Long ago, but not so far away, but decades before DEI rebranded itself as Divide, Exclude, and Intrude I too committed acts of diversity workshopping. I have no idea whether they were in any way useful but the intentions were good. But you know where those usually lead.
I know we’re in the dog days of summer but any moment now it will be back-to-school season. This is the time of the dreaded icebreaker activity.
You know the kind of thing. You sit in some kind of circle and wait your turn to introduce yourself and, of course, you are so focussed on what you are going to say you don’t listen to a word from anyone else.
For anyone with a shred of social anxiety – and that’s most of us – it’s a time of embarrassment and dread.
The best icebreakers get people learning about each other while actually doing something together. That way the activity has aspects of the mission and values baked in – collaboration, respect for diversity of thought, collegiality, engagement, agency, trust, and all that other good stuff.
As Margaret Wheatley is always telling us: “There is no problem to which community is not the answer.”
Back-to-school meetings, workshops, and gatherings of all kinds are opportunities to put your educational values into action.
True confession: I have committed more than my fair share of icebreakering.
Some events were more successful than others and thinking back I am again amazed at the forbearance and good nature of teachers. I mean, what other groups of adults have to endure being asked to quack like a duck or self-identify with a kitchen utensil?
On reflection, the duck and the kitchen tools were among the more successful because they had two key components – an element of choice and playfulness.
Holding up the cheese grater that you chose as a way to talk about yourself does two things – it takes the focus away from the individual (like talking through a hand puppet) and allows for everything from deeply felt personal revelations to the silly.
“I chose this corkscrew because I too am twisted and bent out of shape”
“I chose the whisk because I love to cook omelets and also stir things up.”
The “quack like a duck” activity was part of forming participants into random groups to get people out of their usual colleague circles. It involves picking the name of an animal out of a hat and then finding your flock, herd, swarm, etc. without using words.
It gets people up and moving around, leaving their screens and knitting behind and, depending on the mood of the group be great fun for a few moments. It could alternatively be one of those enforced school stupidities for which you will always be remembered. Best to know your group before trying it. Some people will never forget you made them bray like a donkey and they will never forgive you for it.
But whatever you plan in the classroom or adult workshop it’s always good to keep Margaret Donaldson’s words in mind.
“We do best, and engage most readily in, that which we experience as freely chosen.”
Same with adults as it is with children. The perception of choice makes all the difference.
The fact is I didn’t always follow my own advice. So easy to forget what teaching and learning are all about. So easy to crank up PowerPoint and start reading from slides.
But one crime I never did commit was asking people of any age for their “pronouns”. So there is that.
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My newest staff member nervously asked me what my favorite animal was as I walked past him the other day so I know some dreadful activity is being planned and he was asked to collect information in advance. Or else he is an even more peculiar young man than I thought at our first meeting!
The potential for humiliation in the workplace is infinite! Please provide an update should something either dreadful or glorious occur.
Your new words for DEI made my day. My daughter had to quit a job she loved after the organization was taken over by everything is the fault of white people and they need to know it. She isn't white, by the way. She refused to indoctrinate youth workers. I long for the day when justice is a real thing again instead of revenge by the few against the many.
As currently practiced, some DEI work is not always healthy for communities and organizations and is often either without value or counterproductive. This is too bad because clearly, we all have work to do to find ways to treat each other more fairly and create a juster society that values difference and diversity of thought. Discrimination of all kinds is a stain.
It sounds like your daughter has not outsourced her moral compass. Good for her and I hope she finds a more compatible workplace.
Thank you for your comment. And your parting plea!
The title of this post after Donald Trump's name would make my day ducky!
You and me both!
Bring it on.
I don't remember any icebreaker tricks and am glad to know a few. If I were a kitchen utensil, I would be a butcher knife because I like to cut right to the quick of an issue. I think we might play that game sometime when we next get together. CAC
You were an independent operator and maybe never subjected to this ubiquitous and well-intentioned institutional icebreakering. Lucky you.
The game of "Which kitchen utensil are you? - has a lot of potential for fun.
Which kitchen utensil do others see you as would be a game with the potential to be as vicious as something out of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf"?
Groan. This takes me back to training sessions. We were always being sent off on the latest touted "warm and fuzzy" indoctrination. PPF was a favourite Putting People First, or as one of our ingenious staff termed it Pounding People Flat. All that running around doing stupid stuff. Some people got really into those things having "meaningful moments" and crying into each other's shoulders. On a 2-day session. It was all the phoney stuff I most hate that companies get sucked into and pay enormous amounts of money for. I was badgered into attending one and when I came back they tried to pressure me into saying I had got something out of it. But I didn't and I wouldn't. Bloody minded woman:) Do you think there is a chance we will ever return to any sort of normality?
"Putting People First, or as one of our ingenious staff termed it Pounding People Flat." Love it!
It's probably got even worse since your time!
As to returning to "normalcy" ... well there are some encouraging signs coming out of the UK. The Labour leader has just said that woman means adult human female and while that may seem obvious to most people it is a depths charge to the identitarians.
Here in the US, there are few signs the fever will break anytime soon. We are still waiting for any leadership from the Democrats who are in thrall to the ideology as if it were the new frontier in civil rights. It's deep in the schools and those promoting it are true believers. This is a new religion and the gender faith-based community refuses to look at the science. People love reactionary stereotypes I guess. Especially when they are dressed up as progressive
As the indoctrination proceeds let's hear it for the dissenters. And the cats whose pronouns are ALWAYS: I, me, and mine.
I confess to all my sins as a workplace workshopperer for all the times when I forgot the basics about education: It is not putting stuff in, it is drawing stuff out.
I'd bray like a donkey anytime anyone asked..humour is a great way of making others relax whilst keeping me hidden elsewhere...
And braying is a great way to find your herd, drove, or pace. (Collective nouns for donkeys.)
I need to bray more where donkeys may be...as we know.