The adventurers: the icebreaker that supports collective decision-making

What is “The adventurers” icebreaker all about?

A decision-making workshop for teams

An icebreaker is the ideal workshop opener as it helps get everyone in the right mood. With “The adventurers”, you can also bring your team closer together with a fun activity, designed as an exciting adventure.

The activity takes your team to the Klax-Lanta islands, where resources are scarce. The aim is for the group to find common ground regarding the items that are essential for its survival. The icebreaker comprises several decision-making stages: first individually, then in teams, and finally all together. Team members take it in turns to explain their choice, which generates discussions when there are conflicting points of view. This fun scenario encourages everyone to compromise within a limited time span to make decisions as a collective.

Getting to know one another to improve the team’s efficiency

Throughout the workshop, team members get to know one another, learn to listen to others and to compromise. Although this is a fictional scenario, it naturally mirrors various everyday professional situations. “The adventurers” icebreaker helps to develop essential teamwork skills: in particular, the ability to take into consideration and understand other people’s needs so you can all work towards the same goal. This will make your workshops more efficient and help you reach the set objectives!

Why use this Klaxoon icebreaker?

Save time with the Template

Whether or not you plan to start your workshop with an icebreaker, there is always a solution in the Template library. With Klaxoon’s ready-to-use templates, you can start activities immediately on the Board, and that’s just one of their bonuses. “The adventurers” icebreaker immerses the team in a graphic environment, with a scenario that builds on Klaxoon’s specific features.

Use Board for the icebreaker

Board, Klaxoon’s Workshop Platform’s flagship tool, is an unlimited digital whiteboard that works wonders for visual communication and makes the coach’s job a whole lot easier thanks to its many features.

• Board brings teams together, whether in the office or remotely. By enabling the Live videoconferencing feature, all team members can speak to and see each other, as if they were in the same room.
• Using a countdown, the Timer helps you keep the icebreaker’s timing under control. Another valuable tool to keep team members on their toes.
• The “like” button helps the collective decision-making process.
• The Multiple choice question feature is used to quiz teams on a given subject and to reach a decision democratically.
• The Question Storm feature uses a word cloud to encourage team members to voice their opinion.

How to run this icebreaker to support the collective decision-making process

Welcome your team of adventurers

Set the scene

After inviting your team members to join the Board, put on your TV host act and immerse them immediately in the icebreaker with an opening pitch. This stage is key to getting them mentally “out” of the office.

For instance: “How about a trip to a heavenly, sun-kissed location, with turquoise sea and fine sand beaches? Are you in? Well, come with me to the Klax-Lanta islands! One minor detail you ought to know...if you’re hoping to idle under a coconut tree, think again: there will be no time for suncream and swimsuits! Klax-Lanta is no walk in the park: you’ll have to work together to survive without your usual everyday comforts.”

Break the team up into tribes

Once the scene is set, invite the team members to post their picture and first name on the Board, and break the team up into tribes of three to five adventurers, assigning a color to each. The red, green and blue tribes are respectively sent off to Ruby, Emerald and Sapphire islands.

Unveil the options to the adventurers

Use your storyline to keep up the team’s interest: “The living conditions on the islands are getting worse by the day, the outcasts are feeling weaker and morale is low. Suddenly, unexpected help appears from the sky: a banner towed by a plane brings a message of hope...”

Then unveil the 30 items they must pick from to help them survive on the desert islands. Rice, a cake of soap, a guitar...the available options may seem essential to some but completely irrelevant to others. How to choose?

Start the decision-making phases, gradually upping the stakes

Individual decisions, for each member

Once the adventurers have discovered the items they can take with them on their adventure, ask them first to pick three personally, then in turn, to explain their choice to the members of their tribe. Each adventurer copies the image of the item and places it next to their picture.

Deciding for your own team

As the aim of this fun scenario is to improve the team’s decision-making skills, ask each tribe to pick only three items from those chosen by each member on their island. Each adventurer then has to organize their thoughts and develop arguments for the survival of their group. Limit the discussion to two minutes to stress the urgency and ask the adventurers to use the “like” button to confirm the three items selected.

Deciding for the whole group

Within each tribe, the adventurers appoint an ambassador who will take their ideas to Merger island, which will eventually be home to all three tribes. In this last stage, the seasoned ambassadors explain their group’s thought process and why their items should be kept. Here too, the discussions go on until agreement is reached, as only three items can be kept in the end. Ask a Multiple choice question so that each adventurer can vote for the three items they consider essential for the survival of the merged tribes and immediately discover the results.

Debrief with the team at the end of the icebreaker

To wrap up the activity and take stock with the entire team, collect their feedback with a Question Storm. What did they think of the quick decision-making process, involving a varying number of people? Discuss how the decisions were made, how the compromises were reached, whether some team members had better negotiating strategies, etc.

Do you think your team is ready to win the team-building prize? Find out now!