Having trouble coming up with a good ice breaker for your not-for-profit board or staff team? Not sure how to manage it successfully? Learn more about ice breakers here - the reasons behind doing them, when to do them, who to do them with, and how. Then take that back to your not-for-profit and build your team!

1. Build Your Team:
Breaking the Ice
NDOA Winter Conference
January 28, 2014
The Alford Group

2. Ice Breakers & Team Building
2

3. Characteristics of
Highly Effective Teams
• Clear unity of purpose
• Self-aware about own operations
• Atmosphere tends to be informal,
comfortable, relaxed
• Lots of discussion, virtually everyone
participates; free expression
3

4. Characteristics of
Highly Effective Teams
• Disagreements happen, are viewed as
healthy dialogue
• Criticism is frequent, frank & relatively
comfortable
• Most decisions are made when there is
general agreement
• Leadership shifts from time to time
Sources: The Human Side of Enterprise, Douglas MacGregor; The Wisdom of Teams, by
Kaztenbach and Smith
4

5. WHAT
Encounter Groups, Sensitivity Training,
& Primal Therapy, oh my!
Ice Breakers
Welcome & warm up
the conversation among
participants at a meeting and
ensure they feel comfortable and
enjoy their interaction and the
session
Team Builders
Help a group work together
more effectively and improve
performance and productivity
Both lead to creating a positive environment for
learning & addressing the issues of the day
5

6. WHY – Ice Breakers
• Help people:
get to know and/or learn
more about each other
integrate & connect
relax & feel more comfortable
• Start conversations & enhance
communication
• Build trust & break down barriers
6

7. WHY – Ice Breakers
• Encourage receptivity to both listening &
contributing
• Encourage people to break out of their
own department or clique
• Energize & motivate participants
• Inspire creativity & imagination
7

8. WHY – Team Builders
•
•
•
•
Enhance cooperation
Form cohesiveness
Build rapport
Promote problem
solving & decision
making
8

9. WHO
• Use Ice Breakers & Team Builders with
people:
who don’t know each other
who would benefit knowing more about each
other
with different perspectives & viewpoints
from different departments & different levels
in an organization
9

10. WHEN
• Warm up & relax the group
• Get acquainted/learn more about each
other
• Energize – or quiet – the group
• Keep participants present & engaged
• Segue to a new topic
• Prelude to challenging topics
10

11. HOW
• Have a clear purpose in mind
• Establish objectives & desired outcomes
• Determine what is appropriate for group size
& makeup
• Make sure exercises end with valuable
learning
Remember – more than just a game; can be a
catalyst for positive change
11

12. Tips & Hints
• Be sure to:
Choose exercises relevant to your objectives
Keep ice breakers simple; team builders can
be more complex
Make them fun & engaging
Practice in advance
Finish each exercise while people are still
enjoying it
Be ready to improvise & have a back-up plan
12

13. Tips & Hints
• Try not to:
Do something that could embarrass or offend
anyone
Make people uncomfortable
Underestimate the time required
Limit exercises to beginning of meeting
Force people to participate
Make exercises excessively competitive
Do too much
13

14. Line Up
High level objective: This ice breaker is a simple, fun, fast
way to get a group up and moving around so it’s especially
good when the energy level is low, such as right after lunch.
14

15. Line Up Directions
• Divide the entire group up into smaller groups of about 8
people; try to make the size of the groups as even as
possible
• Have each group form a line
• Tell each group to line up in a new order such as:
– Height, from shortest to tallest
– Date of birth, from 1 to 31 (if there is a tie, the earlier month in
the year is first)
– Shoe size, from smallest to largest
– Alphabetical – by first (or last) names, or by mother’s first
names, or by grandfather’s last names, or by the name of the
street where they live (numbered streets are last), or by
whatever other alpha order you can think of
– Number of years in their profession
– Age, from youngest to oldest
– Any other order you think up!
15

16. Line Up
Follow-Up/Observations
• If you have more than one group, give a small
prize to each person in the group that finishes
lining up correctly first
• Even though this ice-breaker is mostly just fun, if
you want to build in some learning you can ask
participants how it felt to “win” (by being the first
group to line up correctly) instead of “lose.”
• You can also ask participants how it felt to be at
the “front” of the line versus the “back” of the line
and what they noticed about who took the lead in
getting people to line up correctly and about the
other dynamics of the group as they were trying
to line up correctly.
16

17. Belongingness
High level objective: This team builder provides an opportunity
for a working group to go deeper, get to know each other, build
rapport, and find both commonality and distinctiveness.
17

