At the start of any LEAN or training-style workshop, it’s very important to open up the floor to participants and ask them some key questions before launching into the “learning” phase. As a facilitator, doing this allows you to gauge the knowledge levels of participants and ascertain where emphasis should be placed during the course. Inspired by Seth Godin’s book, Free Prize Inside, the Free Prize Inside Icebreaker seeks to identify what the participants want to learn in order to become more efficient in their roles. And thus, launch the thought process on how they might improve and innovate as a result.
Determining the Knowledge Levels
Before asking participants what they want to learn, it’s imperative to have an idea of what they already know in regards to the training topic. This quick discussion is an essential prequel to the main icebreaker question as it can help explain why participants seek to learn or expect of the workshop.
However, asking participants what their expectations are and what they wish to learn can be a bit too straightforward in some cases. It is hard to expect participants to know the course material prior to learning it! So we turn it around and ask (after they have had time to discuss their knowledge of the topic in small teams), “If the training course were a box of breakfast cereal, what free prize would you like to find inside?”
Recipe for Running the Free Prize Inside Icebreaker
Effective for: Training sessions, LEAN workshops
Situation: Prior to launching into a training session it can help gauge the current knowledge levels, launches the process for applying and innovating
Group Size: S, M, L
Benefits of the Free Prize Inside Icebreaker
This icebreaker runs in about 10 minutes and is a great way to incite some very relevant information (what participants seek to learn) as well as some personal information (what participants remember when thinking about cereal and free prizes). In this way, facilitators and participants both benefit: facilitators glean responses and information from participants, allowing them to create a more focused guide for the workshop; and secondly, participants become more familiarized with their co-workers, and their expectations, allowing them to work better as a team from the get-go.
If used in conjunction with LEAN or training-style workshops, the Free Prize Inside Icebreaker can help you achieve ongoing performance improvement even after the workshop comes to an end.
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