Leadership, Ice Breakers, and Emoji - Oh My!

If you're a fan of emojis and if you use them often instead of words, then today's the day to celebrate the tiny digital icons that add humor and personality to your messages. Happy World Emoji Day!

According to Wikipedia, "The date of July 17th isn't random, it was chosen because it's the exact date displayed on the standard iOS calendar emoji, which was a nod to the original 2002 launch of Apple's iCal application."

According to The Independent, "Language is undergoing perhaps one of its biggest ever shifts, under the influence of strange yellow cartoons...And it is largely the work of one man, Jeremy Burge, who works to catalogue emoji, as well as their history and meaning, on his website Emojipedia...Back in 2015, Reddit changed its logo - seen by over a million people a day - to include an emoji, and the British Museum tweeted pictures of items in its collection that are also depicted in emoji."

You may be wondering, what's the connection between leadership, ice breakers, and emojis? Read on.

Recently, I read an article entitled, "When Ice Breakers Freeze Out Introverts," by Chartered Managers Canada. The point of the article was that, before an official meeting begins, the person in charge asks a question, also known as an ice breaker with the intent to foster interaction, break down barriers, and create a comfortable atmosphere for participants.

According to the article, "For some, this is an easy entry point: light, energizing, even enjoyable. For others, it triggers an immediate internal calculation. What should I say? How personal is too personal? Will this sound awkward? Am I speaking too long? Not enough? While this small moment is often dismissed as harmless, it can reveal something larger about how many meetings are designed. They tend to cater to the comfort, communication style, and energy of extroverts, while quietly placing a burden on everyone else. Considering that introverts are estimated to make up between 30 percent and 50 percent of the population, this is not a marginal issue. It is a widespread design flaw in how we bring people together to work.

There is a common leadership belief that growth requires pushing people outside their comfort zone and in the right context, this can be true. But not all discomfort is productive, and not all pressure leads to development. There is a meaningful difference between stretching someone in a way that supports their role and exposing them socially in a way that feels unnecessary or unsafe. When participation in an ice breaker becomes expected (or worse - enforced), it can send an unintended message: that individual comfort and boundaries are secondary to group dynamics or facilitator preference. The result is not growth, but compliance. And compliance is not the foundation of strong teams."

Here are some ice breakers that may create a negative employee experience:

(1) What sport would you compete in if you were in the Olympics? (A person may not be athletic.)

(2) Which song can you listen to all day long? (A person may not listen to music.)

(3) What vegetables or meat do you eat on your pizza? (A person may not eat pizza.)

(4) What three emojis would describe your recent vacation? (A person may not have gone on a recent vacation.)

(5) What is your most used emoji? (What happens if a person doesn't use emojis?)

As you think about leadership, positive employee experiences, and abbreviated communication using emojis. consider how to improve your overall communication with co-workers. That's a good take-away as you celebrate World Emoji Day.

SHARE THIS: Great communication begins with connection. ~Oprah Winfrey #WorldEmojiDay #Communication #DebbieLaskeysBlog

Image Credit: South Florida Symphony Orchestra.

Learn about the South Florida Symphony Orchestra:

https://southfloridasymphony.org/about-us/

Visit Emojipedia, founded in 2013 by Australian Jeremy Burge:

https://emojipedia.org/

Read the full article, "When Ice Breakers Freeze Out Introverts"

https://cim.ca/news/view/196/when-ice-breakers-freeze-out-introverts

Check out 148 Ice Breaker Questions:

https://www.atlassian.com/blog/teamwork/icebreaker-questions