In this post, we’ll share a collection of tried and tested ice breaker games you can use to engage and energize groups of any size. Whether you just want to have fun, encourage team building or level-up your meetings, there’s an activity here for you.

An in-depth study from TINYpulse, an employee engagement company, studied more than 40,000 workers’ inputs from more than 300 companies globally. They found a correlation of 0.92 between employee fulfilment and their relationships with colleagues. Since you can end up spending more time with coworkers than with your family or partner, it is a topic that deserves much attention.

But how can you break the ice without also frustrating your team or making them roll their eyes? Using facilitator-tested and proven methods like those below are a surefire way to open your meetings more effectively and engage your team.

You’ll find classic conversation starters like Two truths and One Lie, fun games like The Marshmallow Challenge or even a Virtual Scavenger Hunt! You’ll find our collection of of the best ice breaker games for work separated by category and find some useful tips for running them in your workshop or meeting too!

Ice breaker games to get to know each other

Whenever you bring a group of people together for a meeting, project, or event, it’s helpful to get to know each other at the outset. This can help establish trust and set the stage for further connection and collaborative work.

They can also help the facilitator or leader of the session to get familiar with everyone, get a read on the energy in the room and discover what may need to be adjusted in their workshop agenda.

​Two Truths and One Lie

Two Truths and One Lie is a classic ice breaker game that can still be effective in the hands of a skilled facilitator.

The best way to start is with a demonstration from the person leading the session. The facilitator will share three statements about themselves: two of which are true, and one which is a lie. Next, participants try to guess which is the lie by asking questions and then finally voting on which statement is false.

After the demo, we recommend breaking people into small groups of 3-4 people to play this icebreaker. This allows everyone to have a voice and to actually form connections, rather than simply shouting over one another or falling into a passive role.

Diversity Bingo

Diversity Bingo is a great icebreaker that helps participants to learn about one another and share what differentiates them as people along the way.

First, create a 3×3 bingo card containing a grid of squares with a statement or question in each square. Example statements include: speaks more than one language, has lived in multiple countries or has ran a marathon. Once every player has received a bingo card, they mingle and find other participants who can say yes to one of these statements.

For best results, include statements that likely to resonate with your team or the workshop topic alongside personal statements. When everyone has reached bingo or you’re almost out of time, ask everyone to can share something they’ve learned and which squares were easy or hard to fill.

Unique and Shared

Unique and Shared is a powerful icebreaker to use with breakout groups, especially at the start of a longer project or training program. Start by creating groups of 4-5 people, and ask them to discover what they have in common, along with interesting characteristics that are unique to each person in the group.

The Unique and Shared icebreaker promotes unity as it helps people to realize that they have more common ground with their peers than expected and celebrate those things as a group. It also creates space for folks to share unique qualities in a safe container. This activity also works great with remote teams in breakout rooms – in such cases, have each group report back to help bring the whole team back into coherence.

​Jenga questions

Jenga Questions is a fresh spin on a classic game that can help spark meaningful conversations and encourage a little friendly competition. Start by collecting a set of numbered questions and adding a number or sticker to the blocks in a Jenga set.

When a participant selects a block, they read the question out loud & answer before placing the piece on the top of the tower. This can ignite exciting conversations about everyday topics like favorite downtime activities to more in-depth stuff, like career and self-development goals.

Traditional games with a unique spin can often generate curiosity and engagement in a groups setting. Jenga Questions can also be adapted to training and team building environments with ease, so its useful to have a set in your toolkit.

Quotes

Quotes is a fast-paced icebreaker activity allows participants to get acquainted with while exploring something inspiring.

Prepare a set of inspirational quotes prior to the session equal to the number of participants on individual slips of paper. Put the pile in the center of the room. Each participant picks up one quote, then picks a partner and begins to discuss what the quote says to them, if it is meaningful, and how.

After just minute or so, give a signal for participants to switch partner and continue their discussions. This can continue for 4-5 rounds for around 15 minutes. Choose quotes that relate to your meeting topic or company culture for an icebreaker that sets the stage for the session ahead.

Speed Dating Icebreaker

The goal of the Speed Dating icebreaker is to have a succession of very rapid conversations in an extremely short amount of time with as many people as possible.

Have people sit in pairs, ideally with colleagues that they don’t directly work with on a day-to-day basis. Determine the time limit (say 3 minutes for each conversation) and set a timer. When it starts, each pair has to start speed networking & find out as much professional information about the other as possible.

While it’s natural for group members to want to spend time with people they know, encouraging your team to mix is an important step to improving team cohesion.

Break the ice with the help of your key

Break the ice with the help of your key is an icebreaker that aims to create memorable moments and group connection with the aid of a physical object.

Start by explaining to the group that they will get to know each other through their keys. One by one, each person will present all the keys they have on their keychain and tell a few sentences about the area the key represents. This might include the city or neighbourhood they live in, the activity it represents (bike or locker key) or the person they received it from.

Be sure to start the circle yourself so the participants get the feeling of how it should be done. Bonus points if you can demonstrate openness and vulnerability for your group to follow!

Whose story is it?

Start the Whose Ssory is it ice breaker game by writing your funniest or weirdest story on a small piece of paper. It has to be a true one, no fiction! Then fold the paper up and drop it into a bowl or other container.

The facilitator or the person leading the program randomly reads every story and group members guess who the writer is. This is a great way to get to know each other and find out new things, even if you’ve worked together for a long time.

​Find your pair

Prepare word pairs, like salt and pepper, milk and honey, sail and wind, etc on separate pieces of paper. Tape one to each person’s back. People then have to walk around and ask closed questions (with a yes or no answer) to find out what their phrase is. Once they find out, they have to find their pair & by continuing to ask questions (these can be open or closed) they have to learn 3 new things about the other.

​Show and tell

Group icebreakers are important, even in teams that know each other well. For more established groups, where people are more familiar with each other, it’s always good to dedicate a day, or an afternoon for “show and tell”. Each team member gets the chance (not all at once of course) to showcase something – an object or a topic that they are interested in.

Try making this activity part of a group routine at the start of every team meeting for bonus points. Creating this habit gives less exhibitionist characters a chance to share and it is also a great practice to hone presentation skills and handle the attention & tricky questions.

Quick ice breaker games

When you have a tightly packed agenda, it’s useful to have some quick icebreakers you can use to warm up the group in a pinch. These activities are simple to explain, fast to run, and work great in large or small groups. They also can double as after-lunch energizers to encourage team members to engage in what’s next!

Here are some of our favorite games you can use to break the ice in a group in ten minutes or less! Prefer something that requires even less set-up? Check out our collection of icebreaker questions for a set of effective conversation starters.

One Word at a Time

One Word at a Time (or the One Word Method) is one of my favorite icebreakers – it’s simple, effective and can easily be tailored to any group. In this activity, groups must work together to create a sentence by contributing one word each while going round the circle. Start by giving a general topic or a guiding word to continue the sentence in a way that makes sense and is likely to result in a complete sentence.

For example, if you are running a training session on how to manage time, you might begin with the word “time” or “clocks.” The sentence that emerges will respond to that prompt and will help the group begin to turn their minds to the session at hand.

I’ve found this to be a fun and energizing icebreaker that works well with students and coworkers alike. Try speeding up or challenging the group to tell a story for added fun!

Apple, Orange and Banana!

