Welcome to retreat season (and potentially in-person) Let’s admit it, our teams whether new or old need a refresh. We need some time together to regroup, reevaluate, and reassess our goals as a team, company, etc. Maybe you have new team members you’ve added since 2020 who will definitely need to spend in-person time with your team to feel welcomed and understand the company culture a lot more now that they can actually meet their team and not over zoom.
Just incase you aren’t sure how to break the ice with the old and new team, we’ve made a list of fun ice breakers to set the tone moving forward, and for your team to get to know each other again or for the first time!
- Charades — This is an oldie but goodie! You know who’s new to the team and who’s been there for a while. This gives you a chance mix the group up for some healthy competition. Not only is it healthy competition, but it gives your team a genuine way to work together without it being company related.
- Who’s Shoe? — This is a fun ice breaker for the team. Have each team member leave one shoe at the door. Once everyone is settled, distribute the shoes back out at random and so that everyone has a shoe that doesn’t belong to them. You then set the timer for 5 minutes and direct everyone to find the owner of that shoe. This is fun and will definitely strike up a conversation between the team members.
- How Much Toilet Paper — I know, sounds weird. But again, these are all fun and are sure to connect your team members in new ways. In they ice breaker, you pass around a roll of toilet paper. You ask each team member to break off how much they normally use. Once everyone has their pieces, they then will share a fun fact for each piece that they ripped off!
- Happy Hour — Traditional and straight to the point. This one will always be a fun way for the team to get to know each other. However, instruct them to speak to a team member who isn’t in their department, or someone they’ve worked with before. If everyone on the team has already worked together, instruct the team members to learn one new fact about 5 of their colleagues.
- Birth Map — This one just might be our favorite. Have a large map of the world and pins ready for your team. As your team members arrive, have them put a pin where they were born. This is a great way to see how diverse the team is and once everyone is settled each person can stand, introduce themselves and give a fun fact about where they were born.
Now that you have some direction of where to take the ice-breaker for the routine, we have one more suggestion. DON’T FORGET THE SNACKS! Coming together to break bread (or eat cheese and crackers) will always be a great form of bonding. You may want to include them during the ice breaker just to make things a little easier. Either ay, after your team spends this time together, you’ll feel a lot better about the direction of the company!