At company retreats or parties, it can sometimes be difficult to break the ice between colleagues who don't know each other very well, especially if employees work in separate teams. So, what activities should you plan for a team day? Team-building exercises and icebreaker games are staples of company retreats and are a great help when team members find it hard to relax. We have compiled some excellent icebreakers to facilitate team bonding in this article. Break the ice with these team-building ideas!
Sometimes, a fun round of speed dating can be a great way for colleagues to get to know each other during a team day. Just like in traditional speed dating, the goal is for participants to rotate conversation partners every few minutes. You can do this by sitting at tables, as seen in movies, or if you prefer, you can even organize it standing up outdoors: arrange two circles, with the people in the inner circle facing outward and those in the outer circle facing inward. When it's time to switch partners, only one circle takes a step forward.
Team-building speed dating is a great way to help participants get to know each other on a superficial level, which lowers the threshold for chatting with new faces later in the day and when meeting at the office.
The goal of this team-building game is to find common ground within teams. Divide the participants into several groups of equal size, with a minimum of two groups. The teams are tasked with finding a pre-determined number of similarities among their members, and the team that finishes first wins.
These commonalities can be anything under the sun: from being from the same hometown to having the same favorite food, having visited the same travel destinations, using Netflix, or even agreeing that Titanic is an amazing movie. Afterward, it’s fun to present all the commonalities the groups found (and judge the answers at the same time). You can even award bonus points for particularly unique findings!
Tip: If you like, you can set a rule that excludes things related to clothing or appearance. This forces participants to genuinely think and talk to each other instead of just noticing that, for example, no one is wearing glasses.
This team-building activity works best in a space with enough room for all participants to stand in a line.
You will need either a physical or an imaginary line for this activity. The game leader calls out one preference-based choice at a time, for example: movies vs. books, board games vs. console games, cats vs. dogs, going out vs. a night in, tea vs. coffee. The ends of the line represent the extremes; for example, a person who only likes tea and not coffee stands at the end designated for tea. The participants' task is to arrange themselves in a line in the correct order so that everyone finds their place on the line according to their preferences.
Tip: You can add some fun to the game by including inside jokes that everyone knows. If the participants share funny workplace-related experiences that are familiar to everyone, it can be fun to use them in the game! For example, liking the food at a specific lunch restaurant, coffee machine coffee vs. hot chocolate, or which after-work spot or lunch place is better can be fun themes that give colleagues an extra boost of team spirit.
This retreat activity is another way to find like-minded colleagues. The game leader takes turns stating a pre-thought preference pair, much like in the Preference Line game. This time, however, participants must go around asking others to find people who agree with the statement: for example, that they all prefer coffee. In the next round, you start looking for people within this like-minded group who also agree with the next statement. The groups of like-minded people get smaller each time, and eventually, some might even end up in a one-person team, which is perfectly fine.
Tip: We recommend keeping the preference questions light and preferably trivial so that no unnecessary arguments arise over things like favorite political parties, and so that a team member left on their own doesn't feel excluded.
The classic teenage game "Never Have I Ever" works wonders for team building and company days when you need a lighthearted activity. This game works well anywhere and can be started during other activities, such as while in the sauna. You can add a drinking element if you wish, but it is by no means necessary for the game to be a success.
In the game, everyone takes turns stating something they have never done. The goal is to come up with statements where at least one other player has done that thing. If no one has done it, the player gets a minus point, but if someone else has, the player gets a plus point.
Tip: "I have" is the cousin of "Never Have I Ever," and it can often be even more fun and easier to play because players don't have to spend a long time thinking about what they have never done in their lives. Instead of negative statements, the game uses statements about things the player has done. If all players have done the thing, the player gets a minus point, but if even one other person hasn't done it, they get a plus point.