[Mid-week slump] What's the best icebreaker you've heard that helped teammates feel more connected?

[Christine P. Dela Rosa]

Icebreakers can set a more casual tone, but sometimes, they also help teams feel more connected to each other because they reveal something personal, help teammates understand each other, etc.

Any questions you've used yourself or have heard other teams use counts! 

[Erica Moss · Accepted solution]

Speaker and author Denise Jacobs shared one that I plan to use a lot moving forward: What are three things you're really good at? The answers are always eye opening, and you learn what people are passionate about.

[Christine P. Dela Rosa]

Ooh. It's probably a mix, but which do you think are more eye-opening: when people share talent show-like talents (like juggling), skills unrelated to work (like plant caring), or work-related talents (like creating structure)?

[Hakeem Olasupo]

I feel sharing skills unrelated to work are more eye opening because it lets each team member are passionate about.

[Anita Kalmane · Accepted solution]

One of my fav is playing Jackbox games together

[Christine P. Dela Rosa]

Same! One of my Jackbox favs is "Quiplash."

[Tamanna Godara · Accepted solution]

We have a Trello board where we express "how are we feeling this week/today" through a gif and that is our ice-breaker and the best part of the meeting. 

[Christine P. Dela Rosa]

Love it. I'd secretly use that board to source gifs for texting friends hahah.

[Curt Holley · Accepted solution]

For team bonding it is hard to beat some good old socialising (over food, coffee, at the pub etc). Harder these days.

But we did some great "social" events over Teams/Zoom during lockdown.

Silly stuff like:

• Baking competition (best looking cake) + live eating by creator
• Cocktail competition  (Most orderable based on description) + live consumption b creator
• Dress your pet or inanimate object up in the best costume

But it is amazing what not talking about work together can do for...talking about work together later.

[Christine P. Dela Rosa]

"Dress your...inanimate object up in the best costume" is hilarious. As a child-less and pet-less teammate, this is a gamechanger!

[Jenn Velázquez · Accepted solution]

At Jexo we have game sessions once a month and one free app that has helped break the ice is "Dive", it has different games, including ones with a question and answers and others like "Say two lies and one truth about yourself and your teammates have to guess which is one is the truth", it works to break the ice and can spark some funny conversation when people are trying to guess.

You even have an "ice-breaking session" that gives you cards with questions to ask others or a "watch session" to watch videos together, so playing some viral videos of the week and waiting for reactions could also be a good idea!

[Christine P. Dela Rosa]

I like two lies and one truth because it a) shares info but b) sparks convo that makes you learn even more about each person! 

I can't believe I forgot that one. Great reminder!

[Jenny Kim · Accepted solution]

What's your dream job in another industry?

[Curt Holley]

I like that. 👍

Record Producer........for the record ⏺

[Christine P. Dela Rosa]

Documentary producer, in case y'all want to throw me a new career starter ;)

[Dave Rosenlund _Trundl_ · Accepted solution]

This is not an icebreaker really, sorry... But it's in the right spirit and I still want to share...

My team adds their written standup notes to our team Slack channel prior to our daily standup meeting. We do this so it's easier to publish our combined standup notes for our extra-team stakeholders after the meeting.  

But this also means that I, as scrum master, can randomly choose one day each week for "Watercooler <Day>." 

We permit each person to briefly call attention to something in their standup notes if it's absolutely necessary (usually, no one has anything that's that pressing) and then we spend the next 10-20 minutes talking about random, non-work topics. The game last night; what I did (will do) last (this) weekend; my summer vacation; my Halloween costume; my new car; etc.

Anyone can suggest any topic they like as long as it's not work-related.  It's become a fun part of our scrum ritual and it has def. helped the team get to know one another better.

[Christine P. Dela Rosa]

I like that this practice brings people together to talk about non-work-specific topics without making the meeting be intended for that reason. Better for attendance ;)

[Christine P. Dela Rosa · Accepted solution]

If this team was a salad bowl, which part do you wish you could be and why?

[Curt Holley]

The Coconut. Hairy and thick skinned, but sweet inside. 😇

[Fadoua]

The (oops sorry @Christine P. Dela Rosa I meant the dressing because I will add a taste to everyone's salad 😊