In order for any corporate team to work in an orderly and productive fashion, it’s imperative for team members to know each other. That will ensure smooth functioning of the team and development of mutual trust that’s so essential for any team. One such way to achieve this objective is to use icebreakers. Corporate setups, realizing the importance of icebreakers have started to go great lengths to introduce meeting icebreakers. The interesting part about icebreakers is that, its scope and use has reached beyond the corporate walls. Right from a social gathering to family event and party scenes, people are gravitating towards icebreakers to enhance familiarity among the participants. Schools and colleges have begun to include icebreaking activities and games to foster comfort level among the students.
Icebreakers activities and games are especially designed keeping in mind particular needs and structures of the corporate teams. These games are extremely useful and appropriate for enhancing communication and in developing team building skills. New members gain a lot of confidence from such exercises. Icebreaker games are great fun and learning experiences for all the participants. There are wonderful icebreaker games employed by corporate houses. Some of them are given below;
Forming a group: In this game, members are asked to make a group based on a certain classification. The classification could be anything from people wearing the same color, zodiac signs, to birth place or interests. This game helps in developing team spirit and a sense of unity among the team members.
Who Am I: It is a very popular icebreaker game that is not only full of fun but also instigates participants to interact. In this game, a member’s back is tagged with name of a celebrity and thereafter he has to go to the other members asking for the hints about the celebrity. The participant has to guess accurately about the name of the celebrity he has been tagged with based on clues received from other members. This is very popular game that is suitable for both small and large groups.
Fact or Fiction: This game requires members to pen down three surprising facts about themselves. Out of these three, two are true whereas one will be false or made up. Once, all the members have written down their facts, they have to read it to other members. Other participants have to vote on which ‘fact’ they find to be ‘false’ and in case group fails to identify the ‘false’ fact, the person wins.
Commonality Plus: This one is a very interesting icebreaker game that asks members to sit at the tables and list ten ways that everyone in the group is similar. The point to remember here is, one can not include body parts or clothing in the list. Once the time limit is over, person will be asked to present the list and share with other participants. This activity helps in learning about each other.
Know Me: In this game, members will be asked to sit in a circle and find 3-5 things about the person sitting to his left. After the time limit is over, person will be required to introduce the member sitting to his left to the rest of the group. This goes on until the last member is introduced. This game helps group members in knowing each other.
There are several other popular icebreaker games like Animal Instinct, Who Could Have Done That, Say the Name, Name the Framed, Desert Island, First or Worst, Line Up etc.