Fun, social Icebreakers for remote teams

The rise of remote work has led to an explosion of apps that help teams have fun together. And choosing the right one can get confusing! So we prepared a quick guide to help you choose the right Icebreaker tool.

A good Icebreaker tool helps everyone participate

You know the worst part about playing fun games on Zoom? Not everyone participates. Some of them switch off their camera. And the introverts completely switch off. You are left with the same extroverted people who usually participate anyways in every team activity. Text based Icebreaker tools means that your team activity can now be inclusive! 

A modern Icebreaker tool should fit into your workflow

Everyone hates signing up for new apps and then learning how they work. The ideal Icebreaker tool for your team will integrate into all your existing processes e.g. Slack, Jira or Whatsapp. Icebreakers work well if they are conducted in a space which your team is already familiar with. 

It should be chat based vs video 

We don’t need more Zoom meetings, do we? As a remote team (or even a globally distributed team with multiple offices) it is important to have an asynchronous culture. Which means that Icebreaker games that force participants to come together on a video don’t work very well. You have to schedule the meeting in a time zone that works for all participants, and scheduling can be a big hassle! 

Playing chat based Icebreakers means that every team member can answer Icebreaker questions at their own pace. 

It should have an exhaustive questions library  

This is probably one of the most important factors in ensuring that your team doesn’t get bored of the tool! A minimum of 200 Icebreaker questions is a good place to start, which ensures that you can have a year round supply of fun conversations without getting repetitive. 

‍It should be simple to setup and use 

You don’t want your team members to get bored & frustrated with the Icebreaker tool even before they start using it. The installation should be really easy, and once setup the tool should ideally run on autopilot every week. 

It should be customisable 

While a pre built library of Icebreakers questions is good, it’s also important to have the ability to add your own! The most engaging questions are usually very personal to the team (think inside jokes!), and also contextual to the times! In 2020, our tool saw the most engagement on questions around Covid-19 and lockdowns.

A good Icebreaker tool works across timezones

There is a big chance that your team is already working remotely, or will be soon! Scheduling meetings can get difficult (and frankly who needs another forced Zoom call?) and hence making it asynchronous is a better approach. In that case too, remember that the tool should send checkin notifications to the team members in their local timezones. This is a great way to be less intrusive and not disturb normal work.

A few ideas for Icebreakers during meetings

We already have an exhaustive list of Icebreaker questions you can ask to break the ice during a meeting, but sometimes you need more than that! Here are some fun games that you can play together:

• Take a team selfie together :)
• Draw your art together on a slide! Maybe ask everyone to show your mood
• Zoom background challenges can be great fun too! You can have various themes e.g. your favourite emoji, your dream vacation spot etc