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Did you spend the first days of school frantically coming up with the most perfectly cool way to describe yourself as an animal?
Welcome to the club.
However, we'd encourage you to reframe how you think about these exercises at work―after all, this information isn’t useless! It’s a way to get to know your coworkers, and while it can be uncomfortable and just plain awkward, it’s a first layer you’ll have to break through in order to form lasting relationships on your team.
Plus, ice breakers are a key part of the employee engagement puzzle. Utilizing ice breakers impacts employee engagement because they help initiate team bonding and spark innovative thinking. And get this: employees that have the opportunity to innovate tend to be more engaged workers and committed to their company’s mission.
Considering the workplace has experienced a downturn in engagement, it pays to invest in the many ways we can reengage our employees.
Engaged, resilient teams have a competitive edge during uncertain times. Learn more:
-> Download the Free Guide: 3 Steps to Building Engaged, Resilient Teams
The research behind ice breakers
With how ubiquitous ice breakers can be at school, workplaces, and basically any situation where you meet a bunch of strangers at the same time—it’s natural to wonder, “okay, but do ice breakers actually break the ice?”
First off, let’s set some expectations. Ice breakers aren’t going to make everyone BFFs, and should just be considered a stepping stone to growing stronger relationships down the line.
You can trace this idea back to Tuckman’s Model, a theory that presents group formation as occurring in four stages:
- Forming: where the group meets, shares interests, and starts identifying common goals
- Storming: where problems and conflicts begin to arise
- Norming: where the group is able to come up with solutions and become closer in the process
- Performing: where the group efficiently and purposefully works toward a cohesive goal
The rhyming mechanism makes it especially easy to remember. 😉
For the purposes of this article, we’re going to focus on the Forming stage of Tuckman’s Model.
It’s exactly what it sounds like: a group of people is meeting, sometimes for the first time, and it’s generally a space where individuals feel each other and possibly, their “roles” in subsequent meetings.
Researchers in the organizational psychology space say that “icebreaker[s] can help to foster a sense of ‘psychological safety,’ or an atmosphere in which people feel free to speak up—to question, criticize, say something out-there—without fear of being ostracized.”
Now, it’s probably not the best idea to debate hot-button topics as an ice breaker. More commonly, establishing a psychologically-safe environment takes a much more low-stakes exercise: having fun together. Thus, the classic ice breaker is born.
You may hate every second of it, but you’re not the only one undergoing humiliation. If everyone in the room has to tell their life story in a silly voice, or mime their favorite thing to do on weekends, at least you all look stupid together.
–Cari Romm
Tip: recruit your culture leaders
Have you ever looked around the room to see how other people react before responding to a question?
Truthfully, many people are too self-conscious to speak up first. All it takes is a few people to smooth the process, however, which is why it’s so important to pull aside some team members to guarantee their participation in your ice breaker.
Keep an eye out for and reach out to “culture leaders”—they may not be managers or supervisors, but they are often admired and well-liked within the company. They’ll be your culture evangelists. 👍
These team members wield the “ice pick,” so to speak. Simply having an enthusiastic participant will go a long way in warming up the others and getting the interpersonal results you want. When you have your culture evangelists in place, it’s time to pick an activity!
15 team-building activities to break the ice 🔨
1. Marshmallow challenge
There’s a reason why this classic challenge is so popular. Check out this enlightening TED Talk about the surprising insights this exercise can uncover:
Building the tower is fun enough as it is (the sugar high from clandestinely eating some of those marshmallows may be part of that). But what’s really important are the takeaways. Afterward, ask your team: Did you have a leader? Did you come up with a plan? Was it a person you expected? Did you test out a bunch of small structures, or did you stake your success on a single idea?
2. Team wins
Start meetings on a high note by taking a moment to recognize your team members. If you don’t have Bonusly implemented, take just 10 minutes to appreciate the hard-working individuals around the room. Switch it up—go around and appreciate someone to the left one day, and the next, ask people to appreciate someone on a different team.
3. Company timeline
We love this idea from our friends at When I Work!
Give your team members four slips of paper, and ask them to mark down four important moments in their life. Let them pin them to the timeline.
[...] This exercise helps show, in a visual way, the different generations and experiences of your team. It leads well into talking about cultural and generational differences and the effects that has on how people work and communicate. It is also an opportunity for team members to learn more about each other.
Date-based activities always bring up interesting tidbits. When one team member was born, another could have been wearing bell bottoms and traveling around the United States in an RV. You never know!
4. Guess who
This one is easy. Write down a fact about yourself—the sillier the better—and toss it in with everybody else’s answers. Mix them up, and read each one aloud. Whoever matches a fact to a team member gets a (very coveted) piece of candy!
This is a great way to learn tidbits and trivia about your team that may not come up in typical workplace conversations.
💡Tip: You can use a tool like Quizbreaker to automate this process!
5. Meet your match
There are a few things in life that just go together—peanut butter and jelly, salt and pepper, Taylor Swift and cats, etcetera, etcetera. Write down these pairs and tape one-half of each on someone’s back or forehead. The goal is to get everyone to find their other half, but here’s the catch—you don’t know your own descriptor, and you can only ask yes-or-no answers of others.
