You Had Me at Hello

Successful icebreakers will establish a safe environment for learning and help attendees become more familiar with each other. They also set the tone for the session and ideally introduces the learning objectives in a fun and engaging way. Our most popular icebreakers have survived the test of time because one brave learning and development professional used them with great success and shared the experience. But what about unsuccessful icebreakers? The ones tried and quickly relegated to the ash heap of history. Here, for I believe the first time, is a top three list of the worst icebreakers ever created.  

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L & D Kiss, Marry, Kill

It’s possible that right now, a pizza, pop, and Wonderstruck scented room has a lively game of “Kiss, Marry, Kill” featuring the three Prince Chris’s of Hollywood  (Hemsworth, Pratt, and Evans). For those not familiar with the game, someone names three people, (celebrities, fictional characters, etc.) and the group decides which one they would choose to kiss, marry or kill. Odds are, being the consummate professional, you aren’t playing such mindless games. Lucky for you, I’m not above such distractions.  So for the L & D professional who hasn’t played a version of this game in a while, I offer three rounds of  Learning and Development Kiss Marry Kill. Oh, and for the record, Kiss Hemsworth, Marry Pratt and, well, sorry Evans. On to round one!

You’ll Float Too

Scary learning and development situations, like monsters under our bed, simply don’t exist, right? I mean, compared to other professions, (law enforcement, snake wrangler, dinner buffet worker, etc.) we rarely find ourselves enveloped in fear or exposed to real danger. But when we do, we prefer to make the experiences memorable. Here are some fearful situations* experienced by this learning and development professional, in no particular order.

I Know Kung Fu

Warning: This post will make no sense if you’ve not seen “The Matrix.”

Among all the memorable effects, choreography and fashion in “The Matrix,” was the now famous line from Neo: “I know Kung Fu.” That scene and the montage that followed it have always felt to me like lessons in adult learning. Hear me out.  Morpheus, for our purposes, is a determined and dedicated learning professional. He has the luxury of leaping past learning levels 1 (“Wow.”) and 2 (“I know kung fu.”) and can now focus entirely on behavior and results. When you think about it, much of the second half of this movie is an illustration of Kirkpatrick’s four levels of evaluation.