Apple, Orange and Bannana is a great game that encourages the group to get synchronized and fully arrive in a space. It’s a favourite icebreaker to use when kicking off an after-lunch meeting where participants need a jolt of physical energy.

Start the Apple, Orange and Banana icebreaker by asking your group to stand in a circle with their hands on the shoulders of the person in front. Explain that when you shout either apple, orange or banana they must perform the associated action: moving forward, backward or spinning around. When the group is comfortable, mix it up by saying two or even three words in sequence!

Diversity Welcome

The Diversity Welcome icebreaker is a great way to create and kick off a session while promoting diversity and creating an inclusive environment for your participants. Start by naming a possible trait of someone who may be present and saying they are welcome. For example, “If you love dogs, you are welcome here! If you prefer cats, you are welcome here!”

Slowly move into deeper territory by naming traits and concepts that resonate with your audience. With established groups, invite participants to share their own welcome, focusing on helping everyone in the room feel safe and welcome.

Stress Balls

Stress Balls is a fast-paced icebreaker that helps highlight the importance of communication and teamwork while also encouraging lots of fun.

Begin this icebreaker by simply asking participants to stand in a circle and pass a ball to their left. Debrief and ask how the task went before asking participants to try again while moving the ball faster. Introduce further complexity until the game becomes a mess! While the result of Stress Balls is chaotic fun, it also offers a very teachable lesson about how teams can communicate in order to achieve great results.

Object Meditation

Object Meditation is a calming and mindful way to open a meeting and encourage everyone to be present.

First, have everyone choose an object that is close to them and invite them to close their eyes. Next, ask the group to notice how they feel and to consider any feelings that aren’t serving them right now. Invite them to transfer these feelings into the object they are holding for the duration of the meeting and then come back to the room.

Combined with a quick debrief, Object Meditation is a great way to gently break the ice with your group. Check out the full method below for a script you can follow too!

Name Game

Name Game is an effective icebreaker to use at the start of a course, workshop or meeting where people don’t know each other’s names.

Start the Name Game by having the group sit in a circle where they can see everyone else clearly. Pick someone at random to say their name out loud.. The next person continues, but after saying their own name, they repeat the first person’s name. This continues with each person repeating one more name. Reassure people towards the end that it’s ok if they get stuck & encourage the others to jump in to help if anyone is lost.

​Have you ever? (Stand up if)

Have you ever? (also known as Stand up if) is an effective icebreaker to help the group start to see connections and share something about themselves in a low-pressure way.

Start by asking a “Have you ever…?” question to the group. For example, “Have you ever gone horse riding?” or “Have you ever facilitated a workshop?” Participants will stand up if they can answer yes to the statement. You can then choose to either ask another prepared question as facilitator or invite one of those people who answered yes to come up with another question.

We recommend encouraging movement where possible, even in an online setting, though note that with some groups and environment you may wish them to answer without standing. A simple wave or affirmative “Whoop!” can also work depending on your team!

Line Up

Line-Up is a quick ice breaker game where players have to form an orderly line without any discussion or verbal cues. Start by asking people to form a line based upon a predetermined criteria (like height, length of company tenure or color of each person’s eyes etc.). and ask the group to get themselves in order without speaking.

With a more familiar group, try adding more complication to the Line Up activity to encourage your team to think more deeply. For example, line up according to the distance to where you born. The Line Up icebreaker is an effective way to develop team collaboration and non-verbal communication. I especially enjoy using it when kicking of a training session with lots of talking later!

Icebreakers for meetings

Using an ice breaker at the start of a meeting is a great way to encourage group members to be present and get things started on the right foot. Effective opening activities energize the group, helping them ‘arrive’ mentally and leave behind whatever task or thought they were previously working on.

They can also help clarify the objectives of the meeting and position the group for what’s coming next. While many of the ice breakers in this collection work well for work gatherings, we’ve found these ones especially effective for this purpose.

What are you bringing to the meeting?

What are you bringing to the meeting is a simple framing icebreaker that can work wonders to help participants mentally arrive in a session and share how they’re feeling at the outset.

In this mindful ice breaker, ask people to take a few moments to “check-in” with themselves and write down their worries, energy levels, and whatever else is on their mind on a piece of paper. After everyone is done, ask them to put these worries and feelings to one side for the duration of the meeting. This process will help everyone articulate their feelings, let go of their worries and have better focus in the session.

Weather Check-in

For some meetings, time can be short. Quick but fun icebreaker activities like this one can be an effective way of getting a read of how everyone is doing while still being time efficient.

Begin this ice breaker by asking each member of the group to share how they are feeling & what’s going on for them right now in the language of weather. For example, I’m feeling like it’s mostly sunny skies with a bit of a rain cloud looming or I feel like I’m in the eye of a tornado! I’ve found this game especially useful when working with remote teams, for whom a metaphor can feel like a safe way to share in a group setting.

5-4-3-2-1 Grounding Technique

The 5-4-3-2-1 Grounding Technique is a mindful icebreaker that can allow groups to be more present in the session and leave stress behind.

To practice this technique, the facilitator starts by explaining the process of doing a roll call of everything that you’re seeing, touching, smelling, and hearing right at this moment. By asking participants to engage all their senses and take a breath, you can help bring them back to the present moment and rule over anxiety and stress.

Using the 5-4-3-2-1 Grounding Technique as an icebreaker presents an opportunity to center, but also to discuss well being and stress with your team in a simple and effective manner.

LEGO Metaphors

LEGO Metaphors is a playful icebreaker that can provide an opportunity for creative thinking and deep sharing in a group. Start by giving each participant a set of LEGO bricks (identical sets to everyone – a few items, around 5-10 bricks per person will suffice). Everyone builds something that relates to the topic of the meeting or to a framing question such as “How would you like to work together today?”

Afterwards, everyone gets 30 seconds to explain what their LEGO metaphor means and how it relates to the framing question. Where possible, encourage folks to tell small stories with their designs and collect the LEGO metaphors together for later discussion or reflection.

Rain icebreaker

The Rain icebreaker is a simple, zero-prep way to ehlp everyone to be present and engaged at the start of your meeting. By getting everyone in the room participating in the same goal, this icebreaker can quickly help everyone “arrive” in the session.

Start the Rain icebreaker by having everyone in the front of the room rub their hands together vigorously. Row by row, get more people to join in until you reach the back of the room. Next, have the first row switch to clicking their fingers and proceed through the room in the same way. Go back and forth between clicking and rubbing in order to replicate the sound of rain and then invite the group to stop and enjoy a break in the shower.

Conversation Questions

This collection of 25 conversation questions is a great starting point for helping a group get to know each other or open a meeting dynamically.

Small groups might wish to mingle and ask these conversation questions one on one, while you might invite larger groups to answer questions by raising their hand to answer. The great thing about these questions is that you can tailor them to your group and use as many as you have time for. Even adding a single question for folks to answer in chat at the start of a virtual meeting can have a profound effect on team cohesion over time.

See more in these full blog post of over 200 icebreaker questions.

Celebrate the wins in your team

Celebrate the wins in your team is a fast, easy icebreaker that will have everyone feeling good at the start of a meeting. Start by asking participants to think of a recent achievement, personal or professional, big or small. Then, go around a circle and ask each person to highlight the achievement that they’d like to celebrate with the team.

Ask everyone to share in the celebration, either with applause, kudos or chat emojis and then move onto the next person in the group. Celebrating wins as a team is a great mood boosting icebreaker. By lifting each other up, the energy in the room tends to build and people in the group tend to feel seen and values as a result.

