NOTES

1 Lesson Nine

LESSON NINE

Getting participants involved and comfortable in a class situation is the responsibility of the facilitator. This can be accomplished by us-ing icebreakers and pointmakers which can be used in several ways:

1. Break pre-occupation

2. Foster interaction

3. Stimulate creative thinking

4. Challenge basic assumptions

5. Illustrate new concepts

6. Introduce specific material

USES OF ICEBREAKERS AND POINTMAKERS

1. Acquaint participants and put them at ease:

People are sometimes reluctant to participate when they are among strangers. Icebreakers help them to gauge the group. When the participants know where the group is coming from and that perhaps they have similar challenges, they tend to be freer with comments and more participative. Helping the participants warm up to each other eases the facilitators role.

2. After breaks:

Icebreakers and pointmakers can be used to energize the group and bring them back into the class environment. The participants are required, through the icebreaker or pointmaker, to refocus on the subject matter immediately.

ICEBREAKERS AND POINTMAKERS

FacilitationCertification 1

Lesson Nine 2

NOTES 3. Summary of material covered:

At the end of class is an excellent time to use an ice-breaker or pointmaker that involves a review or summary of material covered to this point.

4. Provide linkage with the subject matter or specific learn-ing objectives:

Icebreaker and pointmaker type exercises can help the facilitator get across key points of the material covered during the sessions. This can be an important factor in helping participants gain insight of the course content and its application to their job functions.

5. Define group personality and feel for the group:

Is the group cautious, defensive, free-wheeling? The fa-cilitator must have a good feel for the group early in the program. By identifying the group’s make-up, the facilita-tor can adapt the discussion style to fit the group, rather than trying to force the group to fit the facilitator’s style. It is pointless to use a style appropriate to a free-wheel-ing group when the group is cautious. Icebreakers and pointmakers can help the facilitator gain insight into the group’s personality by letting the facilitator stand back and observe the group in action.

6. Identify introverted and extroverted personalities within the group:

By standing back during the group’s interaction, the facilitator can observe different individual personalities within the group. Knowing this will help in determining whether to use more open-ended questions with intro-verts or more closed ended questions with extroverts.

7. Move into new content area:

Icebreakers and pointmakers provide an excellent transitioning vehicle. The right icebreaker/pointmaker can move the participants from one subject to another smoothly and provide excellent discussion material.

8. Provide the facilitator the opportunity to rethink what is happening:

A great deal can be learned by observing the participants

3 Lesson Nine

NOTESduring an icebreaker or pointmaker. What the facilitator learns can be used to adapt the program content or facilitation style being used with the group.

ICEBREAKERS/POINTMAKERS CATEGORIES

1. Get Acquainted – These icebreakers and pointmakers serve two functions:

a. They establish non-threatening introductions.

b. They increase participants’ familiarity with each other.

Although they usually are not tied to the course content directly, these activities can be adapted to meet the spe-cific needs of the participants and the program.

2. Openers and Warm Ups – These icebreakers and point-makers warm up the group by stimulating, challenging, and motivating the participants. They can be used to begin a conference, start a discussion, prime the group after a break, ready the participants for new material, or shift the topic focus.

3. Energizers and Tension Reducers – These icebreakers and pointmakers are used when the participants appear overly stressed or when the group is “flat.” When par-ticipants feel more relaxed, they will be more receptive to an open dialogue about the information, issues, and skills that are to be introduced.

4. Games and Brainteasers – Games and brainteasers are effective warm ups. Games can function as introductions to problem solving, competition, team building, and consensus seeking activities, while brainteasers “reduce overload when the material being presented becomes cumbersome or draining.”

5. Feedback and Disclosure – These icebreakers and pointmakers differ from others in that they are used to demonstrate communication variables rather than as a means for developing ongoing interpersonal relation-ships between participants. Feedback is defined as “a re-action or response to a particular process or activity; the return of information by the original source.” Disclosure is defined as “the act or fact of disclosing something;

Lesson Nine 4

NOTES the sharing of personal thoughts and/or feelings.”

SELECTING ICEBREAKERS AND POINTMAKERS

Planning for the use of icebreakers and pointmakers should be done carefully, based on the following variables:

1. Group composition, including age range, cultural back-ground, gender, education level.

2. Target audience. Salespeople, who are normally extro-verted, probably would not require an exercise designed to foster introductions, while other groups may need a nudge to get things underway.

