If you’ve ever lived where it snows in winter, you will understand this situation and its connection to brainstorm icebreakers.
I lived in Chicago for many years, and it wasn’t uncommon to have fresh snowfall on your car in the morning. You had two plans of action.
Option 1
Push just enough snow off the windshield/windscreen to see out. Start the car. Drive off. The engine groans away, not yet warmed up. Snow is blowing everywhere making it impossible to see in any direction. The interior windows fog up.
Option 2
Clear off just enough snow to get in. Start the engine and the heater. Get out and work your way around the outside of the car wiping off snow. By the time you rotate the car in a few minutes, you get back to a warm interior, the is warmed and ready to go, and you can see in all directions.Option 2 is exactly the point of brainstorm icebreakers:
- Warm-up your participants’ brains by switching it to the appropriate thinking method for brainstorming (from Closed Mindset to Open Mindset)
- Clear the fog of distractions that come with a typical work day
- Make the brainstorm environment comfortable for everyone to work together
Preparing the Brain to think Creatively
Unless you’re a person who invents ideas every day for a living, you’re probably like most people who come to brainstorms (or regular meetings) vaguely prepared to be creative, if at all. In fact, it’s likely you’re also mentally bringing much of your work from your desk. (Think of it as driving with snow still on your windscreen.)
In other words, you’re bring a for brainstorming. The easiest way to get the shift from one to the other are simple icebreakers to re-set the mind so they can contribute more and be more productive, Remember though, icebreakers aren’t meant to be long activities: only a few minutes of quick imagination play at the start of the meeting.
Attributes of Good Icebreakers
Here’s what good icebreakers do:
- Create the right atmosphere for a creative session.
- Introduce people to each other prior to the brainstorm, especially if new people are joining (such as a senior person or a client).
- Make people comfortable – with each other, the environment, the situation, the problem to solve.
- Encourage cooperation, participation and listening.
- Clear the head by challenging the brain to think in a way different from immediately previous work or activities.
- Stimulate divergent thinking (free association, metaphors, force-fitting, etc.)
- Build rapport with the team leader or facilitator … and most important,
- Are FUN.
Not every icebreakers will be successful. You may find one doesn’t inspire the group, so quickly switch to another. It’s not the output that matters (they’re silly exercises, after all). It’s the mindset shift from getting work done to creating more ideas.
After the icebreaker, revivew the key brainstorm information (perhaps including a creative brief) and start ideating.
Three Examples of Simple Icebreakers
Here are my three favourite icebreakers, easily adapted in many different ways.
- New Uses
- Scattegories
- Person X
There’s also .
“New Uses”
Basic concept
Ask participants to think of new uses to ordinary things.
Instructions
- Write on a whiteboard or say the basic question aloud: What is an alternative use for a (insert word)?
- Insert any random word into the blank. Ask them to come up with as many answers as possible.
- If you need it, I’ve given a short random list of words at right to use or use it as examples to create your own list.
- If you want, choose random words which are (somewhat) related to the brainstorm topic, either the company, brand, product or service.
- A minute later, change the word to another, then another. Remember, it’s not the output that matters.
- Sometimes I ask people to read out some of their list to inspire others. It works fine too as a brainwriting activity without much talking.
Example of New Uses
Basic Question
What is one alternative use for a ( insert any word below)?
Random Word Examples
Kitchen, garden, movie theatre, winter, birds, bathroom, bicycle, Italy, water, playground, fruit, hospital, sport, cloud, chair, purple, bed, wristwatch, broom, book, television, mustache, stapler, Hercules, ice cream
“Scattegories”
Basic concept
Based on the board game of the same name, this is a free association game where people are given a random series of letters from the alphabet and a random series of categories in a matrix or grid.
In only a few minutes, participants think of words beginning with each letter in each category.
Instructions
- Create a blank Scattergories matrix. Use the example to the right as a guide. You can either create the matrix on a whiteboard or online collab tool, or make individual ‘cards’ to give each participant.
- Come up with 4-5 different categories.)
- Choose 4-5 letters. (You might ask someone to pick the letters out of a hat, for fairness.)
- Allow between 2-4 minutes for everyone to try and complete the entire matrix/grid.
- Read each category, ask people to call out their best answer.
As a variation, I created a matrix where the horizontal categories had a vague connection to the brainstorm subject.
To make it more interactive, I drew the vertical letters on flip-charts around the room. Each person got a marker and they walked around the room adding their answers to the flip-charts.
You can download a Scattegories graph here.
"Person X"
Basic concept
This game is deliberately fast and to-the-point. Create a list of
people – real, historical or fictional – who are fanciful representatives of your brainstorm’s target audience.
Instructions
- Review the key strategic information at the beginning of the brainstorm.
- Ask people to list people who would/could be your target audience
- Try for 25 names so you …
- Move beyond the obvious, and so you
- Create a broad list of names (the weirder the better)
- Here’s you can use
- You can move directly into brainstorming if you like by asking:
- How would we get opinions or input from these people?
- How would we market our product or services to this audience?
- What would this group of people think about our (blank)? Public sector policy, health care initiatives, features or attributes as examples.
As a variation, choose people who would have a direct or vague connection to the brainstorm subject.
Example of Person X
For a state department of health, we asked how any one of these people might approach or consider a new policy on affordable healthcare.
We brainstormed Marge Simpson, Johan Gutenberg, George Washington, Ricky Riccardo, Burt & Ernie, Peter Griffin, Benjamin Franklin, Captain James Cook, Veronica Mars, Alfred Hitchcock, Meryl Streep, Joe Paterno, Kelly Slater or Michelle Obama.
Remember!
Do not let the icebreaker take on a life of its own. Its purpose is to get people mentally ready to brainstorm, not to get unfocused. That’s why my personal choice is to create icebreakers which are directly connected – even tenuously – with the purpose, product, service or process.
What Happens If You Don't Have an Icebreaker?
Of course, you’ll be invited to meetings when an icebreaker isn’t appropriate, the facilitator isn’t adept at running one, or more commonly, there’s no time. In other words, you’re on your own to ‘icebreak’ in your head. Here’s some suggestions:
- Quiet your own distractions, including you devices
- Hold calls, turn off notifications, tell people around you you’ll be unavailable for an hour
- Check emails/voice-mails before you get into the room
- Don’t bring in files or anything else from your desk, save a pad of paper and marker/pen/coloured pencils etc.
- Get there a few minutes early. Or, leave early for the meeting and take a long walk to the conference room.
- Take a restroom break before you go. Or, if you can bring your own beverage or food, grab something outside the office before the meeting.
- Sit down, breath in/out a few times. A friend closes her eyes and does a “30-second yoga stretch” in her head.
- Ask the head of the meeting to do an intro, a re-cap – anything – to get you and others focused on the meeting.
To be honest, there have been times when I couldn’t do any of these: too busy, a crisis, a looming deadline, staff problems, just a day I could focus. I went to the meeting and realised afterwards that I shouldn’t have gone to the brainstorm. I was worthless, didn’t contribute anything important, and more so, I surely was distraction to everyone else.
If this describes you? One, consider not going when you can’t mentally get yourself ready for a meeting. Or, talk to the meeting organiser to see if there’s a way to contribute or brainstorm ideas in a different way.
This post turned out to be so popular that I wrote a second post. Go here for .
What other brainstorm icebreakers have you used? Please add your thoughts or comments below.
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