Ice breaker games to support team building

ce breaker games are not only useful at the beginning of meetings or getting to know new people. They are also a great way to support team building, by creating a positive atmosphere, helping people relax and break down barriers.

Team building icebreakers can also reveal new information about colleagues that otherwise you wouldn’t discover during your everyday routine. Remember that successful teams are often those who’ve gotten to know each other better on a personal level too!

Team icebreakers such as those below are great for enhancing team bonding and empowering everyone in the group to move forward together. Let’s take a look!

See more in this post on the best team building activities.

Coat of Arms

This Coat of Arms icebreaker is a great way for players to introduce themselves to others and share deeply with others in a visual and creative way.

Start by letting participants know they’ll be creating a personal coat of arms with five sections ranging from what you do at work, all the way through to a core personal value. The group then spends 10 minutes drawing their coat of arms before pairing up with the person in the group they know the least. In pairs, participants then present the coat of arms of the other person, helping everyone in the room learn about each other more deeply.

This is a longer, more involved icebreaker, but it’s a great way to open a training program or deeper team building session.

Break the Ice with The Four Quadrants Activity

The Four Quadrants Activity is a creative team icebreaker where participants share four things about themselves in a series of simple drawings. It’s a highly adaptable exercise that can help folks get to know each other as a team.

Begin by asking people draw up a 2×2 grid on a piece of paper (or virtual whiteboard) and ask them four questions. Participants will then draw their answer in each of those four quadrants. Sample questions include things like: what do I bring to the group? What do I need from the group? What is your hobby? What is your vision for this group?

Afterwards, ask participants to present their drawings and discuss their creations and watch the group connections flow!

Team Jigsaw Puzzle Game

The Team Jigsaw Puzzle is a great way to get larger teams working together collaboratively while breaking the ice. Start by separating people into teams. Give each a very different jigsaw puzzle (with equal difficulty & number of pieces). Each group has the same amount of time to complete the puzzle.

The secret twist is to switch up a few pieces with the other jigsaw sets beforehand! things up. This means that each group must figure out how to ask other teams to share the pieces they need and work collaboratively on their goals. When working with groups of people who may typically work in silos, the Team Jigsaw Puzzle is an effective way to shake things up and start conversations that might not happen otherwise.

Back to Back Drawing

Back to Back Drawing is a great game for developing communication skills in a fun and memorable way.

Start by asking pairs to sit back to back. One person receives a picture of an existing image or scene. Next, they describe the image to the other person using only verbal directions. The other person then has to draw the object with the instructions they’ve been given and see how it compares to the original.

Back to Back Drawing can be easily adapted to encourage fun – using complex or well-known images – or you can also choose to focus on a specific topic by sharing images related to your team or product.

Scavenger Hunt

The Scavenger Hunt icebreaker is a great opportunity to mix people into teams who don’t typically work together and bring them together in a shared goal.

Start by creating a list of items that need to be gathered and then split your group into small teams to try and find them all to kick off your scavenger hunt. For best results, create a mix of easy and difficult to find items and use a time limit to encourage the group to think critically and collaboratively

Working with a remote or hybrid team? Try the virtual scavenger hunt below! Be sure to put in items that require a wide range of skills and thinking and diverse personalities to be completed successfully.

Electric Fence Icebreaker

The Electric Fence game is an energizing icebreaker that requires players to collectively build an imaginary electric fence. They have to try and cross it without touching it and getting “electrocuted”. The fence can be represented by a rope or a shoe string tied between two objects. It should be about waist high. Players can’t go under it, this is not limbo dancing!

They must also be touching a teammate with at least one hand at all times. This ice breaker activity requires quick thinking, problem-solving and negotiating with others.

​Trading Card Icebreaker

The Trading Card Icebreaker is an effective way to creatively break the ice and let your team share their personalities with the group.

Start by handing out materials and giving each person 5–10 minutes to create a personal “trading card”— including a quick self-portrait, a nickname for their “player,” and one thing about themselves that people in the room aren’t likely to know.

The Trading Card activity lets people self-define and share their personality outside of their day-to-day work. This approach means people get to connect more meaningfully and authentically while also creating cards that serve as mementos of the session.

Low Tech Social Networking

Low-tech Social Network is one of our favourite ice breakers to use when working with large, multi-discipline groups where connections might not be immediately obvious.

The objective of Low-tech Social Network is to introduce event participants to each other by co-creating a large visual network of their connections. Begin by having all participants create an avatar on a piece of card with a self portrait and name.

Once their avatar is ready, each person will “upload” themselves by sticking their card to the wall. Finally, each participants will find the people they know and draw lines to make the connections known, labelling how they know that person too.

Ice breaker games for small groups

While many of the icebreaker games above can be adapted for any group size, these activities are especially effective when working with groups of less than 15 people.

These icebreakers are great for using the smaller group size to create opportunities for team bonding and deeper sharing between team members. You’ll find them particularly useful when creating working groups, or building cohesion between teams who collaborate regularly.

Interview icebreaker

The Interview Icebreaker is a playful way to get team members talking at the start of a session while also introducing the topic of the workshop or meeting.

Start by getting people into pairs. One person begins by being a reporter and then other will be the interviewee. For three minutes, the reporter will interview the other person on a chosen subject and attempt to get as much information as they can before switching roles. Encourage the group to really get into their roles and provide some example questions to guide the group toward the topic of the day.

Magic Box

The Magic Box icebreaker encourages players to think creatively and share with the group in response to an object they pull from a box.

Start Magic Box by assembling a box of interesting and varied objects. Having objects of different sizes and texts is best, though even a collection of photos will do. Next, invite participants to choose an object without overthinking it and then explain who they are, why they chose the object and what they think the connection between the object and the workshop is.

Paper Telephone

Paper Telephone is a fun icebreaker that encourages creativity and laughter by combining two classic games: telephone and pictionary. Start by handing out a stack of small papers and pens, and invite each team member to write a sentence on the first piece of paper. Players then pass their stack to the next person who must read the sentence and then create a visual representation of that sentence on the next piece of paper in the stack.

Play proceeds around the circle, with players needing to transform back and forth between words and images. Often, by the time you get your original stack back, the sentence has gone on a weird and wonderful transformation!

Human Knot

Human Knot is a fun, physical icebreaker that is best played in groups of 7-16 people. It’s a great way to break the ice while also creating energy and a sense of fun.

Start Human Knot getting the group to stand in a circle and ask them to close their eyes. Next, everyone reaches out and links one hand with someone across the circle. Then they link the other hand with another person in the circle. Then, ask everyone to open their eyes and try to untangle the knot they’ve made without breaking the chain!

When running Human Knot with small groups, it can often be interesting to ask folks to reflect on what happened and how it illustrates core group dynamics or how they work together more generally.

Your Amazing Future (Because of that…)

Your Amazing Future is a powerful icebreaker for helping people think about setting goals, connect to the future and get energized.

Start by pairing up members of your group and designating one as the speaker and the other as the listener. Next, each person imagines it’s one week from now and the speaker tells the listener what happened during the current session, saying what they got from it and what made it so great.

After 45 seconds, groups then imagine its 10 years in the future and the speaker shares what they’ve done in that time. Have the listener respond by enthusiastically saying “And because of that” in response to what the speaker says. After a completed round, swap roles and go again so that everyone has the chance to think about future.

