The Best Icebreakers for Work
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I recently saw a great Twitter thread on the best icebreakers for work — particularly to break into small groups on a virtual call — and I thought it would be a great discussion here. If you lead groups or manage new hires, do you employ icebreakers in any of your meetings or trainings? Have you ever been in a meeting where there was a memorable icebreaker, either great or awful?
The Best Icebreakers for Work
Some of the ones that came up in the Twitter thread included the following (my favorites from the list):
- Show off and explain your phone wallpaper.
- Tell us about a great sandwich you've had (the person who suggested noted that it led to a surprisingly wonderful conversation!)
- If you were invited as a guest on a podcast — unrelated to your profession — what would it be?
- What’s the scariest thing you’ve ever done for fun?
- What fictional universe would you most like to live in?
- You win the lotto, what first three things do you buy?
- When you were 5, what did you want to be when you grew up?
- Where is the most interesting/memorable place you have been in the shoes you are currently wearing?
- A former boss always liked to ask “What is a job you had that isn't on your resume?” You find out some really interesting things (said boss had taught Jazzercise to seniors!)
- If you were an action figure, what would your main accessory be?
- Which TV home would you live in and why?
- What skill do you bring to your team of survivors in the event of a zombie apocalypse?
- If you had to bring one dish to a potluck to tell people about yourself, what would it be?
- When your life story gets told, what medium should it be in?
- I ask everyone to share one good thing. It can be really small: Something they cooked that was great, got a stain out of a favorite shirt, planted their herbs for the summer, etc. When you do it every week, it turns into a really nice way to get to know people.
- What lingo/slang would you bring back if you could?
- What is your favorite way to eat potatoes?
- Would you rather be the best player on a losing team or the worst player on a winning team?
- What's your fave ice cream combination?
- Pick one fashion trend to disappear off the face of the earth and never make a comeback
- What place would you most like to travel to that you haven’t been? Or what’s your favorite place you’ve traveled to?
- In a box of assorted donuts, which one best describes you?
- If you were an action figure, what would your main accessory be?
- Tell us an unpopular opinion you have.
- Top karaoke song (and why)
- Last time you danced (and to what)
- What superpower would you like to have (flying, strength, invisibility, telekinesis, etc.)?
- What would you have on your concert rider?
- If you were going to die tomorrow, what would you eat this evening?
- What would you collect if money was no object?
- What's one thing you've done that would surprise your coworkers?
- What's your fight song?
- What's the craziest thing you saw in-person in the real world?
- What’s something you’ve dreamed of doing for a long time? Why haven’t you done it yet?
- What's your favorite condiment, and your least favorite condiment?
- If you go back to beginning of the panny, knowing what you know now, what one new personal skill would you develop?
- If you could have a “walk-up song” — your theme song that would play every time you entered anyplace — what would it be?
Some people described icebreakers that involved a lot of advance prep, such as asking people to provide the leader with a baby picture, and then everyone had to guess who was who at the meeting.
{related: how to steer conversation topics at work}
Another person noted that at one small meeting the leader literally brought out a block of ice and asked the team members to try to chip away at as much of it as possible. Other people suggested you have pictures of silly things that would cause disagreement, such as pictures of food that might be questionably a salad, soup, or sandwich, and ask people to make their case.
{related: how to become a leader: leadership resources for female executives}
For my $.02, I love the one about sandwiches — I think that would get a lot of amazing answers from travel experiences, childhood memories, and more — and would tell you a lot about the person answering, but without anything too too personal.
Some of my least favorite icebreakers are the ones that are a bit inane — what kind of powdered donut are you and why — or the ones that are just kind of boring, like showing a picture of a pet.
{related: party-appropriate conversation topics}
Readers, how about you? Which are your favorite icebreakers for work? What are your least favorite icebreakers for work?
(Readers have shared this list of icebreakers (via Museum Hack) in the past!)
Stock photo via Stencil.
Personally, I’m not a fan of “bring in a baby photo.” If you’re the only Black or Indian (for example) person on the team, or the only woman, it underscores that. People who come from dysfunctional families, were adopted, spent their childhood in foster care, etc. might not have baby pictures. Explaining that to your team can get awkward.
+1
Agreed the baby photo is inappropriate, however if asked, I’d just bring in a random baby photo or use AI to babify myself.
some good ones I’ve heard:
– What was the worst haircut you ever had?
– Which decade do you love the most and why?
– If you had to delete all but 3 apps from your smartphone, which ones would you keep?
I’d steer clear of the decade one. That’s just asking for someone older or younger than most of the group to feel alienated. I used to hate a lot of those things like “favorite music groups” or whatnot for this reason. It sucks when you’re the young ‘un in the room and have no idea what everyone else is vibing around.
I like things like:
What was your first job?
What would you choose for your last meal?
What is one of your favorite memories?
I’m celiac, so every sandwich pretty much sucks, and it feels awkward to have to tell my dietary restrictions (technically celiac is a disability) in an icebreaker.
yes, agreed, these are all terrible. I have a corporate job–we used to have to do things like this all the time, but there are so many potential minefields currently (as mentioned above–do you want someone to have to disclose a fact like celiac that makes them different from potentially everyone else in the room?), we are starting to do these icebreakers less and less. And thank goodness. As an example, if someone grew up without an opportunity to take many vacations, and currently still doesn’t do that, do you want to put them in a position where they have to share with the group that they don’t/haven’t gone anywhere interesting? Extroverts whose lives have taken traditional paths love these things, but for others, it is a terrible start to a meeting and in fact has the opposite effect–instead of bringing people together, it only makes those who are different acutely aware of their differences from the get-to. Also, does anyone really refer to the pandemic as the panny?
THIS!! Louder for the people in the back!!
“it is a terrible start to a meeting and in fact has the opposite effect–instead of bringing people together, it only makes those who are different acutely aware of their differences from the get-to.”
I completely agree.
Maybe something more general like “whats a memorable meal you’ve had.” lots of ways something could be memorable.
I was at a conference recently and a moderator started out by asking these kinds of questions of three high-ranking officials of a government agency. (The two I remember were “what is your favorite thing to cook?” and “what is your least favorite household chore?”) They were surprisingly well received.
Can we not refer to the pandemic as the “panny”? Yes, I know this is meant to be light. Some of us had people who died (a lot of us frankly–although no one wants to talk about it) and it feels extremely gross when you see it used like this.
Its from Black Twitter. I wouldn’t use it outside of that cultural context.
– When you were little, what did you want to “be” when you grew up?
– What are you most excited about with [season] approaching?
– What is your favorite holiday? (A great, low-pressure way to learn about what folks celebrate)
– What’s your favorite dessert?
no. I don’t celebrate Christmas and my favorite holiday is Passover but saying that is not low-pressure at all, trust me
+1 it’s interesting to me that this is seen as less culturally isolating than baby photos (although I fully agree with the comment about not doing baby photos). There are plenty of ways the world is Christian-centric, we don’t need to inject holiday discussion into additional things.
I do like favorite dessert tho
could be fruit
could be something your mama made
could be a great trendy sweet thing at the hot new store with the line down the block
could be childhood or wedding day
a good discussion
I started a new job at a company with a very formalized onboarding process and a lot of breakout rooms and it was about 4 days of “tell us your name and a fun fact”
I got so so bored of my fun facts
I wasn’t sure if “I’m not fun” was a good fact. not in a grumpy way just in a bored way
We use ice breakers all the time in Junior League. I’ve found over the years that you will probably upset at least one person no matter how innocuous the topic seems. Mostly we do “how many years in the league” and “what committees have you been on” nowadays.