18. Belongingness Directions
• Everyone forms a circle.
• Ask for a volunteer to stand in the middle of the
circle.
• The person in the middle begins by naming
something s/he has never done before.
• Anyone in the circle who has experienced that
“something” in the same way will join the person
in the middle.
• Work around the remaining circle one by one and
provide an anecdote (or tell in one brief
sentence) something related to your not having
experienced that “something”.
18

19. Belongingness
Follow-Up/Observations
• Works best for “smaller” groups of 10-15
participants; each participant can elaborate
• Can be modified for larger groups of up to
30 participants (limit amount of sharing)
• Can be used at the beginning or logical midpoint of a meeting/retreat
• It is best to begin with a “light” subject as the
group becomes familiar with the exercise
• Do encourage everyone to participate but
don’t force anyone to join in if for any reason
they are not comfortable
19

20. Belongingness
Follow-Up/Observations
• Be careful about introducing “hot button” topics as a team
builder. This exercise will not take the place of good working
relations, nor will it solve interpersonal conflict, etc. After
working around the circle, ask the following questions:
– How did it feel to stand alone in the middle of the circle?
– When group members joined you in the middle, how did it feel?
(This experience will be different each time: if only a few others
join, there may be a feeling of isolation; if many others join,
there may be a feeling of belonging or even dominance)
– How did people in the middle feel as the group members
around the circle shared their thoughts? Did it develop a sense
of belonging? Of isolation? Of understanding?
– What opportunities would a feeling of isolation present for the
team?
– How could this exercise be utilized to “go deeper” with our work
team? What are some potential future topics?
20

21. This or That
High level
objective:
Getting
acquainted
21

22. This or That Directions
• Divide the entire group up into smaller groups of about 8
people; try to make the size of the groups as even as
possible
• Have each group form a line
• Tell each group to line up in a new order such as:
– Height, from shortest to tallest
– Date of birth, from 1 to 31 (if there is a tie, the earlier month in
the year is first)
– Shoe size, from smallest to largest
– Alphabetical – by first (or last) names, or by mother’s first
names, or by grandfather’s last names, or by the name of the
street where they live (numbered streets are last), or by
whatever other alpha order you can think of
– Number of years in their profession
– Age, from youngest to oldest
– Any other order you think up!
22

23. This or That Potential Questions
Lighthearted
More serious or workplace
related content
• Doctor or Dentist
• Outside or Inside
• Fruit or Vegetables
• Watch the movie or
• TV or music
read a book
• Beach holiday or a
• Dog or cat
mountain holiday
• Tent or Hotel
• Invisible or mind• Winter Olympics or
reader
summer Olympics
• Go without television • Beer or Wine
or fast food for the rest • Red Wine or White
of your life
Wine
• Early riser or night owl • Sail Boat or Power
• PC or MAC
Boat
• Left or right
• Roller Coaster or
• Spender or saver
Ferris Wheel
• Scary movies or
• Basketball or Football
romantic comedies
• Surf or Turf
• Summer or winter
• Water Ski or Snow Ski
• Miserably Hot or
• Messy or clean
Miserably Cold
• Boxers or Briefs - Just
• Fly or drive
kidding!
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Knowledge or Imagination
Detail oriented or big picture
Lecture or discussion
Deaf or Blind
Stranded on a deserted island alone
or with someone you don't like
See the future or change the past
Liberal or conservative
Plan or build
Formal or informal
Do it today or wait until tomorrow
Marathon or Sprint
Introverted or extroverted
Ok to be interrupted or Prefer
people to wait
23

24. Web of Strength
High level overview: An
exercise to close or begin
a session that visualizes
the importance of
individual strengths. By
focusing on individual
strengths and capacities
we build community.
This exercise will help the
group realize the
importance of each
member's contribution
and the value of affirming
each other.
24

25. Web of Strength Directions
• You will need a ball of yarn
• Ask the group to gather in a circle.
• Choose a member of the group and give them an affirming
comment regarding their contributions. Then toss the ball of
yarn to that person while holding the end of the string.
• Ask that person(who caught the ball) to repeat the process
remembering to hold onto the string.
• Repeat until everyone in the group has been affirmed. The
last person may feel uncomfortable affirming you so be
ready to move immediately to the next step.
• Ask everyone to pull tight and express what they see "a
web".
• Suggest to them that this is your web of strength.
• Ask 3 or 4 random people to let go of the string.
• Ask everyone to share what they just saw happen.
25

26. Web of Strength
Follow-Up/Observations
• An opportunity exists for meaningful
closure to a meeting.
• Group exemplifies personality tensions
and conflicts.
26

27. Thanks for learning with
us!
The Alford Group
Get more Ice Breakers on our website
Chicago
(847) 425-9800
New York
(860) 916-7339
Seattle
(206) 548-0451
www.alford.com