Life Map

Life Map is a reflective icebreaker that helps create connections and deepen group understanding in a way that can be both creative and surprising. Begin by inviting team members to draw their life as a map, using common symbols and signs you might find on a map. Stop signs, deer crossings, mountainous areas…the choice of how to illustrate your life story is yours!

After everyone has completed their life map, give them 5-minutes to share with the rest of the group. Using Life Map as a small group icebreaker allows people to be vulnerable in a safe, approachable and creative way.

Large group icebreakers

Breaking the ice in a big group can feel a little awkward at first, but the right activities can turn a room full of strangers into a lively, connected team in no time. Large group icebreakers are a great way to get people talking, boost participation, and create a positive, energetic vibe for your meeting, workshop, or event.

These activities are designed to be inclusive, fast-paced, and interactive—ensuring that everyone feels involved and ready to collaborate. Whether you’re kicking off a corporate gathering or a team retreat, these icebreakers will help build rapport and bring energy to the room.

Group Map

Group Map is fun, active icebreaker that gets people moving while also learning a little about one another. It’s especially effective when working with new groups who come from different regions or locations.

Start by asking the group to imagine the space they’re in as a map of the world. Next, participants place themselves on the map on the spot they best feels represents the country according to where they grew up.

With large groups, you might ask folks to simply shout where they’re from and rearrange as needed. In smaller groups or with more time, it can be gratifying for folks to share a value they learned while in that place, and why that is important for them.

Get to know you better

Get to know you better is an effective large group icebreaker that helps avoid awkward silences and encourages networking in a genuinely helpful way.

At the beginning of your session, give each person a badge with the following three statements:

1. My name is..
2. I can answer a question about…
3. I have a question about…

Next, have people walk around & mingle while discussing what’s on their badges. It’s a great way to enhance engagement & help people set goals and hold themselves accountable during the session.

Passions Tic Tac Toe

The goal of the Passions Tic Tac Toe icebreaker is to help the participants to get to know each other at the beginning of an event or to help identify their values during the later part of a training session.

Create a 3 x 3 grid for each participant and have them fill in each block with a different personal passion randomly. After the individual work, have everyone walk around the room and compare notes. When they find the same passion listed in both grids, ask them to sign for each other in the appropriate square. The winner is the participant who manages to have other people’s signatures on three lines (vertical, horizontal, or diagonal). You can continue the game to have as many winners as you like.

Rock Paper Scissors Tournament

Rock Paper Scissors Tournament is fun a warm-up to help even the largest groups get swiftly energized. This game uses traditional Rock Paper Scissors rules but with a twist: the people who lose become fans who cheer for the players still in the game.

Start a Rock Paper Scissors Tournament by asking everyone in the room to get into pairs and play a round of Rock, Paper, Scissors. (Go best of 3 quick if you’re working with a small group or have extra time.) The loser will became a fan of the winner and cheer them on as you match winners to continue playing. Keep going until you have only two players remaining for a final round with everyone else cheering on!

Lifeboat Debate

Lifeboat Debate is a high-energy icebreaker that challenges participants to think critically, communicate persuasively, and make collective decisions under pressure.

Start by breaking participants into smaller groups and then give them the scenario: a lifeboat is sinking, and only a limited number of people can stay on board. Each participant takes on the role of a different character—such as a doctor, artist, scientist, or athlete—and must argue why they should be saved. The group then debates and decides who stays and who must leave the lifeboat.

Lifeboat Debate often sparks lively discussions while encouraging teamwork, quick thinking, and strategic reasoning. It’s a great way to get a large group engaged right away, prompting both fun and meaningful conversations.

Near and Far

Near and Far is a simple yet meaningful icebreaker that helps teams discover shared experiences and unique backgrounds. Participants take turns sharing something they have in common with the group (“Near”) and something that makes them different (“Far”). For example, one person might say, “Near: I love coffee. Far: I’ve lived in five different countries.”

This activity encourages open conversation, strengthens connections, and highlights the diversity within a team. It’s a great way to break down barriers in large groups while fostering curiosity and mutual understanding.

Count Up

Count Up is a deceptively simple yet engaging icebreaker that challenges teams to count sequentially from 1 to a set number—but with a catch. Participants must say the numbers one at a time, in random order, without speaking over each other or establishing a pattern. If two people speak at the same time, the group starts over.

This activity requires patience, awareness, and teamwork, making it a great way to build focus and connection in a fun, low-pressure way. It’s perfect for energizing a group while subtly reinforcing the importance of active listening and collaboration.

Ice breakers to improve teamwork

In this section, we’ve collected some activities that are expressly collaborative in nature and which encourage puzzle solving and team work in an experiential way. They’re great to throw into an event or workshop when you want to get people interacting and build team bonds by stealth.

If you’re looking for some shorter activities that help improve teamwork and collaboration, check out our post on 5-minute team building activities.

The Marshmallow Challenge

The Marshmallow Challenge, teams must build the tallest free-standing structure out of 20 sticks of spaghetti, one yard of tape, one yard of string, and one marshmallow. To complete the marshmallow challenge, the marshmallow needs to remain on top without falling off!

The Marshmallow Challenge was first developed by Tom Wujec and had been run thousands of times all over the world. It’s an engaging group activity that gets people working together in a practical and memorable way very quickly.

Egg drop

In Egg drop, teams must work together to build a structure that will support a free-falling egg dropped from a predetermined height (e.g. 7 feet) without the egg breaking.

Start by handing out material, including everything from straws and popsicle sticks to masking tape and cotton balls. Next, give each group 10 minutes to build a structure that will keep the egg safe before it’s fall. Have a round of (safely) dropping the eggs and invite the team to discuss their takeaways from working together on this short group project.

Helium Stick

Helium Stick is a seemingly simple game that requires the team to work together while aiming to lower a stick to the ground while staying synchronized.

First, line up people in two rows facing each other. Introduce the Helium Stick and ask participants to hold their index fingers out. Lay the stick on their fingers & before letting go, have everyone adjust their position so the stick is horizontal and everyone is touching it. The goal is to lower the stick to the ground in a way that no one lets go of it at any time.

Pinching, grabbing, or holding on properly to the Stick is not allowed. If the group makes a mistake, they start from the beginning. Helium Stick is a fun problem solving icebreaker that we’d recommend for any team building workshop!

Blind square – The perfect square

The Blind Square Rope Game is a hands-on activity that challenges teams to rely on strong communication and collaboration. Participants are tasked with forming a perfect square using a looped rope—while blindfolded or with their eyes closed. Since no one can see the shape, the team must depend on verbal instructions, active listening, and strategic coordination to succeed.

This exercise highlights the importance of clear communication, trust, and leadership within a team. It’s especially effective for breaking down communication barriers and encouraging participants to work together under challenging conditions.

Desert Island

The Desert Island activity is a classic team-building exercise that puts problem-solving and negotiation skills to the test. Participants imagine they’re stranded on a desert island and must choose a limited number of items (from a provided list) to survive. The twist? They have to make these decisions as a group, which requires discussion, persuasion, and compromise.

Desert Island can often spark lively debates as team members prioritize needs, defend their choices, and learn to find common ground. It’s a fun way to explore different perspectives, practice critical thinking, and improve group decision-making under pressure.

