When all or part of your staff works remotely, building the team spirit needed on most projects can be harder. Virtual meeting icebreakers can help develop the bonds among people that naturally develop when people interact in person. They can be conducted with a degree of levity and informality not always appropriate for the workplace.
When remote teams are new or get new members, employers might look to virtual icebreakers to coalesce diverse members into a functioning team.
Whether in a Zoom meeting or using some other platform, a remote meeting can leave people feeling detached from the conversation. Starting things off with an activity that either works as a method to help people get to know one another or an exercise in teamwork are ideal ways to kick off a virtual meeting.
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Why Are Icebreakers Useful In Building A Team?
Icebreaker activities are fun activities to help a group of people get to know one another. Particularly effective in smaller groups, a great icebreaker will get people talking and engaged right from the first few moments of a meeting.
- Build Collaboration: Team members often need to figure out how to work together, even in a remote environment. Icebreakers are an excellent way to begin the process of team bonding.
- Conversation Starter: Especially important when the remote team members do not know one another; an icebreaker can get people talking and start the process of getting to know one another.
- Empathy: Knowledge about one another’s lives help to build empathy.
- Encourage Interaction: Large groups can make people hesitant to add to the conversation. An artfully planned icebreaker can facilitate this process.
Do You Really Need Icebreakers?
While icebreakers are not necessary, there are many benefits to implementing them. Icebreakers can serve as team-building activities, practice in virtual brainstorming sessions, and a quick “get to know you” exercise.
Do they work in all settings? Sure, they might work in getting people to talk; however, one could argue they are only sometimes beneficial or worth spending time on. For example, if the digital work group always works in isolation and never needs to come together to complete their virtual work, having an icebreaker might be a waste of participants’ time.
Why Are They Especially Useful For Virtual Meetings?
Online meetings can often use warm-up activities to help the attendees get to know one another. Remote work can be very isolating, and being given an opportunity to be lighthearted and also to socialize with peers often go a long way toward building a team atmosphere and improving morale.
Ensuring a positive company culture can also be a struggle in the virtual environment. Throwing in some fun virtual icebreakers can help improve things! However, not everyone enjoys playing and participating, no matter what you think about the fun game you have planned.
Icebreaker Games
- Guess Who, Co-worker Edition: The meeting facilitator should ask questions ahead of time to create a Guess Who game where team members can try to match the team member with the response.
- Two Truths and a Lie: In this game, each team member tells two factual statements and just one lie. Team members have to try to guess which one is the lie.
- Diversity Bingo: Have people fill out a Bingo card with characteristics they will search for among the meeting goers. Put things like “likes to swim,” “played basketball in high school,” or “has visited a foreign country,” and then mingle!
- Unique and Shared: List ten things you like to do. Then have people go to breakout rooms to see how many shared items are on the lists.
- Charades: Divide the team into smaller groups and use a charades idea generator program to create topics for the teams to pantomime.
- Virtual Scavenger Hunt: Send out a list of items for your remote employees to locate within their homes. Set a time limit and wait to see what they can come up with.
- Match the Meme: Have each team member choose a meme to represent them before the next meeting. When you gather again, play “match the meme” and award a prize to the winner.
What Is An Icebreaker Question?
Whether you are meeting in person or virtually, a fun way to break the ice is to ask quirky questions that get a conversation rolling. Icebreaker questions are simply questions that are asked to see how people answer. Sometimes there is a discussion that follows or explanations given. Other times that is not important. People simply share and then move on.
What Is A Fun Icebreaker Question For Work Meetings?
Some examples include:
- What is your favorite food?
- If you could have one superpower, what would it be and why?
- What are three of your bucket list items?
- What emoji do you use the most frequently and why?
- Would you rather skydive or swim with sharks? (any two options)
- What was your favorite Halloween costume?
- What’s your guilty pleasure?
- What three items would you want if you were on a desert island and why? If you could bring two people with you (real or characters), who would they be?
- What is your all-time favorite movie?
- What is your favorite karaoke song?
- If we made a playlist to describe this work project and team, what song would you add to it?
What Icebreakers Work For A Zoom Happy Hour?
Most virtual icebreaker activities that you could use for a meeting would also work for a Zoom happy hour. The important thing is to consider who you are bringing to the video call and how many individuals you are hosting, as some games work better for small groups.
Trivia questions are excellent for Zoom happy hours because you can choose various topics for the trivia. There also might be a commonality that you can draw from for inspiration. For example, if your group has many members who all love the TV show Friends, find Friends trivia for the group. Likewise, you could do wine trivia for a Zoom party of wine lovers.
With happy hour remote meetings, you don’t have to be as careful about what you play because your goal is recreation, not team building. Sometimes the goal is to bring together a group of friends who do not know one another in real life, and if that is the case, focus on some “getting to know you” type games to start.
What Is The Best Icebreaker For A Virtual Meeting?
Choosing the best virtual icebreaker game depends on the group you are getting together as well as your objective. If it is a new team gathering for the first time, you may focus on getting to know who is on your team. This could make a game like Unique and Shared or Diversity Bingo the favored choice.
When the team has worked together in some capacity, your motives might be different. Are you looking for virtual team-building activities? Having them work together to solve a virtual puzzle or compete in a virtual scavenger hunt might be a better choice.
Whatever icebreaker idea you choose, just have a backup plan in case your team does not seem engaged. The last thing you want is to push through an idea that is not promoting positivity or engagement.
