Are You Guilty of Using These? 💬
Hello fellow leaders! Here’s an icebreaker prompt for your next meeting:
“If you could remove one word or phrase from everyone’s vocabulary, what would it be?”
I hope you all take the time to do icebreakers with your team on a regular basis. At Springbach, we start every weekly call with an icebreaker question. I used to believe idle chit-chat and icebreakers were a waste of time—we had things to do! I pride myself on running efficient, outcome-focused meetings. But I have learned to take the time to learn about and appreciate the people I work with. It takes 5 minutes. And with so much of our team still working remotely or at client sites, it helps connects us. It helps ground us in a way that significantly improves working relationships.
This icebreaker prompt was a particularly good one. It was quick but revealed so much about my team members’ pet peeves and made me think.
Here’s what my team revealed…which of these are you guilty of over-using?
At the end of the day – "At the end of the day" has become an overused verbal crutch. What about the mid of the day? What about the start of the day? What about by tomorrow? For me personally, I am most productive and efficient in the morning. I don't want to wait for the end of the day for anything! Plus, we have a global workforce with team members in different time zones. The next time you hear "at the end of the day," you might have to ask, "who's day? Which time zone?" Finally, I'd love to see some love given to twilight. Twilight is magical! Let's start a new trend of saying "by twilight...." - Mark Eldred
Literally – Literally! Maybe this is generational, but this is a filler word that most younger people use for emphasis. It’s particularly annoying because the antonym, figuratively, is something you’d never use in conversation. Literally (not figuratively?) we need to find a better filler to add some spice to our sentences. - Mikaila Bisson
Like, ya know – No, I don’t know! Why am I listening to you if you are assuming I already know what you are trying to say? If you have something to say, then say it. - Shelley Staten
Hate – It’s easy to get wrapped up in the emotion of something and defer to extreme words. And in today’s cultural environment, it’s become too common to jump right to one extreme or the other. “Hate” is such a strong word. When you say you hate something, is it really hatred, or do you just dislike it? Perhaps think about why you dislike it and express that instead. - Richard Gunther
To be honest – Are you not being honest all the other times? [This is one I have to work on. I’m always honest, so what am I trying to hedge when I say this?] - Tom Austin
Let’s circle back to that – All too often, “let’s circle back to that” is used as a distraction with no intention to actually come back to the topic or idea—it’s dismissive.
No Problem - This is usually said when someone asks a question, and the response is “no problem.” I often hear it at restaurants. Customer: “May I see the menu?” Server: “No problem.” Of course it is not a problem! Why not say, instead, “Yes, I’ll be right back with that”? When I hear “no problem,” I often feel like "no problem" implies that one might have had a problem or difficulty with the task but in the end that wasn't the case, and for that reason only they're happy to have obliged. However, in actual usage, "no problem" hardly ever, if ever, carries that connotation. - Holly Kozminksi
Moist – I hate it! Although, to be honest, I literally never hear this used in a work environment. But like, ya know, at the end of the day, I don’t want to talk about moist things, so let’s circle back to that. - EVERYONE!
If you want more icebreaker prompt ideas reach out to Holly Kozminski at holly.kozminski@springbach.com. She’s brilliant with this.
If you want some agilists to help you with outcome-focused meetings while still having some fun, let’s meet!