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[I101]Ice Breakers For Team Building

by Lily Morgan, Lil

When it comes to gathering a new team together, you will need to start slowly and allow team members to ease into the process. This may require the use of team building ice breakers to help everyone loosen up and relax. It can be overwhelming to start working with a group of people that you do not know. There are many different activities and exercises that can help your team ease into a team atmosphere and get on the right track to working together. Ice breakers should be fun and casual, inviting everyone to feel comfortable and invited to contribute.

Try using a social setting like a potluck lunch at work. Have everyone bring something to contribute and then incorporate games that are designed to help people get to know one another. There are all kinds of things that you can use for this, including a good old fashioned board game. Look up some additional ice breaker games if you are not sure of what to incorporate. There are endless tips and ideas to be found online. Make use of the resources that you have available to you in order to get your team feeling good about working together.

Try using games like “Two Truths and a Lie” in order to get everyone talking and sharing. Have everyone sit and each take turns telling everyone else two things that are true about themselves and one that is a lie. Then everyone else has to guess which fact is the lie. This can be a great way to get everyone laughing and laughter is one of the best ways to lighten the mood and make people feel at ease. When people can laugh together and joke around, they are already building a team mentality.

Another great game is to have them all share a few bits of information about themselves but then have others guess something about them that most would find surprising. By sharing little tidbits or something that is unexpected, it allows everyone to get personal but in a fun manner. Quite often these games take off on their own. Once everyone gets sharing and laughing, the mood will be noticeably different.

Sharing personal interests and things in common is always a great idea. From movies to sports teams or celebrities, everyone has a favorite something. Discuss why you like something and what makes it special to you. Then go around the team and have everybody else contribute. The beauty of sharing music or movie interests is that there is so much to talk about. There should be no reason for silence with so much to share.

If your team is substantial in size, it may be easier to split them into smaller groups. Have them do speed introductions where they sit in pairs and get to know each other for a set amount of time. When the time is up, have them move so they are now sitting with someone new. Ice breakers should be fun and have everyone feel involved. It is worth the time taken to ensure your team is on the path to success.

The first challenge you will encounter on any teambuilding exercise is personal introductions. Members of the teambuilding course need to become acquainted with each other and the course leader. These initial exercises are commonly called 'icebreakers' as they break down any barriers between team members.

The most popular icebreaker is for the team leader to arrange the team members in a circle and ask them one by one to stand up and tell the group a little about themselves. Each member of the team will stand in turn and give their name and some brief details about their work and/or hobbies by way of an introduction. If the members of the teambuilding course work for the same large company, often it is a good idea to ask them to describe the department they work in and their job role. In this way it allows other members of the team to position them in their mind. Sometimes the team members may already have relationships that they are not aware of - possibly they have spoken on the telephone, or have emailed each other in the past as part of their job function.

Another great icebreaking activity is to assign each member of the team a partner whom they have never met before. The pairs are given a short time (10 minutes is suggested) to get to know a little bit about each other. The icebreaking task is then for each team member to describe their partner to the group.

At icebreaking sessions it is also a good idea for the team leader to encourage laughter. Laughter and humor are great icebreakers. Possibly each member could be given a sheet of jokes and asked to stand and tell their favorite joke to the group, and then give the reasons why they chose that joke. As well as breaking the ice this is a clever way of learning a little about a person - the reasons they give for choosing the joke will give a little insight to their personality.

Remember when leading a teambuilding session the importance of icebreaking. This is the most important part of the course and sets the foundation for the work you will do over the coming hours or days. Setting your icebreaking session around breakfast or coffee can help as these are natural times of social interaction - watch as team members help each other with the simple task of making and pouring coffee.

Article Source : Women's All American Team

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Both Lily Morgan & Ian are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.

Lily Morgan has sinced written about articles on various topics from Family Concerns, Team Building and Family Concerns. Add to your miniature collection, or start a new one! Come see our large selection of and accessories. Visit us onlin. Lily Morgan's top article generates over 90500 views. to your Favourites.

Ian has sinced written about articles on various topics from Life Insurance, Auto Insurance and Food and Drink. For more by Ian Williamson please visit http://www.real-articles.com/Category/Business/206. Ian's top article generates over 74000 views. to your Favourites.