Working in a hybrid or remote environment can open up a lot of flexibility for both employee and employer, but it can also create a unique set of problems that companies need to work around. When new employees join the team, there isn’t an in person element to help them feel like part of the team and help them break the ice with their new coworkers. That’s where virtual ice breakers come in handy. Virtual ice breakers are games you can play with your team to help them get to know each other and get used to working together to solve problems, finish a project, or answer a prompt. These are extremely helpful and fun activities that can be folded into the activities of any virtual meeting between team members. There are all kinds of ice breaker games employees can play, so get started with these six ideas!
Collaborative Questions
Collaborative questions are a great way to get people talking to one another and solving problems together. These games require putting people into small groups to discuss and answer the question together, much like a round of trivia at your local bar. But save the drinks for happy hour after work, this activity requires people to think critically and get to know the way that others at the company solve problems. It will also shed some light on peoples unique personalities and spark long lasting collaborations between employees.
Group Projects
Project based icebreakers are a great hands on way to introduce coworkers to one another. This could come in the form of an art project, writing project, or really anything that multiple people can participate in for the shared goal of creating something together. These are great because they allow for more creativity to flow between the people involved and are less stringent than solving a communal problem. Projects can bring people together over shared aesthetic ideas, humor, and taste!
Story Sharing
Sometimes we may not have time for a big group project or activity, which is totally ok. There are easy and simple ways to fold icebreakers into your weekly meetings. In the event that you have new team members, consider having them share a particular kind of story from their life. This could be an embarrassing story, an exciting one, or a favorite memory. Story sharing is one of the biggest ways that people get to know each and empathize with each other over shared experiences or feelings. And it will ultimately make everyone a little more comfortable with one another after some light vulnerability is shared amongst the group.
Location Sharing
One of the unique things about remote and hybrid work environments is that everyone is piping in from different locations throughout the country and even the world. Having new members share where they are currently living is a fun way to be communal through the quirks of different cities and areas in the world. Hybrid work environments create a unique opportunity to connect a variety of different backgrounds and experiences just by virtue of living in completely different parts of the world.
Virtual Coffee Meetings
Another commonly used ice breaking tool is to set up virtual coffee chats between new employees and existing ones. This is one way that virtual workplaces will try to mimic the common habits of in person workplaces. This is something that might happen naturally just by visiting the break room at the same time, but when we work in a virtual setting, we have to create those moments manually by scheduling these meetings between new and lasting employees. This is a great way for new team members to get to know the company and team on a deeper level.
Mad Libs
To bring it back to group activities, who doesn’t love mad libs? Mad libs are essentially an exercise where a person or group of people fill out blank adjectives, nouns, and verbs in a sentence or story. This usually results in laughs and hilarity for all involved. Again, humor is one of the best ways teams can relate to one another and mad libs are a great way for everyone to have fun and feel more comfortable on the team.
Conclusion
Ice breakers are an essential tool to have on hand for remote and hybrid workplaces. When working remotely, employees have greater freedom to live where they want to live and achieve a more sustainable balance between work and life. However, they do lose some of the advantages of being in an office like meeting their coworkers in person and getting a sense of both individual personalities and the personality of the office environment. Consider setting your office up with some virtual games you can present to new employees so they can get to know the people they’ll be working with!
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