Strength-Building Exercise

The Strength-Building Exercise is a powerful icebreaker that encourages team members to recognize and celebrate each other’s strengths. Participants take turns sharing positive qualities or skills they’ve observed in their colleagues, highlighting specific examples to make the feedback meaningful.

This activity fosters a culture of appreciation, boosts team morale, and helps individuals feel valued for their contributions. It’s a simple yet powerful way to strengthen team dynamics and build confidence.

Ultimate Tic-Tac-Toe

Ultimate Tic-Tac-Toe takes the classic game to a whole new level with added complexity and strategy. Instead of one grid, there’s a larger 3×3 grid made up of nine smaller tic-tac-toe boards. Players must win individual boards to claim spots on the larger grid, with each move influencing where the next player can go.

This activity requires strategic planning, adaptability, and teamwork when played in groups. It’s perfect for energizing a team, sharpening problem-solving skills, and encouraging friendly competition.

Fun Ice Breaker Games

The best ice breakers have the power to strengthen coworker bonds, stimulate better brainstorming sessions, and create an atmosphere of inclusivity.

They’re also incredibly fun to play, making them a welcomed break from regular work activities. Fun icebreakers like those listed below can effectively break down barriers that might exist between employees & make it easier for people to communicate with one another.

Portrait Gallery

This ice breaker activity is a fun one that requires some creativity. It enhances a sense of community because people have to draw the others as a group – not just between the drawers, but the recipients of the portraits too. The outcome is very visual and colorful and the result images can be put up in the meeting room afterward! Meeting ice breakers that produce physical results that can be shared can really help ensure the good vibes of the meeting continue afterward!

​What is my name (celebrity party)

What is my name is a well known icebreaker that begins wit everyone receiving the name of a well-known celebrity or public figure which they must attach to their back or forehead without looking.

Have players mingle and ask each other yes/no questions to find out who they are. For best results, have players ask only one question of one person before moving onto the next one, ensuring people mix and spread the good fun around!

Minefield

Set up harmless obstacles in the room you’re meeting in. Use squeaky toys, whoopie cushions, bubble wrap and the like. Everyone takes turns going around the course while blindfolded, guided by their teammates. The goal is: help each to navigate through the minefield.

While this game often results in lots of laughter, it also helps teach the importance of clear communication and trusting your team.

Crazy Handshake

This ice breaker helps people ease into a group and brings out their creativity without a lot of effort. Splitting the group into pairs, each pair develops a creative handshake. Once done, the pair splits and each individual partners with another group member. The newly formed pair then teaches each other the original handshakes and together creates a new one. You can break up and pair off people as many times as you want.

The Movie Pitch Icebreaker

The Movie Pitch Icebreaker is a fun, fast-paced activity where small groups create and pitch an original movie idea based on a random or chosen theme. Teams come up with a title, a brief plot, and even cast imaginary actors, then present their pitch to the group as if selling it to a studio.

The Movie Pitch icebreaker sparks creativity, encourages teamwork, and adds a dose of humor, especially if you ask teams to create a movie based on the topic of the session or even the subject of meetings!

Bang!

For this game, you have to have quick reactions or you’ll be eliminated. Have everyone stand in a circle with one person in the middle as the ‘sheriff’. They must surprise other players by pointing to them. These people must quickly crouch and those on either side of them have to quickly ‘draw’ their weapons. If you are too slow, you switch places & become the sheriff.

This icebreaker is a wonderful way to increase group energy before starting a meeting in earnest, and it also helps people learn names too! If you’re working with an especially large group, note that it’s better to play in parallel before finishing with a final showdown!

Sound Ball

This is a simple icebreaker activity that energizes participants, and it’s also suitable for highlighting spontaneity and teamwork. The activity involves participants standing in a circle and throwing imaginary ball(s) to each other in increasing pace. When throwing the first ball, the person starting should make a special sound that has to be repeated by the catcher upon receiving the ball.

Once the ball is being thrown around at a fairly brisk pace, you can introduce another imaginary ball and start throwing it. When the group gets proficient at it, you can have three or four balls in play!

Hello Kitty

Starting a meeting with smiles and laughter is a great way to set the tone for the session. In this fun icebreaker, separate your group into teams of kittens and puppiess. Puppies try to make the kittens laugh or crack a smile by simply saying, “Hello Kitty” in an amusing manner. Any kittens who smile or laugh join the puppies until their is only one kitten left standing!

Encourage the group to be creative and be sure to give kudos to the funniest participants or those who manage to keep a straight face!

Just the facts

Just the facts is an engaging icebreaker that encourages participants to quickly recall and share factual information on a specific topic. Begin by selecting a relevant subject—such as “Effective Presentation Techniques” for a training session or trivia about your city for a casual gathering. Seated in a circle, participants take turns stating a fact related to the chosen topic, aiming to keep the flow rapid and avoid repetitions.

If someone introduces an opinion, repeats a fact, or states something questionable, others can challenge by saying, “Just the facts!”

Just the facts not only energizes the group but also reinforces knowledge on the subject matter, sharpens quick-thinking abilities, and sets a collaborative tone for the session ahead.

Purpose of ice breaker games

So how do you avoid creating a frustrating, patronizing ice breaker game that won’t make participants feel like they are wasting their time?

The benefits of a good ice breaker far outweigh any negatives. They can take care of introductions in a much more fun way than just simply going around the room and stating what’s on your business card. They can help people remember names, start conversations and create a positive atmosphere in moments.

When done right, ice breakers can quickly build a sense of community, set the tone for the upcoming session & give participants ownership of the learning ahead.

Icebreaker games are also a great way for people to share their expectations and for facilitators to introduce the topic of the day. They help participants to loosen up, understand each other more and enable better collaboration and networking. Last, but not least, it is a surefire way to energize the group and have everyone focused and ready to go.

From icebreaker to completed agenda

Now you’ve discovered the perfect icebreaker, it’s time to create the rest of your meeting!

With SessionLab, you drag, drop and reorder blocks to create your agenda in a snap. Your session timing adjusts automatically as you make changes and when you’re done, you can share a beautiful printout with your colleagues and participants.

Explore how facilitators use SessionLab to build effective workshops and meetings or watch this five minute video to get started!

Now over to you!

Your meetings and workshops don’t have to be boring. We hope you have found some useful tips for practical and fun ice breaker games you can use in your next session!

What are your favorite ice breaker activities? Have you tried any of the methods above? How did you find them? Let us know about your experiences in the comments. Want to see even more great icebreaker ideas? Our collection of icebreaker questions contains heaps of conversation starters you can bring to your next session.

Want to go further? Check out our guide to planning an effective workshop to start building more engaging sessions with better outcomes!

Corporate team building activities like those we’ve collected below are proven methods for creating stronger, high-performing teams while also having fun, memorable experiences.

In this post, you’ll find activities designed to improve communication skills, engage small teams and big ones alike and generally improve team dynamics. Let’s dive in.

Why is team building important in a corporate setting?

Team building isn’t just about breaking the ice or having fun—it’s a strategic investment in your organization’s success. As Harvard Business Review noted in this article on the science of building great teams, “Social time turns out to be deeply critical to team performance.”