3. Program length. Short conferences will only be able to “spare” 5 to 10 minutes. Length is dependent on how much involvement is needed and how many participants are in the conference.

4. Program content. Pointmakers should echo the content of the course, although they may not be tied to it directly. Openers, on the other hand, may summarize what has been completed before or as a transition to the next conference segment. Openers may also deepen the knowledge participants have of one another.

5. Facilitator’s style. The facilitator’s style will determine what type of icebreaker or opener to use. More confident facilitators – those who don’t fear losing control of the participants or sight of the subject – may opt for novel or experimental exercises that allow for more free flow. Less confident facilitators might use more structured exercises.

SUGGESTED FACILITATOR BEHAVIOR DURING ICE-BREAKERS AND POINTMAKERS

1. Listen. Maintain good eye contact with speakers.

2. Refer to participant comments, addressing them by name.

3. Focus on what the participants’ needs are.

4. Turn questions back to the group.

5 Lesson Nine

NOTES5. Be enthusiastic.

6. Remember that the reasons “why” are important for participants to know.

7. Make positive statements about individual and group processes.

8. Avoid public arguments.

9. Ask questions that are capable of being answered.

10. Nod when someone gives an appropriate response.

11. Give precise directions.

12. Start on time.

13. Enhance every participant’s self-esteem.

14. Avoid personality conflicts.

15. Avoid being impatient or indifferent.

MORE ON ICEBREAKERS AND POINTMAKERS

Following this page, you will find five examples of icebreakers and pointmakers, along with a variety of power thoughts, for you to use during your facilitation. The icebreakers and pointmakers are:

1. Scattered Numbers

2. Sixteen Squares

3. Goal Setting 101

4. Experiential Learning

5. There is Never Enough Time

Add to your list. As you find new icebreakers and pointmakers, include them in the back of this section in this manual.

LESSON NINE

7 Lesson Nine

APPLICATION AND ACTION

Topics are provided here to stimulate thought and application of the material in this lesson. With your particular situation in mind, write your responses in the space provided. Discuss specific ideas with your team and/or your LMI® coach/mentor.

FacilitationCertification 1

1. Getting participants involved and comfortable in a class situation is the responsibility of the facilitator. Icebreaker and pointmakers can help. LMI provides several for your use. However, here is an assignment:

A. On an Internet search, key in “Icebreaker” and see what you find.

B. On an Internet search, key in “Pointmaker” and see what you find.

C. Begin to develop your personal portfolio of icebreakers and pointmakers to use in your facilitation. Be sure they help in the application of the lesson to be learned.

2. What are the five areas of impact that we emphasize in LMI? (These are used in the sales process as well as in facilitation):

____________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________

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Scattered NumbersThis exercise is an effective way to illustrate "Slight Edge" thinking. Make copies of the following two pages for each participant. Hand out the copy without the vertical and horizontal divider lines.

Tell the participants that they are about to take a timed test. Show them the number one in the upper left part of the page. Tell them to find the number two, then three, four, five, etc. Instruct them to circle the numbers as they find them, and to move as quickly as they can.

Give them exactly 15 seconds to complete the exercise.

Ask each participant to tell you the highest number they found. Write that number on the board along side the participant's name.

Next, inform the participants you are going to give them one more piece of informa-tion and then test them again.

Hand out the second sheet with the vertical and horizontal dividing lines on it. Tell them that the number one is in the upper left quadrant, two is in upper right quadrant, three in the lower left, four in the lower right. The sequence repeats itself, so five is in the upper left, six in the upper right, seven in the lower left, eight in the lower right and so on.

Give them another 15 second test, and at the conclusion, ask each participant to tell you the highest number they found this time. Write it on the board next to their original number.

You will find that with the slight edge information you gave them, their productivity has improved dramatically!

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Sixteen Squares

The Sixteen Squares exercise starts with drawing the following graphic on theboard:

Ask the participants how many squares they see. Most will say 16. Ask others ifthey see more than 16. By adding the four corner groups of four, there are 20. Addthe center group of four, now there are 21. Add the outer perimiter, and the totalclimbs to 22. Now the four corner groups of nine, the total goes to 26. Now thecenter top group of four, center bottom group of four, left and right center groups offour, and we have 30.

The point is this: Things are never quite as they seem to be. Abstract "out of thebox" thinking allows you to see things (and people) as they can be. Not just as theyappear.

