If you come from a big family, it’s likely you’ve experienced the toils of planning a vacation that suits everyone’s needs and/or desires…naturally, planning a trip [of any size] depends on numerous elements. The first question one must ponder in planning a family vacation, however, is this: will it just be immediate family or is extended family coming along, too? The season, the age range, the personalities, and the budget, of course, all follow in suit as key elements in planning an apt – and hopefully ideal –vacation. Keyword: ideal. Yes, let’s all agree: this is what everyone wants at the end of the day. So, in this “Family Vacation”icebreaker, we want you to imagine summer is approaching and the time has come to plan your ideal family vacation. The caveat: this year your family getaway won’t just be amongst your immediate kin, but also certain members of your extended family.
Juggling the Various Needs
The challenge here rests in juggling the various needs of multiple generations – and all the nuances they entail. You may ask yourselves questions like: Who all is coming along? What is the age range and scope of personalities? We know the season – summertime – but in what hemisphere will you be? If money isn’t an issue, how extravagant will you be considering all the elements at hand?
This Family Vacation icebreaker is all about compromise (similar to another one of our Secret Service icebreaker. When there are numerous people being held at bay and only one vessel to carry them all to their final destination – or “paradise” in the case of this icebreaker – we must learn how to extract their differing desires and balance them with their universal needs. Every group will be given a different family, comprised of various generations, needs, and personalities. Thus in a workshop of 30 people, we will have 6-8 different “families” that each team needs to find that perfect holiday for.
Imagine This is Your Family
35-year-old husband who likes to golf;
A wife who enjoys fly fishing;
Twin 7 year old daughters who are allergic to grass;
A 75-year-old Mother-in-Law who refuses to fly and gets carsick!
In this example, you can see you are dealing with three different generations, one of whom is a stubborn or perhaps ultra fragile Mother-in-Law. The husband and wife enjoy land and sea. And all we know of their twin daughters is that they’re allergic to grass. We want you to break down the family, point out the differences, take note of any restrictions or specific preferences, then build the family back up using their common denominators…what compromises must be made? How can you appease the minimal amount of needs to gain the maximum amount of satisfaction?
Family Vacation Icebreaker Recipe
From Comprising Needs to Creating Ideals
We’ve found that this is a great icebreaker to use in medium-sized workshops where compromise is the core reason to meet together, as teams tend to brew up some funny, out-of-the-box solutions to the [sometimes] demanding needs of contrasting generations. Some people extract inspiration from personal experiences, whereas others rely on their imagination. Nevertheless, everyone can relate to each other at some point…”been there, done that”, “I almost had that exact trip!”, “that combination sounds like a nightmare, but that’s a brilliant way of managing all of those elements”…and share some laughs, which ultimately sets the tone for the remainder of the workshop. Jovial energy and solid reference points. And if the reason you are holding the workshop is to juggle different business needs, such as building the MVP of your latest customer experience wonder, or merging two companies together, then this icebreaker also gets the group thinking about compromise!
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If we’ve convinced you that icebreakers aren’t so bad after all, take a few minutes to read more about how they can truly transform your meetings from bold to brilliant. You can also learn more about our recipes for successful workshops and meetings by subscribing to our Tips, Tricks and Hacks newsletter here.
