown’s A Container for Building Safe and Brave Spaces. Thanks to Silvia Giovannoni in Rio for sharing this link. An important addition to our Psychological Safety issue.

If you have resources to share, send them through and I’ll include them in future issues (with credits).

Photo of the Week

Spring flowers 🌸

Thanks for reading The Quest. I always love hearing your feedback and suggestions. Leave a comment below👇or hit reply to share your thoughts and ideas. Visit my website for ways we can work together here.

If you are enjoying The Quest, I'd appreciate it if you shared it with anyone you think might like it.

Until next week!