In a corporate setting, where team performance is essential, team-building activities play a critical role in creating much needed social time in a structured and purposeful way. Here are some of the key benefits you’ll see when running team building activities with your group:

1. Strengthening communication
   Effective communication is the cornerstone of any successful team. Team-building activities create opportunities for colleagues to practice open dialogue, active listening, and constructive feedback in a relaxed environment. This helps improve workplace interactions and reduces misunderstandings, making day-to-day operations smoother.
2. Building trust
   When teams are able to trust one another, great things tend to happen. It’s the foundation of a high-performing team that is able to adapt and back each other up. Team-building exercises encourage vulnerability and collaboration, helping colleagues build rapport and develop confidence in each other’s abilities. A culture of trust leads to better teamwork, faster decision-making, and greater resilience in the face of challenges.
3. Enhancing collaboration
   In today’s workplace, no one works in isolation. Team building helps individuals learn to leverage each other’s strengths, share ideas, and problem-solve collectively. The process folks go through while working through a problem as a group tends to function as a foundation for later action.
   
   Team building activities provide an opportunity to practice within a safe container and then translate those learnings back into day-to-day work. Truth is, when employees feel comfortable collaborating, they’re more likely to come out to bat for one another when things are tough and work together towards shared goals.
4. Boosting morale and engagement
   A connected team is a motivated team. Team-building activities create opportunities for employees to have fun, celebrate wins, and bond outside of their daily routines. Working on employee engagement in this way is especially helpful for reducing burnout and creating variation in the day-to-day of work.
   
   This study noted that teamwork correlates with improved job satisfaction and morale, meaning that employees who participate in well-structured team building events tend to experience higher job satisfaction .
5. Aligning teams with organizational goals
   Team-building activities often emphasize shared purpose and alignment. By clarifying roles, responsibilities, and objectives, these exercises ensure everyone is working toward the same goals.
   
   This alignment improves efficiency and helps teams stay focused on what matters most, even across departments and company functions. In some large companies, team building events are the only time that folks get to hang out with other teams and work on something cross departmentally. As such, they’re a great opportunity for the entire group to refocus on what’s most important.

In a corporate setting, effective team building isn’t just a one-time effort – it’s an ongoing process that nurtures a thriving workplace culture and helps people feel connected and engaged in their work.

You’ll find the activities in this guide an effective way to bring team building to life and make it a regular occurence – no need to wait till the end of year party!

What are the 5 C’s of team building?

The 5 C’s of team building are key principles that help teams thrive and succeed in their collaborative efforts. The 5 c’s of team building are: clarity, communication, collaboration, creativity and celebration.

All high-performing teams tend to exhibit these qualities in abundance and so they’re a great way to start discussing how your team is performing and how you might improve the way you work together.

The principles that your group feels needs strengthening can then form the basis of your next team building activity. You’ll find the activities we’ve collected below grouped into each of these principles so you can find the one you want to work on easily.

Let’s start by breaking these principles down:

• Clarity
  Clear goals, roles, and expectations are the bedrock of a successful team. When everyone understands their responsibilities and how their work contributes to the bigger picture, it reduces the chance for misunderstandings and empowers people to act with autonomy.
  
  In the context of team building, clarity also extends to helping folks get to know other team members better. In my experience, when group members understand each other more deeply and clarify how they’d like to work together, collaboration is smoother as a result and everyone tends to be happier too.
• Communication
  Without open and honest communication, it can become near impossible for teams to work together effectively. Encouraging active listening, constructive feedback, and meaningful dialogue helps teams resolve conflicts, align on objectives, and build trust.
  
  Many team-building exercises are designed to test and strengthen communication skills in fun and engaging ways – these often include games where teams compete in friendly competition and thus need to communicate well in order to win. In this section, you’ll also find some activities are explicitly intended to build team communication skills and help participants navigate difficult topics more easily.

• Collaboration
  Collaboration is about more than simply working together—it’s about enabling every person in your team to leverage their strengths while working to achieve common goals. The best teams know how to divide tasks, share ideas, and support one another through tough challenges.
  
  Team-building activities designed to build collaboration skills often ask the group to solve problems and demonstrate teamwork in a practical manner. You’ll also find exercises that explicitly invite teams to discuss better ways of working or clarify how they’d like to collaborate better.
• Creativity
  Creativity should not just the preserve of designers and writers at your company –everyone can benefit from finding the freedom to approach problems with fresh perspectives and allow their creative side to have a seat at the table.
  
  Activities like brainstorming sessions or hands-on problem-solving challenges can help teams tap into their creative potential. Experiential activities like those in this section can help participants practice creativity in a safe, encouraging container that enables them to be more creative in their day-to-day work too.
• Celebration
  Recognizing and celebrating successes — big or small — is vital for maintaining employee morale and motivation. Often, this doesn’t mean just throwing bonus money at folks (though this can help.) Simply helping your team feel seen and valued in the work they do can help bring a team together.
  
  Take the time to acknowledge individual contributions and team milestones and you can strengthen bonds and reinforces team culture in the same breath.

By incorporating the 5 C’s into your team-building approach, you’ll create a foundation for trust, growth, and long-term success. These principles don’t just make teams more effective—they also make work more enjoyable for everyone involved.

Think of the team building activities below as a way to stretch these muscles and help your teams build their skills in an experiential way. They can form the basis of dedicated team building events or simply provide an opening activity to your regular meetings and workshops.

In my experience, every time you bring your team together is an opportunity to deepen connections and improve the way you work together. A single escape room is unlikely to cut it. Applying consistent effort and checking-in on how your team feels is the true path to improving team dynamics.

If you’re looking for more activities, see our collection of the best team building activities for exercises that can serve small teams and large ones alike.

Corporate team building activities for building clarity

When team members understand their roles, goals, and expectations, they can work with confidence and purpose. Without team clarity, misalignment can lead to confusion, frustration, and inefficiency.

These team-building activities are designed to help teams define roles, goals and expectations and also get to know each other better —leading to better decision-making and stronger team cohesion.

Who are you? The Pirate Ship exercise

Best for: Team roles, self-discovery, group reflection
Time: 30-45 minutes
Materials: Printed or projected image of a pirate ship

Who Are You? The Pirate Ship Exercise is a fun and metaphorical way to explore team roles and dynamics. Participants are shown an image of a pirate ship and asked to reflect on which role they naturally identify with—are they the captain steering the team, the lookout scanning the horizon, or the deckhand keeping things running smoothly?

This lighthearted approach encourages self-awareness and sparks valuable discussions about team contributions, leadership, and collaboration. By using a playful premise, the exercise allows for deeper reflection without pressure, making it an excellent way to build stronger team connections.

Alignment & Autonomy

Best for: Strategic Alignment, Goal Setting, Team Empowerment
Time: 60-90 minutes
Materials: Flip charts, markers, sticky notes

Alignment & Autonomy is a structured activity that helps teams clarify shared goals while identifying individual responsibilities and areas of independence. Together, participants map out objectives, highlight dependencies, and ensure alignment across roles to create a clear path forward.

This activity fosters transparency and promotes ownership by encouraging team members to take responsibility for their contributions while keeping collaboration at the heart of the process. It’s ideal for empowering individuals to balance autonomy with teamwork, creating a sense of accountability and shared purpose. By the end, everyone walks away with a clearer understanding of their role in achieving collective success.

Myers-Briggs Team Reflection

Best for: Personality insights, team collaboration, leadership development
Time: 60-90 minutes
Materials: Myers-Briggs Type Indicator results or summaries

Myers-Briggs Team Reflection dives into the unique personality dynamics within your team, exploring how traits influence communication, work preferences, and collaboration. Participants share their results, reflect on their strengths and challenges, and identify ways to work together more effectively.