Additional benefits are: Prompts keeping an open mind.Helps you look beyond the obvious.Assists in accepting change.You realize that you can see and do more throughgroup dynamics.

Goal Setting 101

This exercise helps people understand the real basics of Goal Setting. Draw thefollowing symbol on the board:

Ask participants the following question:

If you were going to take a trip to a place you have never been before,what is a tool you could use to help you find your way?

The answer should be: "A Map"

What is the first thing you need to know when you have a map in yourhand?

Various answers will be forthcoming, such as:

Where you want to go.How to read the map.Where you are now.

The correct answer is the last one....Where you are now.... Tell the participants:

If you don't know where you are in the first place, you will not evenknow if you have the right map!

So, let's call "where we are now", "Point A".

Put an "A" in the left hand circle on the graphic as shown below:

A

BA

A B

C

The next step is to tell the participants:

Let's let "B" represent where we want to go, or the Goal.

Put a "B" in the right hand circle of the graphic as shown below:

Tell the participants:

The straight line between where we are and where we want to go repre-sents the shortest, easiest route to get there. Logically speaking, as we movealong the A-B line, is it possible to get off track?

The answer is Yes.

The next step involves drawing the A-C line as shown below:

Make the following statement:

Then, if you get off track, you would wind up at point "C" rather than "B"which is the original goal, right?

The distance between "B" and "C" is called a "Problem". The further offtrack you get, the bigger the problem, and the harder to fix it.

Let's design a system where you would never get off track...okay?

Erase the A-C line, leaving just the A-B line on the board, and add some hashmarks as shown in the illustration below:

Describe what you have drawn by stating the following:

The hash marks I have drawn indicate "gates" or "steps" in my plan ofaction to get from where I am to where I want to go. To be absolutely sure thatI will stay on track and reach my goal, I will need to invoke a rule.

The rule is this: As I move off "Point A" to the first "gate", I stop at the"gate" and ask the following three questions:

1. Am I still on Track?2. Am I still heading toward "B"?3. Is "B" still the goal?

I will need to get a firm "YES" answer to each of these questions beforeI move to the next "gate". If the answer is other than "YES", I will need to makenecessary corrections before I proceed.

Adhering to this rule, can I now get off track? Maybe so, but not for verylong. The power in this process lies in the fact that "B" can be anything that Iam mentally and physically capable of achieving.....ANYTHING !

BA

EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING

Have you ever had an "AHA" experience? That really sums up what experientiallearning is all about. When your brain connects an idea with an experience, experientiallearning occurs. Suddenly, what seemed perplexing, seems perfectly clear.

The following exercise will demonstrate the "AHA" experience for you...

On a flip chart, write the following letters and the graphical symbols beside them

ABCDEFGHI

ADG

BEH

CFI

figure 1

figure 2

On a flip chart write the following letters and the graphical symbols beside them before the start of the conference (figure 1). Flip the page over so participants can't see what you wrote till you are ready for this exer-cise.

For your Icebreaker, ask how many of the participants have believe they have a great memory. Ask how many have a good memory. Tell them you are going to do an exercise to see just how good their memory is. Tell them you are going to flip over a page on the flip chart and you would like them to memorize the letters and the graphical symbols beside them. Flip over the page and give the participants 10 seconds andthen flip the page over again. Ask them how many got them all the letters and symbols memorized, how many got half, how many got one or two?

Then ask them, "If I can show you a method where you can learn all 9 letters and symbols, and not only learn them but remember them, would you be interested?" After the group agrees draw the "Tic-Tac-Toe" design on the pad and the corrisponding letters (figure 2). Give them five seconds to look at what you wrote and flip the page over. Again ask the group if they recognized what you wrote and if they can repeat it. The reason they can is because they can relate the symbols and letters to something they are familiar with. This is called contextual or experiential learning.

There is Never Enough Time

This exercise illustrates the fact that there is more time available to do thethings we want to do than we sometimes see. Use the following script to developyour illustration:

How many of you work seventy hours or more per week on a regularbasis?

How many of you get a full eight hours of sleep every night?

Wait for responses to these questions and then proceed:

If you did indeed work seventy hours every single week, and slept eighthours every single night, you would use up 126 hours. Since there are a totalof 168 hours in a week, that leaves 42 hours.... over a full normal work-week...to do what ever you want to do!!!

What will you do with your 42 free hours this week?

