The One Theory You MUST Know BEFORE You Use an Icebreaker

 

Icebreakers make such a big difference to the way that an event flows.  They can really push the score from “average” to “excellent” on the report card.   It is OK to just use Icebreakers without knowledge of the underlying psychology of your trainees but you will exceed more in what you do if you can identify the different learning needs of your trainees whilst you are running your icebreaker at the beginning of your day. 

 

Because they are such powerful interventions in a day of training or presenting you should always be aware of just how much information even the simplest Icebreaker can generate.

 

Now for the science!  As human beings we were never created equal and being a Trainer you will know this from the differing personalities in your training room. 

When you understand the psychology of how people actually learn and you run an icebreaker, you will then be able to identify the different learning styles and therefore able to deliver your training more effectively to meet everyone’s needs.  This will in turn will generate you greater results from your training sessions.

 

Many have different opinions as to where our learning styles come from but the majority of us naturally fall into the following four broad categories:

 

·    Activist

·    Pragmatist

·    Reflector

·    Theorist

 

These categories were researched by David A Kolb who was deeply involved in the theory of Experiential Learning.  His theory is that we all need to (1) observe and think about new ideas then we need to (2) form a concept in our minds that models what we have seen.  The next step is (3) to test out the idea in a new situation and finally (4) build up concrete experience that the idea is workable.  This is a continuous cycle; so, (4) leads into (1). 

 

Our human quirkiness means that we can start the cycle at any point and still make the total learning package work. 

 

• Activists love to jump in at the deep end and gain concrete experience and test out all of the options before doing anything else.
• Pragmatists will experiment but need to connect the ideas to the real world.
• Reflectors need concrete experience but also need space to think about what is happening.
• Theorists, as you might expect, get into the learning cycle by observing and then making sense of what they see by modelling the process in their minds.

 

This theory explains why just having people sit round a table and talking to them about a new concept does not guarantee that they will learn.  Icebreakers, even the most trivial “Getting to know you” type, will give you an understanding of the different learning styles, it will help your trainees settle in and get to know each other and therefore creating a better training environment.  It will also give you, as a Trainer, a deeper understanding of each individual in your training room and hence dramatically increase the quality of the results that are derived from your training.

 

For more reading on Learning Styles and David A Kolb go to....

http://www.learningfromexperience.com

 

 

 

Comments

[Ian Hannah]

Hi, Philly. Thanks for the tip on using the icebreaker. Because we are an IRCA-registered Training Organisation (www.SQMC.org) we have had to explain Kolb plus Honey & Mumford's theories at the start of each course, and we ask the participants what they think they are, predominately (ie pragmatist, etc). It helps them to understand that they may be picking things up differently from their (new) neighbour during syndicate exercises, and helps the group dynamics.