By highlighting individual differences and commonalities, this activity fosters mutual understanding and respect. It provides teams with practical insights for leveraging diverse working styles while addressing potential areas of friction. Leaders can also use these learnings to create a more harmonious and productive environment that plays to everyone’s strengths.

Team Canvas Session

Best for: Team alignment, goal setting, defining team culture
Time: 60-90 minutes
Materials: Team Canvas template (printed or digital), markers, sticky notes

Team Canvas Session is a structured workshop designed to help teams align on their shared purpose, values, and ways of working. Using the Team Canvas framework, participants collaboratively explore key aspects of their team dynamics, including goals, roles, personal motivations, and expectations.

This activity encourages open dialogue and creates a shared understanding of what success looks like for the team. By mapping out these elements together, teams strengthen cohesion, clarify responsibilities, and set actionable agreements for better collaboration. It’s an invaluable exercise for new teams forming their identity or existing teams looking to reset and improve alignment. The final canvas serves as a visual reference point, keeping everyone on the same page as they move forward.

Guess the Desk

Best for: Remote teams, icebreaking, personal connections
Time: 20-30 minutes
Materials: Photos of participants’ workspaces

Guess the Desk is a lighthearted activity that brings remote teams closer together. Participants anonymously submit photos of their desks or workspaces, and the group takes turns guessing which one belongs to whom.

Guess the Desk creates a fun and relaxed atmosphere while offering a glimpse into each person’s working environment and personality. It’s a great way to spark conversations, discover shared interests, and break the ice in virtual teams. The added element of guessing keeps everyone engaged and laughing along the way.

What Are You Bringing to the Meeting?

Best for: Meeting check-ins, enhancing focus, building awareness
Time: 5-10 minutes
Materials: None

What Are You Bringing to the Meeting? is a simple yet effective check-in activity that helps participants acknowledge their current state of mind and external factors affecting their focus. At the start of the meeting, each person briefly shares what’s on their mind—be it personal distractions, energy levels, or prior engagements.

This practice promotes empathy and patience among team members, as everyone gains insight into each other’s current situations. It also encourages individuals to mentally set aside distractions, fostering a more present and engaged meeting environment.

Temperature Check

Best for: Team sentiment, emotional awareness, open communication
Time: 10-20 minutes
Materials: whiteboard or virtual collaboration tool (optional)

Temperature Check is a quick and effective way to gauge how team members are feeling at a given moment. Participants are asked to share their current mood or energy level using a simple scale, a metaphor (e.g., weather conditions), or a color-coded system. Responses can be shared verbally, written on a board, or submitted anonymously for more sensitive discussions.

This activity helps create a culture of openness and psychological safety by giving team members a space to express their emotions without judgment. It’s particularly useful for identifying stress points, celebrating positive momentum, and ensuring that leadership is aware of the team’s overall well-being. Regularly integrating this check-in into meetings fosters empathy and strengthens team connections.

Corporate team building activities for improving communication skills

Effective communication is at the heart of every successful team. Whether it’s active listening, giving constructive feedback, or ensuring ideas are clearly understood, strong communication builds trust and prevents misunderstandings.

These activities help teams practice clear, open, and empathetic communication in an engaging way, leading to more productive collaboration and stronger workplace relationships.

Active Listening

Best for: Communication skills, empathy, team connection
Time: 30-45 minutes
Materials: None (optional: prompt cards for discussion topics)

Active Listening is a powerful exercise that helps teams strengthen their ability to truly hear and understand one another. Participants pair up and take turns speaking about a given topic while their partner listens without interrupting. Afterward, the listener paraphrases what they heard, ensuring they captured the essence of the speaker’s message before switching roles.

Active Listening highlights the difference between passive hearing and active engagement, encouraging teams to be more mindful in their daily interactions. It fosters deeper connections, reduces miscommunication, and builds trust by ensuring every voice is genuinely heard. Whether used to enhance teamwork, resolve conflicts, or simply improve workplace communication, Active Listening is an essential skill-building exercise for any team.

Conflict Responses

Best for: Conflict resolution, emotional intelligence, communication skills
Time: 30-60 minutes
Materials: Conflict scenario cards or pre-prepared examples

Conflict Responses is a dynamic and insightful activity designed to help teams explore how they approach and resolve conflict. Using real-life scenarios or creative examples, participants discuss their reactions, analyze outcomes, and brainstorm strategies for handling disagreements in a healthy, constructive way.

Conflict Responses is an activity that deepens emotional intelligence by helping participants recognize their own conflict styles while gaining insight into how their teammates handle challenging situations. It also equips teams with practical tools and frameworks for managing conflicts effectively, fostering a culture where disagreements lead to understanding and growth instead of tension and division.

Telling Our Stories

Best for: Building trust, team bonding, enhancing communication
Time: 60-120 minutes
Materials: Post-it notes in three different colors, pens

Telling Our Stories is a powerful activity designed to foster trust and openness within a team through structured storytelling. Participants reflect on and share personal experiences from different life stages—childhood, young adulthood, and the present—answering prompts such as moments of happiness, influential individuals, and transformative events.

By sharing these personal narratives, team members build deeper connections and understanding, creating a foundation for effective collaboration. This exercise not only enhances empathy but also encourages a culture of openness, making it easier for team members to communicate and work together harmoniously.

Follow the Follower

Best for: Team coordination, trust-building, communication
Time: 20-30 minutes
Materials: None

Follow the Follower is a simple yet impactful exercise that strengthens coordination and trust. Participants take turns leading the group through a series of movements, actions, or instructions while others follow closely, mirroring the leader’s actions.

Follow the Follower reinforces the idea that so much of how we communicate is non-verbal in a fun and low-pressure way. It’s perfect for building camaraderie and injecting some energy into your day, leaving everyone feeling more connected and in sync.

Heard, Seen, Respected (HSR)

Best for: Building trust, inclusivity, emotional awareness
Time: 20-30 minutes
Materials: None

Heard, Seen, Respected creates space for participants to reflect on moments when they felt truly valued in a team setting. In pairs or small groups, team members share these experiences, fostering connection and helping everyone understand the key elements of feeling acknowledged and respected.

Heard, Seen, Respected encourages active listening and builds empathy by allowing participants to step into one another’s perspectives. It’s a simple yet meaningful way to cultivate trust and inclusivity, laying the foundation for a team culture where everyone feels seen and appreciated for their contributions.

Spider Web

Best for: Trust-building, team bonding, physical activity
Time: 30-60 minutes
Materials: Rope or tape to create a web-like structure

Spider Web challenges teams to strategize and physically support each other as they navigate through a web of ropes or tape without touching it. It requires careful planning and a great deal of trust as participants work together to lift, guide, and maneuver teammates through the obstacles.

Spider Web is a fantastic activity highlighting the importance of communication awhile getting everyone moving and energized. The shared sense of achievement when the entire team completes the challenge makes it a memorable bonding experience that strengthens relationships and boosts morale.

Corporate team building activities for better collaboration

Great teams don’t just work together—they leverage each other’s strengths to achieve more than they could alone. Collaboration requires trust, adaptability, and the ability to coordinate efforts seamlessly. These activities encourage teams to problem-solve, strategize, and support one another, helping to break down silos and create a culture of teamwork.