POWER THOUGHTS

• “Life is a struggle and the potential for failure is ever present, but those who live in fear of failure, or hardship, or embarrassment will never achieve their potential.” - Admiral William H. McRaven

• “Leadership is about vision and responsibility, not power.” - Seth Berkley

• “It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.” - Harry S. Truman

• “Sometimes life is going to hit you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith.” - Steve Jobs

• “Whatever you vividly imagine, ardently desire, sincerely believe, and enthusiastically act upon, must inevitably come to pass!” - Paul J. Meyer

• “The best preparation for tomorrow is doing your best today.” - H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

• “Self-Motivation is the power that raises you to any level you seek.” - Paul J. Meyer

• “Intelligence without ambition is a bird without wings.” - Salvador Dali

• “The role of a leader is not to come up with all the great ideas. The role of a leader is to create an environment in which great ideas can happen.” - Simon Sinek

• “Please think about your legacy, because you’re writing it every day.” - Gary Vaynerchuk

• “A boss has the title. A leader has the people.” - Simon Sinek

• “You don’t lead by pointing and telling people some place to go. You lead by going to that place and making a case.” - Ken Kesey

• “I’m convinced that about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance.” - Steve Jobs

• “With goal setting, you are able to focus all your strengths on the primary purpose you choose for your life.” - Paul J. Meyer

• “It doesn’t matter whether you are pursuing success in business, sports, the arts, or life in general: the bridge between wishing and accomplishing is discipline.” - Harvey Mackay

• “Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too.” - William Hutchison Murray

• “There is a powerful driving force inside every human being that, once unleashed, can make any vision, dream, or desire a reality.” - Anthony Robbins

• “It doesn’t matter who you are, where you come from, the ability to triumph begins with you always.” - Oprah Winfrey

• “Efficiency is doing the thing right. Effectiveness is doing the right thing.” - Peter Drucker

• “Don’t let the fear of losing be greater than the excitement of winning.” - Robert Kiyosaki

• “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” - Lao Tzu

• “Leadership is not wielding authority - it’s empowering people.” - Becky Brodin

• “When you discipline yourself to do the things you need to do when you need to do them, the day will come when you can do the things you want to do when you want to do them.” - Zig Ziglar

• “Live like no one else, so later you can live like no one else.” - Dave Ramsey

• “The greatest motivator of all is belief.” - Paul J. Meyer

• “The most dangerous poison is the feeling of achievement. The antidote is to, every evening, think what

can be done better tomorrow.” - Ingvar Kamprad

• “Good is the enemy of great.” - Jim Collins

• “Somebody somewhere is waiting on you to become what you were destined to be. Keep growing forward!” - Chris Hogan

• “You have to have a big vision and take very small steps to get there. You have to be humble as you execute but visionary and gigantic in terms of your aspiration.” - Jason Calacanis

• “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” - Maya Angelou

• “Change your life today. Don’t gamble on the future, act now, without delay.” - Simone de Beauvoir

• “Someone sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.” - Warren Buffett

• “As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others.” - Bill Gates

• “Greatness is not a function of circumstance. Greatness, it turns out, is largely a matter of conscious choice, and discipline.” - Jim Collins

• “Fear is the disease. Hustle is the antidote.” - Travis Kalanick

• “The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world’s problems.” - Mohandas Gandhi

• “How long can you afford to put off who you really want to be?” - Epictetus

• “We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.” - Anais Nin

• “We must believe that we are gifted for something, and that this thing, at whatever cost, must be attained.” - Marie Curie

• “Work like there is someone working 24 hours a day to take it away from you.” - Mark Cuban

• “Personal leadership must come from the inside out. You cannot wait for someone else to push you; you must motivate yourself through goal setting.” - Paul J. Meyer

• “See things in the present, even if they are in the future.” - Larry Ellison

• “Leadership is about making others better as a result of your presence and making sure that impact lasts in your absence.” - Sheryl Sanberg

• “Don’t find the fault, find the remedy.” - Henry Ford

• “Change before you have to.” - Jack Welch

• “A good leader takes a little more than his share of the blame, a little less than his share of the credit.” - Arnold H. Glasgow

• “Visualizing the rewards of success is a concrete step toward achievement.” - Paul J. Meyer

• “There is no worse mistake in public leadership than to hold out false hopes soon to be swept away.” - Winston Churchill

• “Earn your leadership every day.” - Michael Jordan

• “The growth and development of people is the highest calling of leadership.” - Harvey S. Firestone