Once you do work out your pairing, take a moment and get to know each other!
Learn everything you need to know about creating more resilient, engaged teams today:
-> Download the Free Guide: 3 Steps to Building Engaged, Resilient Teams
6. One-word icebreaker
This one has applications in a number of settings. For a larger, all-hands type meeting, split your employees into teams and ask them to come up with one word to describe, say, your company culture. Give them ten minutes to discuss amongst themselves. Then let all the teams present their word and their reasoning, and facilitate a conversation about your company values.
Similarly, this can also be done quickly in the first few minutes of a meeting. Prompts like, “describe this project with one word,” or “In this meeting, I hope to come away with [word],” can reveal some surprising answers, with enlightening or comforting discussion to follow.
7. Trading cards
Ever imagined yourself on a collectible? Now’s your chance! We love this idea from Gamestorming, where each participant creates their own trading card, including a hometown, nickname, and a bit of trivia about themselves. Pass around the cards and ask follow-up questions, allowing time for the player—er, participant—to elaborate.
Hard mode: Have everyone create a trading card for someone else on the team. 😝
8. Mindfulness check-in
It’s so often that we bounce from one meeting to the next—one workday to the next, even! Encourage employee wellness by taking a quiet moment to let each person breathe. With guided prompts like, “What is the purpose of this meeting?” and “What is the thing you’re hoping to accomplish today?” you’re allowing team members to ground themselves, focus, and open up.
Better yet, check out our fun, gratitude bingo activity that encourages mindfulness at work.
9. Donut chats
There’s only so much you can bond with someone over quick prompts, so take it a step further and implement Donut at your company! Donut pairs up two employees for coffee (or donuts! Or beer!), allowing for one-on-one time between team members who might not be able to interact or collaborate as often.
10. Speed meeting
Just like speed dating, but SFW. 😉
This is a great way to meet a lot of employees in a short time, and, if you're in person, gets people up and moving, too! Arrange participants in two lines, and just shuffle everyone down the line once the timer goes off. Along with the typical name and occupation questions, arm each team member with an interesting question to ask. Check out this in-depth explanation from The Balance Careers, with great variations and a list of prompts!
If your team is virtual, you can use Zoom or Google breakout rooms to randomly pair your employees together.
11. Ask Me Anythings
An Ask Me Anything, or AMA, is exactly what it sounds like—you get to ask someone anything you want! Whether it's a speed round where you ask many people questions or a dedicated time to get to know a specific person, it's a fun and easy way to quickly learn about your team members.
12. Daily questions and prompts
At Bonusly, we have a Slack channel dedicated to sparking conversations and chatting! We use Donut Watercooler's prompts, but it's easy to manually write your own questions and automate them to post at a certain time.
You can probably find lists upon lists of "get to know you" questions on the internet, but here are a few unique conversation starters:
- If you were a brand, what brand colors would you be, and why?
- You're now on House Hunters—what are your three requirements for a home?
- If you were a Thanksgiving side, which one would you be, and why?
- What's the recipe for your go-to, super-easy favorite comfort food?
- Write an acrostic poem with your name. Here's an example:
- What were you doing five years ago? Would past-you be surprised at where you are today?
- Share a photo from your weekend.
- What's your favorite way to eat a potato?
- Post your favorite or go-to GIF!
- What's the best thing you've ever eaten? What's the worst?
- If a zoo were to exhibit you, how would they design your habitat?
- What's your favorite emoji (or custom emoji)?
13. Show off your drawing skills
Having a short drawing prompt is a great way to ease into a long meeting! It's a great moment for everyone to use a different part of their brain than usual and can lead to some hilarious results. Example A: ⬇️
Can you draw your company's logo from memory? The Bonusly Bunch gave it a shot. 🤣💚 #Bonusly #DrawingDay #NationalDrawingDay pic.twitter.com/N7C6roQjeR
— Bonusly from Home (@bonusly) May 19, 2018
14. Start a friendly debate
There are definitely a few hot takes that spark furious debates among Bonuslians (all friendly, of course...). Running a few polls or strategically dropping a loaded question is a great way to spark conversation and break the ice.
- Tater tots vs. waffle fries?
- Chocolate candy vs. sour candy?
- Should hot dogs be considered sandwiches?
- How do you feel about the Oxford comma?
- Pizza cut into triangles or squares?
- Is cereal soup?
15. Play games
Sometimes, the best way to get to know each other is by focusing on something else entirely! Why not set up a Jackbox Games party?
Go forth
As we mentioned, ice breakers aren’t meant to make everyone BFFs right away! In fact, it may even make everyone comfortable right away. But sometimes, that discomfort is valuable in a group environment. It demonstrates that it’s okay to be vulnerable at your workplace, which is an important building block to developing a company culture of respect.
How can HR teams, managers, and leaders inspire employees to be stronger and more flexible in times of ongoing change?
Building more engaged, resilient teams is the answer. 👇
