Either way, it’s important to keep games and icebreakers easy to understand and able to be completed within five minutes so that the team can get to the business agenda of the meeting. While prompting people with questions is effective for team building, researchers have found that social games are better than social icebreakers when it comes to building trust. “(Even if it’s) just the opportunity for everybody to go around and introduce themselves with a favorite question like favorite food, favorite holiday place (or) favorite smells.” “That’s very important because research shows that if a person has spoken once during the meeting that they are more likely to speak again,” Sutherland said on her company’s podcast. Giving everyone a chance to speak is crucial for a successful meeting, according to Lisette Sutherland, the director of Collaboration Superpowers, a company that facilitates remote workshops. encourages people to talk about themselves.sets the tone for what to expect from a meeting and.
In an interview with The Cut, psychologist and management consultant Anton Villado said a well-done icebreaker or team-building game. Effective team building means more engaged employees, which is good for company culture and boosting the bottom line.” Why Playing Games Works for Employees “It builds trust, mitigates conflict, encourages communication and increases collaboration. “Despite its reputation for being, well, lame, team building is the most important investment you can make for your people,” wrote O2E Brands CEO Brian Scudamore in Forbes Magazine. To some, these activities might seem hokey or like a frivolous way to spend time, but they can provide a huge return on investment. Especially for remote teams, team-building games and icebreakers help make up for a loss of three major benefits from teamwork: community, interaction and empathy.
These days, engaged employees are harder to come by ( only 36% according to a Gallup poll) and more teams are becoming physically dispersed because of a preference for remote work ( 81% of employees enjoy remote work and 82% of company leaders would allow remote work at least some of the time). Because games are lower stakes than actual work and everyone is on a level playing field, participants can avoid anxiety responses to social situations and instead become freely engaged as contributors and collaborators on their team. Games help flatten organizational hierarchy, encouraging input from all team members and rewarding vulnerability. Why Playing Games Works for Organizations