If I said the word “icebreaker” at the beginning of a workshop, I’d hear a collective groan. No one beyond Kindergarten admits to liking them. But I can’t just jump into the content in a meeting, class, or workshop without a mental transition exercise. Hence, the runway.
People seem to accept that runways are necessary before a plane can fly. They are also valuable exercises to help participants refocus and prepare to settle in and get to the content. I do them at the beginning of every session.
Runway exercises usually aren’t the traditional “getting acquainted” type of question, rather they set the stage for what is to follow. For instance, I ask people to find as many pairs as they can see in the room (e.g. two light switches next to each other, window panes that divide into two, two notebooks side by side on a table, etc.) Then I lean into the lesson that what you focus on is what you see — certainly no one paid attention to those pairs before we started. You can do the same thing by asking people to find circles (e.g. buttons, light fixtures, indents in the carpet from chairs, etc.). I’ve had people find something they physically had in common with someone else (e.g. wearing green, shoes that tie, dangle earrings, etc.) — illustrating that we have commonalities if we take the time to look for them.
I’ve also used this exercise to prep people for the content that follows. “Share a time you had a difficult conversation” is the runway for a workshop on that subject. “Tell someone about a successful collaboration” starts the partnership workshop, and “Who models high Emotional Intelligence for you” leads into the EI topic. You get the idea.
The point is that you can achieve the benefits of an icebreaker without the dread. In fact, using a runway exercise better prepares your participants to absorb the content you’re about to share. Help your next meeting or workshop achieve greater heights by starting off from the runway instead of the tarmac.
