Icebreaker
A short activity meant to ease the psychological barriers between participants at first meetings or in tense settings.
An icebreaker is a short activity meant to ease the psychological barriers between participants at a first meeting or in a tense setting. Doing one in the first 5-10 minutes of a meeting greatly changes the quality of the discussion that follows and how much people take part. This is because once everyone has spoken once at the start, the hurdle to speaking after getting into the main topic drops.
Situations that call for an icebreaker
- Project kickoff
- Members are meeting for the first time / are from mixed departments
- Brainstorming
- Psychological safety shapes creativity
- Workshop
- Lowers the hurdle to speaking
- Hybrid meeting
- Closes the distance between in-person / online participants
- A new member's first meeting
- Introduction to existing members
Standard icebreaker patterns
| Name | Content | Time needed |
|---|---|---|
| Check-in | Each person shares "how I feel today" or "something that happened recently" in 30 seconds | 5-10 minutes |
| Two Truths and a Lie | Present 3 facts about yourself (one of which is a lie) and others guess the lie | 15-20 minutes |
| Show & Tell | Show one item from your desk or room and tell a story about it | 10-15 minutes |
| Answer in one word | Questions such as "Describe the team lately in one word?" | 3-5 minutes |
| Pair interviews | In pairs, each introduces themselves for 3 minutes, then introduces their partner to the whole group | 15-20 minutes |
Icebreakers to avoid
Patterns that easily become harassment or a burden
- Games involving physical contact (such as high fives)
- Questions that intrude on private life (family makeup, age, and so on)
- Forced shouting / singing / performing
- Heavy activities that take a long time (15 minutes or more)
- Competitive formats with clear winners and losers
Icebreakers online
Icebreakers work effectively in online meetings too. In fact, in remote environments where opportunities for small talk do not physically exist, they need to be built in deliberately. Polls using the chat feature and drawing games over screen sharing are techniques unique to online settings.
Do not lose sight of the icebreaker’s purpose
The real purpose of an icebreaker is “preparing to deepen the discussion,” and if it becomes an end in itself, it backfires. The basic rule is to keep it to 5 minutes at the start of a brainstorming session and within 10 minutes even at a kickoff. The facilitator has the role of strictly keeping to the timebox.