Beat the heat with a summer ice breaker! Summer is the perfect time to build up your team, strengthen connections, and company culture.
Whether you’re welcoming a new team member, want to boost company culture, or just want to add some fun and creativity to your meetings, here are our three favorite ice breakers to try with your team!
Diversity Bingo
Print out, or send digital, bingo cards to your team with statements in each square such as “Has been out of the country”, “Has a sibling”, etc. Then have employees race to see who can complete a Bingo card by getting a signature from team members for which those statements apply to first! To avoid having people only talk to one or two people and filling up their card, limit the signatures they can give to 1 or 2 per card.
Have you ever? (Stand up if…)
Prepare a list of questions which can only be answered with yes or no. Start your questions with “Have you ever…?” or “Stand up if…”. Read each question one at a time and instruct employees to stand up if they would answer yes to that question. This quick and familiar ice breaker is easy to explain and understand, encourages employee movement, and can be short and sweet or drawn out to encourage further conversation.
One Word
This ice breaker is for more focused collaboration among teams that may already have experience together. Pick a topic or phrase that is central to the purpose of the meeting and have everyone write down or say a word that comes to their mind in relation to it. If you’re leading a meeting about planning an upcoming project, ask participants to share one word that they think describes the goal or the processes that are needed. This will give insight for managers and team members for more effective collaboration and encourage conversation.
Ice breakers are a fun and easy way to introduce team members, encourage conversation, and build bonds both in and out of the office.
