Trust falls and other traditional office icebreakers have become cringeworthy. But it’s still important for your employees to feel comfortable sharing ideas and to enjoy working together. Icebreakers at the start of meetings can also help everyone shift into a more creative mindset.
If you’re looking for an effective, fun way to help everyone settle into your next meeting, try some of these alternative icebreaker ideas that won’t have your employees rolling their eyes.
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Icebreakers for hybrid or in-person teams
Worst job
Ask meeting participants to go around and say what their worst job was. This quick game can surface some amusing anecdotes about babysitting challenges, kitchen catastrophes, and camp counselor nightmares. You may even find team members have worked for the same terrible national brands. It’s a good way to bond and lighten the mood in the room.
Bucket list
Invite members of your team to go around and share one item that’s on their bucket list—something they want to try, achieve, or experience in the future. This icebreaker invites employees to show another side of themselves and talk about hobbies and aspirations that may not normally come up during the workday.
Would You Rather?
This is an easy, quick game to play when you’re settling into a meeting—and it can be played asynchronously over a platform like Slack to get remote workers involved. Everyone answers a “would you rather” question, like:
- Would you rather have a horrible short-term memory or a horrible long-term memory?
- Would you rather fight one bear-sized duck or 10 duck-sized bears?
- Would you rather go backpacking in South America or sightseeing in Europe?
Be as creative as possible. Often, the most unrealistic questions get the best answers.
Pecha Kucha
This game is perfect for team retreats and bonding events. Essentially, Pecha Kucha is like speed-dating for professionals. Every team member gets 20 slides and 20 seconds per slide to talk about their personal life. Only images are allowed—no text on any slides, whatsoever.
“The slides change automatically and the speaker must synchronize their speech with the images,” explained one expert. “So the entire presentation always lasts for exactly 6 minutes and 40 seconds.”
The fast format keeps everyone engaged, takes the pressure off the presenter to prepare, and gives everyone a chance to learn about their coworkers’ hobbies, families, and experiences.
Three things in three minutes
This game is a good option for both team-building events and longer meetings, since it only takes about three minutes (plus time for sharing). Pair employees in teams of two, and give groups three minutes to find three things they have in common. Challenge everyone to go beyond the immediately obvious things, like physical traits: “We’re both wearing a blue shirt” doesn’t really accomplish the goal of the game. After three minutes, each pair should share the three things they learned.
First concert
Invite participants to go around and talk about the first concert they ever attended. It’s a fun way to reminisce as well as learn more about your colleagues’ music tastes—and how they may have changed since then.
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It’s important to find creative ways to build culture and connections between remote team members, and virtual escape rooms are a great way to break the ice.
Icebreakers for remote teams
Zoom background challenge
This activity is perfect for remote or hybrid teams. Before the meeting, set a theme and ask meeting participants to come up with a virtual background image that represents their take on the theme. Themes could be favorite movie scenes, memes, dream vacation spots, or each person’s desktop background.
You may need to send around instructions for how to change your Zoom background. But it’s a great way to get everyone to turn on their camera and spark some creativity.
Virtual escape room
It’s important to find creative ways to build culture and connections between remote team members, and virtual escape rooms are a great way to break the ice. Tools like The Escape Game replicate the experience of a physical escape room over Zoom, challenging participants to look for clues and solve riddles in a virtual setting. This type of activity works for a virtual team retreat or for internal team brainstorming events.
When to skip icebreakers: Setting the right tone
Icebreakers often get a bad rap because they’re cheesy, but timing is also everything. There are certain moments when icebreakers can feel distracting, time-consuming, or just downright inappropriate. Set the right tone by being mindful of morale at the company, making icebreakers optional, and respecting cultural differences.
First and foremost, recognize when your team might be burned out, under pressure, or dealing with stress outside work that might make icebreaker games feel frivolous or inappropriate. If your team is facing layoffs, trying to get critical work accomplished, or trying to focus while working from home, icebreaker games can be seen as wasteful.
Be aware of cultural differences or personal preferences, too. Some workplace cultures or individuals simply dislike icebreakers, viewing them as juvenile or unprofessional. Forcing such activities can damage morale and trust. Make activities optional, low-stakes, and relevant to the team’s purpose or goals.
Finally, keep icebreakers to a minimum. These games serve to build team camaraderie; if the team already knows each other well and has strong rapport, icebreakers may feel redundant or patronizing. Icebreakers are best reserved for onboarding a new team member or kicking off a project in which new teams are working together.
Tips to encourage participation from introverts
It takes sensitivity and thoughtful planning to facilitate icebreakers in which introverts and extroverts alike feel comfortable. One way to encourage everyone to participate is to keep groups small. If you have a large team, break out into pairs or trios for the activity.
Keep games light and easy. Games that don’t put individuals on the spot are best for introverts. Simple, non-intrusive questions are less overwhelming and respect each team member’s privacy. Make sure whoever is in charge of the icebreaker is prepared to keep the conversation respectful and take control of the group dynamics if needed.
Participation should always be optional. Some teams offer asynchronous ways to participate, which is ideal for introverts and for remote team members. Set up a way to contribute ideas or feedback through written channels, such as anonymous suggestion boxes, online polls, or collaborative documents.
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Published
Emily Heaslip
