A break in the middle of the work day to play a find your pair icebreaker game? Yes, you heard me correctly. Now, playing a game in the middle of the day may sound unimportant or even counterproductive to a workday. This, however, couldn’t be further from the truth!
We are talking about something more important than just playing games.
A Gallup Poll showed nearly 70% of U.S. employees aren’t engaged at work, a statistic that has not budged much in a decade.
Make it a habit to evaluate morale in your workplace; if it’s suffering, a break for fun can lift spirits and boost success. Give your team a chance to enjoy themselves; it’ll undoubtedly create a friendlier, happier, and all-around healthier environment for everyone. You’d be surprised by how challenging it can be to keep fun a priority. In this case, practice makes perfect.
The largest strides are not needed for this to work, either. Just having small breaks or activities can work wonders and create a proud team dedicated to improving workplace culture.
Salt and Pepper Icebreaker
This quick icebreaker activity is fun and excellent for energizing your team and letting them get to know each other. It doesn’t take up a lot of time and requires only a few simple materials like a pen, tape, and small sheets of paper. The recommended group size can range from 6-40 people.
What You’ll Need for the Salt and Pepper Icebreaker Game:
- A sheet of paper for every person.
- A manager or other designated activity leader to come up with pairs of things such as salt and pepper, yin and yang, shadow and light, peanut butter and jelly, Mickey and Minnie Mouse, male and female, and so forth.
- Separate the pairs and write only one half of each pair per piece of paper. (Salt on one paper, pepper on a completely different paper).
How to Play the Salt and Pepper Icebreaker Game:
- Tape one piece of paper on the back of each person, making sure they can’t see it.
- When you say go, everyone must walk around asking yes or no questions in order to find out what word they have taped to their backs.
- Once they figure that out, they’ll be able to find the person who is their match in their pair. The two will sit down and learn three to five interesting facts about one another.
- Optional step: have the pairs introduce their partners and the interesting facts they learned about them to the whole group.
This exercise will encourage communication and creativity among the participants. Learning how to ask the right questions will be a challenge. It will also encourage teamwork as interacting with the other team members is necessary throughout the game.
Source: http://www.refreshleadership.com/index.php/2012/08/quick-games-engage-employees-work