• “You can learn new things at any time in your life if you’re willing to be a beginner. If you actually learn to like being a beginner, the whole world opens up to you.” - Barbara Sher

• “Outstanding leaders go out of their way to boost the self-esteem of their personnel. If people believe in themselves, it’s amazing what they can accomplish.” - Sam Walton

• “Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.” - Thomas Edison

• “Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.” - Napoleon Hill

• “The secret of change is to focus all your energy not on fighting the old but on building the new.” - Socrates

• “Success begins as an attitude before it becomes an actuality.” - Paul J. Meyer

• “Accept the challenges so you can feel the exhilaration of victory.” - George S. Patton

• “It’s so easy to be great nowadays, because everyone else is weak. If you have any mental toughness, if you have any fraction of self-discipline; The ability to not want to do it, but still do it; If you can get through to doing things that you hate to do: on the other side is GREATNESS.” - David Goggins

• “We all have the ability to come from nothing to something.” - David Goggins

• “Don’t wait on perfect conditions for success to happen; Just go ahead and do something.” - Dan Miller

• “Business leaders must become what we call infinite learners - those who not only enjoy learning but feel a constant need to acquire new skills.” - Reid Hoffman

• “True leadership lies in guiding others to success - in ensuring that everyone is performing at their best, doing the work they are pledged to do and doing it well.” - Bill Owens

• “Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm.” - Publilius Syrus

• “Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.” - Jack Welch

• “To be successful, the first thing to do is fall in love with your work.” - Sister Mary Lauretta

• “Friday is a day to finish your goals for the week. It is a day to celebrate that which you set out to accomplish at the beginning of the week.” - Byron Pulsifer

• “Whatever you are, be a good one.” - Abraham Lincoln

• “People should learn less more, and not more less.” - Ken Blanchard

• “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” - Eleanor Roosevelt

• “Friday can be a hard day especially if you have not followed through on your commitments.” - Byron Pulsifer

• “Success means different things to different people, but this definition applies to everyone: success is the progressive realization of worthwhile, predetermined, personal goals.” - Paul J. Meyer

• “A leader is not an administrator who loves to run others, but someone who carries water for his people so that they can get on with their jobs.” - Robert Townsend

• “Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality.” - Warren G. Bennis

• “If it is to be, it is up to me.” - William H. Johnsen

• “Winners never quit, and quitters never win.” - Vince Lombardi

• “The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.” - William Arthur Ward

• “Strength and growth come only through continuous effort and struggle.” - Napoleon Hill

• “You will either step forward into growth or you will step back into safety.” - Abraham Maslow

• “I’m a success today because I had a friend who believed in me and I didn’t have the heart to let him down.” - Abraham Lincoln

• “The last 10 percent it takes to launch something takes as much energy as the first 90 percent.” - Rob Kalin

• “People ask the difference between a leader and a boss. The leader leads, and the boss drives.” - Theodore Roosevelt

• “Your life is your message to the world. Make it inspiring.” - Lorrin L. Lee

• “Mediocrity with a dose of doubt can keep you from excellence.” - Dave Ramsey

• “Leadership is practiced not so much in words as in attitude and in actions.” - Harold S. Geneen

• “A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.” - Henry Adams

• “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” - Helen Keller

• “The best metaskill you can learn is how to learn.” - Shane Parrish

• “Successful people do what unsuccessful people are not willing to do. Don’t wish it were easier; wish you were better.” - Jim Rohn

• “If you do not consciously decide ahead of time where you are going, you may very easily end up somewhere else.” - Paul J. Meyer

• “Happiness does not come from doing easy work but from the afterglow of satisfaction that comes after the achievement of a difficult task that demanded our best.” - Theodore Isaac Rubin

• “To move the world, we must first move ourselves.” - Socrates

• “We are equipped with a vital reserve - an untapped potential that equals our needs. As goals, aims, and ambitions grow, our reserves grow.” - Paul J. Meyer

• “Goals are dreams with work boots on.” - Dave Ramsey

• “Try not to become a man of success, but rather a man of value.” - Albert Einstein

• “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act but a habit.” - Aristotle

• “Productivity is never an accident. It is always the result of a commitment to excellence, intelligent planning and focused effort.” - Paul J. Meyer

• “Most people simply never ask.” - Steve Jobs

• “Whether you think you can or you can’t, either way, you are right.” - Henry Ford

• “The best way out is always through.” - Robert Frost

• “What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson