The first days of a new job are full of HR meetings, learning of benefits, various training, and explanation of company policies. Though informative and vital, a schedule of these types of meetings is not very exciting. You may have a fully in-person, hybrid, or remote team, and they all need an opportunity to bond with their coworkers to be welcomed and made to feel comfortable. There needs to be a bit of fun. We’re all human, and generally, we like fun. Icebreakers can be fun and allow a team to get to know each other. An icebreaker is an activity designed to welcome and warm up the conversation and connection among meeting or team-building participants.
This article highlights some team-building icebreaker activities for both virtual and in-person methods.
Virtual Methods
Two Truths And A Lie
- Set up: Use a collaborative whiteboard tool like Miro or Mural. Miro has some great warmup templates available.
- On the Miro board, ask each participant to write down three statements about themselves on the notes under their name. Two must be true and one a lie.
- Ask every other participant to add a dot vote next to which statement they think is the lie.
- Reveal the correct answer and allow for follow-up questions and discussion.
For more techniques and templates, Check out Want a successful virtual workshop?Don’t skip the warm up! by Matt Fangman.
Questions & Polls
Allow your team to play a get-to-know-you game in Slack. Create a poll or utilize one of the many slack apps and get your team members warmed up with storytelling.
For kicking off a story, ask them about something they love like the best:
- Best movie or television show
- Best book they’ve read
- Best concert they attended
- Best person to follow on social media
- Best vacation spot
To create a poll in Slack, you’ll need to install a polling app. Here are 30 great icebreaker content ideas for Slack, via poll Everywhere. And finally, there are so many option, be sure to check out the icebreaker results for the Slack App Directory.
In-Person Methods
LEGO Serious Play
LEGO Serious Play was created by the LEGO Company. The goal of the activity is to foster creative thinking through a team-building experience using LEGO bricks.
Builder, Looker, Runner
Every team has to have three members, and every person has a role. The facilitator will create a structure and keep it hidden from the team. The goal is to make a replicant of that structure.
One person is the builder, and only they are allowed to build. There is a looker who is the only one that can only see the original structure. Then there is the runner, who goes to the looker for the structure’s instructions, then takes the information to the builder. This is a great activity to build communication skills. It’s also fun.
Interested? Get your own LEGO Serious Play Starter kits.
Marshmallow Spaghetti Tower:
The facilitator gathers the materials and splits the team into groups of four. The teams have 18 minutes to create the tallest freestanding structure using the following materials.
- 20 sticks of spaghetti
- one yard of tape
- one yard of string
- one large marshmallow
At the end of the 18 minutes, the entire marshmallow must be on top. This activity emphasizes group communication, collaboration, and problem-solving strategy.
Check out this TED Talk featuring Peter Skillman and how he uses the Mashmallow Design Challenge.
Icebreakers can help to break down barriers between members of both hybrid and remote teams. Based on the size of your group and where the participants are physically located, you can find an activity that can allow people to get to know one another and start conversations. The above activities can bring joy and fun while building bonds to get everyone ready to work together.
