Content
Allow people to add their own boxes with new questions if they think of any. Participants can use virtual sticky notes to write their answers and elaborate with pics and GIFs. Finally, encourage team members to respond to emoticons or text. In just a few minutes, your team will have learned something new about everybody they work with.
We know the word “icebreaker” makes some folks cringe but chances are if you’ve experienced a bad icebreaker it was because the activity wasn’t properly selected to match the work context or team culture.
Consider these tips when choosing the right warm-up for your virtual mtg:
— Impact by Design (@Impact_bydesign) July 30, 2020
The virtual water cooler is a great substitute for the physical version. Or, take it up a notch and create small icebreakers for virtual meetings teams to battle against each other. They can chat on your team channel, then submit answers on the board.
The Best Way To Host Virtual Icebreakers
Invite employees to submit pictures of their own spirit day outfits and select a small group of winners. Create bingo cards ahead of time listing common situations that happen during virtual meetings. If you haven’t done Mad Libs before, it’s a fill-in-the blank story that can lead to a pretty hilarious final product. By doing Mad Libs as an icebreaker, you can help your employees loosen up and connect.
This is also a great way for team mates to learn about each other and get more context about everyone’s situations. For this ice breaker, everyone goes around and rates their overall mood on a scale of 1-10, 10 being the best and 1 being the worst. Plus, in order for a meeting to be productive, there has to be an open and clear line of communication between participants. And part of fostering that remote team communication is developing a personal rapport with the other meeting attendees. Everyone remembers doing a show and tell in their school days. Ask everyone in your team to display an object and tell a story about it. It could be how you found it, any sentimental stories behind it, or something funny.
Ready to get started?
By now, you’ve probably had enough guest appearances to feel like you know your coworkers’ pets, roommates and family members, so you might as well make it official. Ask everyone to introduce their person or pet to the team. Ask each person to write a newspaper or magazine headline for the company in 10 years. Give everyone time to work independently and have time for sharing with the larger group. Bonus points, use your BHAG goals from Rhythm’s Strategy Execution Software. Instead of manually creating and sending quizzes to your employees, Quizbreaker lets you schedule when you’d like quizzes sent. These are then delivered directly to your employees inbox.
- With that said, it’s certainly good to have some icebreaker routines with your teams, whether that’s once a week or before every meeting.
- The best icebreaker games are the ones that require little to no explanation.
- Lucidspark has three templates that engage people on various levels, helping you start your meetings on the right foot.
This is a great way to gauge the mood and bandwidth of the group and bring up any issues you need to discuss during the meeting. When you may not have time for everyone to share their answer but still want to learn more about a few people.
View From My Office
Keep a weekly tally and award prizes at the end of the month or year. Planning a top-tier leadership retreat for your organization? Kick things off with fun leadership retreat icebreakers & activities. Peer recognition is one of the most powerful ways to motivate employees, boost morale, and build bonds. Everyone loves being appreciated and creating the space to encourage that behavior within teams will go a long way with the group.
What are virtual icebreakers?
Virtual icebreakers are activities remote teams use to feel at ease and set the right mood for the virtual calls. These online icebreakers include brainteasers, conversation starters, songs and introductions. These exercises are also known as “ice breakers for virtual meetings” and “virtual icebreaker games.”
Get those hearts racing by asking team members to race to grab specific items from around their homes in a limited amount of time. When they arrive back at their desks, ask them to send a chat message to check in and show who arrived first. There’s no fixed group size; however, it’s said that groups of 4-6 people work best. It’s also great to have the same number of people on every team – this ensures transparency and no team will have the advantage of being outnumbered. Anyway, the instructions and the technicalities aren’t the most challenging bit.
Weekly movie reviews
This game is a great way to unwind after a heavy day of meetings. Have fun with your coworkers and discover who is the best virtual doodler. After a set period, get each team to present their action plan to the rest of the meeting. As well as being fun, this game can give you valuable insight into your colleague’s problem-solving skills. We recommend you stay away from questions that are too serious or controversial.
