Does anyone else hate ice breakers in meetings?

[asblindasabat]

I bloody hate them. Sometimes I just don’t know how to answer them. For example, “what are your dislikes?” - I can’t think of anything appropriate to respond to that in a professional environment - saying I dislike fake people probably wouldn’t look to good!

I also hate “what are your favourite movies?” - I don’t really watch movies so I couldn’t tell you the names of most of them and it really makes me look boring!

anyone else just hate them?

I like to lie in icebreakers. Just makes it more interesting for me. Especially if I won’t have to see the people again. The less likely you are to see them again the more outrageous the lie can be. People don’t really listen anyway.
examples:
I’ve been in three episodes of coronation street
I went to school with two members of the sugarbabes
I used to roller skate professionally
I’m half lizard
i can solve a rubix cube underwater
I used to be a man
I only eat orange food
i had seven toes at birth
my Dad invented fuzzyfelt
i can pick up radio two in my fillings
I train helper ferrets in my spare time

i haven’t used most of these- but am tempted

'EVERYONE hates ice breakers'

Nope. Most of my colleagues think they are tremendous fun🙄

I was stuck on something at work recently so I asked a colleague some questions, and she was very helpful. Last week I had a colleague pick my brains about an issue she had. THAT'S team building - working together on actual work and helping each other out. You can keep your bullshit games and stupid activities

Oh god me, I hate icebreakers . I think ffs get on with it the day already. You spend an hour getting to know people you will never see again most likely. Pointless and embarrassing. Hate them.

So like speed dating but in an official capacity? Can think of nothing worse! Although I guess when you get stuck with tedious Tim droning on about himself the bell ringing is a blessed relief!!

I think of three really boring things about myself and change one:

I have one brother, James.
My last holiday was to New York.
I have two cats, Bertrand and Mavis.

Last ice breaker I had to do was speed interviewing and then having to do summaries on postit notes - which you then had to read aloud after the speed interview horror was over and then cluster the notes with the other summaries of the that person. Actually amazed I survived.

I just hate them 🤢

There’s a meeting I’m regularly 10-15 minutes late to because they insist on doing a full on ice breaker every single time. It’s infuriating and takes up half the meeting, and has made attendance drop because people can’t be fucked with it.

I just refuse to participate...literally refuse 🤷‍♀️ I just say, nope, not doing this, I'll just drink my coffee and I'll join in again when this nonsense is all done! I'm 58 years old...I'm over this shit!

Nobody has made me do it yet 🤷‍♀️

I think they’re ok for zoom calls as you can’t make eye contact and small talk otherwise. I don’t mind them.

It's usually the warm-up at the start of a business networking session, and there'll be 6-8 people at a table getting to know each other rather than a one-on-one Speed-Networking set-up.

Yup, done a fair few business network meetings. They can be useful and enjoyable, but if there's one particular organiser and if she's on duty it'll be Safari Networking and everyone hates it. She fervently believes that deep down we all like it really. We don't.

So cringe.

No Lynsey I don't have a fun fact about myself. Fuck off.

You are my hero 🙌

This is very interesting. If everybody in the entire universe hates ice breakers, why do people in the workplace still do it? Wouldn’t it be just easier to say ‘hey, we all hate this shit and we all know it, let’s just forget it and bond over some coffee/tea/biscuits and normal adult talk’ ??
But no, it’s like the emperor is butt naked but no one wants to say it first.

Totally cringe

Yep. Loathe this nonsensical HR- beloved enforced fun rubbish. If you ever get asked to draw yourself as a pig by the way the appropriate result is one looking slightly to the left with a softly quizzical smile and a medium sized tail.

This apparently shows that you are just sociable and obedient enough to be a solid team member with an average level of intelligence that will not threaten the kitten heel brigade.

I think it's just accepted as part of the BS that is meetings and training. If you actually said you hated them you'd always get one contrary person saying how much they enjoyed them.

I don't hate them and regularly do them. I've never given it a second thought so I find the OP and your replies very interesting.

As for team building, just working together doesn't make you a team and certainly not an effective one. There's so much research in this area.

Shivering at the thought 🙈 even the ‘if we just go round and say our name and what we do please’. I’m a teacher but for some reason this just makes me sooo uneasy! I also think everyone is so desperately waiting on their turn, trying to remember their own name etc that they don’t listen to a thing anyone else has said so the whole thing has been a waste of everyone’s time since no one learns anyone’s names

I’m at uni and have to do them constantly. I know this sounds dumb but it irritates me because (as a mature student) I’ve arranged childcare and juggled my life and work to get an education and better myself - not to tell a bunch of random people three fun facts about myself. It makes me feel they’re wasting my time.

The stupidest one was recently we all had to share a trivial fact about ourselves. What trivial fact? If it’s trivial then why would I even think it about myself? How will knowing that somebody who sits across from me in class likes coco pops help me with this module?

It sucks but it serves a purposes on getting everyone to speak and feel comfortable opening their mouth. It's almost the same reason why interviewers ask you about your journey or any other mundane topic.

The worst I’ve breaker I’ve ever had to participate in was the fucking web of string. It was the Christmas party and the whole directorate was invited, something like 70 people. There we’re probably about 40 in my area of the directorate but then there was this whole other strand that I’d never interacted with before. It should be pointed out that about 15 of us in my area were temps and we’d been summoned to the hotel for a day of team building but if we wanted to stay for the evening we had to pay £50 while the permanent employees didn’t have to pay.

Anyway we sung the 12 days of Christmas that had been changed to reflect the work we were doing. Then we had to take the ball of string, throw it across the room to someone we worked with, it couldn’t be someone in our team, and we had to say how we worked with them and something we admired about them. The idea was that we could see that we were one big connected family. Obviously most of the temps were left to the end because none of the others had much interaction with us and as soon as a senior manager realised they cut the “fun” off due to time constraints. I’m so glad it got cut off before I had to throw 1) I didn't have anyone to throw it to and 2) I can’t throw. It was so anxiety inducing for the 20 minutes it went on trying o worn out who was close enough to me, not in my team and someone I knew.

I start work for the first time in 15 years soon and it happens to fall on team building day

You lot are giving me anxiety now 🤣

That's not the point. The point of the exercise is to get people engaged and talking. People may not know the topic but can talk about themselves

This as well! I’ve done so many of these and you never end up learning anything about anyone because firstly it’s overwhelming and secondly you’re already thinking about what you’re going to say.

Going round in a circle saying ‘I’m Jane and I like pigs’ doesn’t get people engaged and talking. It’s just a time wasting exercise. And if they don’t know the topic by the third year of studying it then talking to them isn’t going to help me at all!