Balloons as an Ice Breaker

Michael Herman michael at michaelherman.com
Wed May 12 11:16:00 PDT 2010


you're exactly right, lucas.  it's still a bit odd when a whole bunch of
people get together with no pre-set agenda for a big chunk of time,
government workers or not.  when everyone comes together, a bit wondering
and unsure, an icebreak is essential.  i come from (years and years ago) a
background in teambuilding programs, so i have lots of options for
icebreakers -- but i have ALWAYS used the SAME exercise, in every ost event
i've ever done.

it goes something like this...

i set the chairs in a circle and when everyone arrives i ring some tibetan
temple bells.  when everyone has quieted down and takes a seat, i walk
around the circle.  i point out the caring in the circle.  the experience.
the resources.  and that not one of us, myself included, knows what's going
to happen next.  then i explain the empty wall bulletin board, the post-its,
the principles and the law.  then i invite anyone who wants to to post the
thing they care the most about.  or two or three.

then those who care to, effectively introduce themselves by stating their
name and the issue or issues that they care most about.  there is an
incentive here, because the ones who speak up get to put their issue on the
wall and that makes it possible to make many times more progress on their
issue than if they don't trade that information with others.

and when that activity is over, we jump into open space... breakouts,
conversations, notes, news sessions and all that.  i find this opening never
fails to get people up and moving, getting to know who's in the room, having
a few laughs along the way, and generally accomplishing everything that any
icebreaker would do -- with the added benefit of wasting no time on anything
that is not directly related (for at least one person in the room) to the
major issue or task at hand!

even with very large groups, the briefing might take ten minutes or so, and
the whole exercise can be completed in something like 60 to 90 minutes.
give it a try and let us know how it works for you?  <grin>

m


--

Michael Herman
Michael Herman Associates

http://www.michaelherman.com
http://www.ronanparktrail.com
http://www.chicagoconservationcorps.org
http://www.openspaceworld.org

312-280-7838 (mobile)


On Wed, May 12, 2010 at 12:36 PM, Lucas Cioffi <lucas at athenabridge.org>wrote:

> Howdy All,
>
> Bottom line up front: How do you break the ice with participants unfamiliar
> to OS?
>
> Here's one way I found helpful:
>  I recently facilitated an open space workshop for sixty participants from
> roughly two dozen federal agencies.  The topic was how to make government
> more transparent, participatory, and collaborative as part of the
> Administration's Open Government Directive<http://www.whitehouse.gov/open/documents/open-government-directive>
> .
>  I'm a novice at OS, but I've learned a bunch from this list and I'm happy
> to offer an idea which may be helpful to others.  OS can be intimidating,
> especially for government employees, so I opened with a collaborative
> exercise using balloons.  The inspiration came from a landscape architect's
> presentation where he accented a landscape with huge balloon sculptures to
> give it a playful feel for adults.
>
> *Rules of the Game:*
>
>    - Everyone gets 2 colored balloons in a sealed envelope.
>    - There is a point system posted on the wall (Red = 5, Orange = 4,
>    Yellow = 3, Green = 2, Blue = 1).
>    - Collaboration through trading is heavily incentivized-- if someone
>    ends up with a pair of balloons which are the same color, then their score
>    is multiplied times three.  This encourages people to mingle and create
>    win-win scenarios.  There are no restrictions on how balloons can be traded
>    (for example trading 1 for 1, 2 for 1, or even 0 for 1).
>    - Participants are given three minutes to inflate and trade their
>    balloons.  The goal is to have the most points.  (An alternate goal could be
>    to maximize the number of points for the entire group rather than
>    individuals.)
>
> *Reasons why we opened with a game:*
>
>    - Make it clear that this was a place where it's OK to be creative,
>    unlike their standard government workplace
>    - Prime the audience for the subject matter of collaboration (learn by
>    doing)
>    - Have some fun
>    - Build a bit of community among the participants who were mostly
>    strangers (incentivize mingling).
>    - Create a shared experience.
>    - Create a little chaos.
>    - Jazz up the place visually with a few balloons (it needed some color)
>
> *Reasons why we opened with this game for this workshop*
> Thomas Jefferson had a saying that “He who receives ideas from me, receives
> instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at
> mine receives light without darkening me.”  After the exercise I asked the
> participants what the difference was between trading a physical object (like
> a balloon) and sharing an idea; this exercise was lively and helped them
> understand that their purpose during the workshop was to share knowledge and
> benefit from others doing the same.
>
> Each month a different agency hosts this workshop for all the other
> agencies, and to keep the workshops fresh, our next opener will consist of
> small collaborative teams competing to build the tallest
> marshmallow-spaghetti tower (here's a fascinating TED video<http://www.ted.com/talks/tom_wujec_build_a_tower.html> which
> describes some stats behind this game).
>
> Any thoughts?  Do you open with games or collaborative exercises that you
> would recommend?  As always, thanks for the discussion!
> Lucas
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