How Big is the Easter Bunny?

🐰 How Big is the Easter Bunny?

When I facilitate design or improvement sessions, I often start with this icebreaker: "How big is the Easter Bunny?"

Is it the size of a hamster? A toddler? Human-sized? Sasquach-sized? (P.S. how big is a Sasquatch?!)

Everyone votes. Everyone laughs. And everyone disagrees.

Then I ask: If we can’t even agree on the size of a mythical rabbit, how confident are we that we all mean the same thing when we say “digital transformation,” “integration,” or “strategy”?

This intro lets us define the term “Easter Bunnies”—words that sound aligned but actually mean wildly different things to different people. Then it provides a fun way to break down communication barriers later in the meeting when someone says "that's an Easter Bunny, what do you really mean?" And if we don’t stop to clarify them, they quietly derail the meeting and follow up actions because we aren't actually aligned on the problem to solve or the next steps.

💡 Next time you kick off a cross-functional project or improvement initiative, try this:
-Identify the potential “Easter Bunny” terms.
-Ask the group to define them individually.
-Align on a shared definition before you move forward.
It’s a simple move, but it clears the fog and sets the stage for meaningful, focused progress.

What are your Easter Bunny terms? P.S. Meet Stormy, our pet bunny.