While plenty of alternative “names” exist for presidents and other prominent figures in politics, in the US, these high-profile men and women are actually required to have a code name, used in lieu of their birth name by the Secret Service. For example, Barack Obama and Michelle Obama were Renegade and Renaissance, while their daughters, Malia and Sasha, held the names Radiance and Rosebud. In this “Secret Service” icebreaker groups are challenged with the constraint of choosing code names beginning with the same letter, in parallel tradition as US presidents and their counterparts.
Finding Common Ground
The objective here is to encourage a group of people to establish a common cause that they can draw on over the course of the workshop. Even with the small hindrance imposed upon each group, we’ve noticed the possibilities and combinations of names are truly endless. In the past, one group drew inspiration from the old BBC program, The Goodies, because they all watched it growing up in the 70s, and thus chose names like Fabulous, Fantastic, and Fun. While another group cleverly twisted the rules and came up with 3Feathers, 3Letters, and 3Minds – replacing the letter ‘T’ with the number 3.
A Little Strategy, A Little Creativity
Sometimes these “code names” stick with them throughout the remainder of the session – and we secretly like to think some linger beyond the walls of the workshop, back into the office space. The universal takeaway, however, is not the names themselves, but the reasons why each person chose the name he or she did. We find it quite interesting and insightful how teams act upon the challenge in the Secret Service icebreaker. For example, some teams create a strategy, i.e. Fabulous, Fantastic, and Fun who drew inspiration from an old TV show they all used to watch, while others just pop out names and go from there. Often times we see teams build upon the actual nickname of someone in the group. Ultimately, this quick team-building exercise accomplishes what we believe is essential to any workshop: a cordial and creative atmosphere.
Secret Service Icebreaker Recipe:
Et voilà! It’s a simple activity with effective results. As always, we like to exercise our treasured formula on how to produce a great icebreaker, which entails an ample dose of humour, an opportunity to share something personal, and relevance to the workshop and topic at hand.
Within a workshop around building new products or teams of products, the Secret Service icebreaker serves as an excellent segue into extracting the creative juices in the room and brainstorming potential names. We’ve used this one numerous times with groups forming plans (creativity) from strategy (constraint).
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