Wise Crowds

Best for: Peer problem-solving, collective intelligence, knowledge sharing
Time: 45-60 minutes
Materials: none (optional: flip chart or digital whiteboard for notes)

Wise Crowds is a collaborative problem-solving exercise that taps into the collective wisdom of a team. One participant volunteers to share a challenge they’re facing while the rest of the group acts as a panel of “wise advisors.” The volunteer listens silently as the group discusses potential solutions, insights, and suggestions. Afterward, they reflect on what resonated most and how they might apply the feedback.

This method fosters an open, supportive environment where team members can seek guidance without feeling pressure to have all the answers themselves. It encourages fresh perspectives, deep listening, and creative problem-solving, making it an excellent tool for tackling complex challenges while strengthening team trust and collaboration.

My Favourite Manager

Best for: Leadership reflection, team culture, empathy
Time: 45-60 minutes
Materials: None

Leaders and managers can be a deciding factor in creating a great company culture and employee happiness. In this game, get started by bringing your team together to discuss their favourite and least favourite managers and the skills they bring to the table.

This corporate team building activity is great at creating a safe space to discuss management styles and create empathy between teams. You’ll often find team members can shift their perspective, learn something about how they relate to their leaders and have fun too!

Team Reflection

Best for: Team growth, continuous improvement, strengthening connections
Time: 30-60 minutes
Materials: None (optional: journal or sticky notes for reflections)

Team Reflection is a structured yet open-ended activity designed to help teams pause, look back on their journey, and discuss key learnings. Participants take turns sharing what has gone well, what challenges they’ve faced, and what improvements they’d like to see moving forward.

By enabling more honest conversations, the Team Refletion exercise builds trust and strengthens team cohesion. It helps teams recognize achievements, acknowledge struggles, and align on actionable steps for improvement. Whether used as a regular practice or after a major project, Team Reflection creates space for meaningful dialogue and continuous growth.

Human Knot

Best for: Problem-solving, team bonding, communication
Time: 15-30 minutes
Materials: None

Human Knot is a classic team-building activity that’s as fun as it is challenging. Participants stand in a circle, reach across to grab the hands of two different people, and then work together to untangle themselves without letting go of each other’s hands. The goal is to untwist the “knot” and form a single, unbroken circle.

This activity encourages teams to think critically, communicate effectively, and collaborate closely to solve a shared challenge. It’s also a great way to highlight the importance of patience and teamwork, as everyone needs to contribute ideas and listen to one another to succeed. Human Knot is ideal for building trust and creating moments of laughter as teams navigate the twists and turns together.

Jigsaw Puzzle

Best for: Collaboration, focus, group problem-solving
Time: 30-60 minutes
Materials: Jigsaw puzzle(s)

Jigsaw Puzzle is a straightforward yet powerful way to strengthen teamwork. Teams work together to complete a puzzle within a set timeframe, which requires communication, organization, and collaboration. For an added twist, teams can compete to see who finishes their puzzle first.

This activity emphasizes the importance of patience and collective effort, creating a calm and focused environment where everyone plays a role in reaching the final goal. It’s a fantastic choice for groups looking to encourage conversation while reinforcing the value of working together.

Leadership Pizza

Best for: Leadership development, self-reflection, team insights
Time: 45-60 minutes
Materials: Leadership Pizza templates and markers

Leadership Pizza offers a creative way for participants to evaluate their leadership skills and how they relate to and work with others. Using a pizza-shaped diagram divided into key areas—like communication, decision-making, and delegation—team members rate their current abilities and discuss their findings in small groups.

This activity promotes self-awareness and constructive feedback, helping leaders identify areas for growth and celebrate their strengths. It’s also an excellent tool for fostering open, supportive conversations about leadership within teams, paving the way for individual and collective growth.

Birds of a Feather

Best for: Diversity & Inclusion, team dynamics, collaboration
Time: 30-45 minutes
Materials: Index cards with letters written on them

Birds of a Feather is an eye-opening activity that demonstrates the benefits of diverse teams in a tangible way. Each participant receives an index card with a single letter on it, then forms groups of five without any further instructions. After forming groups, teams are challenged to create the longest word possible using their letters.

At first, participants tend to cluster with those closest to them, but they quickly realize that a more diverse mix of letters leads to better results. This simple yet effective game sparks conversations about diversity, inclusion, and how embracing different perspectives makes teams stronger. A debrief discussion helps connect the experience to real workplace dynamics, making this a great lead-in for broader conversations about team composition and collaboration.

Virtual Scavenger Hunt

Best for: Remote teams, engagement, creativity
Time: 30-60 minutes
Materials: A virtual meeting platform and a prepared scavenger hunt list

Virtual Scavenger Hunt is a lively and interactive way to engage remote teams. Participants are given a list of items to find in their home or workspace, ranging from practical tools to personal treasures, and they share their finds with the group.

This activity combines a need to collaborate with a chance to showcase personality and creativity. How exactly should the team divide and work on their shared goal? When it comes to recreating an image with household objects, what will participants come up with?

Preparation and setting is key for making the scavenger hunt work. Ensure you create a list that will resonate with your team and have enough time in your session for folks to enjoy hunting for items, rather than feeling pressured.

Corporate team building activities to encourage creativity

Innovation thrives in teams that feel empowered to think outside the box. Creativity isn’t just for artists—it’s essential for problem-solving, adaptability, and continuous improvement.

These activities help teams tap into their creative potential, challenge assumptions, and approach challenges with fresh perspectives, leading to more innovative solutions and dynamic team engagement.

Cover Story

Best for: Vision planning, creative thinking, team identity
Time: 45-60 minutes
Materials: Flip charts, markers, magazines (optional)

Cover Story is a creative exercise that challenges teams to envision their ideal future and articulate their goals in a fun, visual way. Teams imagine they are featured on the cover of a magazine, then design their own cover complete with headlines, images, and taglines that reflect their biggest successes and aspirations.

Cover Story is an activity that encourages teams to think big, align on a shared vision, and reflect on what actions they need to take today to achieve their future success. The final presentations generate inspiration and excitement while creating a tangible artifact that teams can refer back to as a motivational touchstone.

Magic Box

Best for: Creativity, problem-solving, innovation
Time: 30-45 minutes
Materials: A real or imaginary box, slips of paper, markers

Magic Box is a fun and imaginative exercise designed to spark creativity and fresh thinking. The facilitator introduces a mysterious “magic box” that can contain anything—real or fantastical. Participants take turns pulling out imaginary objects from the box and describing their purpose, function, or how they might solve a particular challenge. Alternatively, teams can write down unexpected items on slips of paper and draw them at random to inspire discussion.

This activity encourages teams to break free from conventional thinking and embrace new perspectives. It’s particularly effective for brainstorming sessions, innovation workshops, or energizing a group before tackling complex problems. By stretching the imagination in a playful way, Magic Box helps teams develop creative confidence and discover unexpected solutions together.

Egg Drop

Best for: Creative problem-solving, collaboration, hands-on engagement
Time: 30-45 minutes
Materials: Paper, tape, straws, eggs, and other simple supplies

Egg Drop is a fun and creative challenge that gets teams thinking outside the box. Working with limited supplies, participants design and build a contraption to protect an egg from breaking when dropped from a height.

This activity encourages resourcefulness, teamwork, and innovative thinking under time constraints. It’s an engaging way to promote collaboration and adaptability while reinforcing the idea that solving complex problems often requires experimentation and creativity. The excitement of testing the contraptions adds an element of friendly competition and laughter to the process.

Dinner Challenge

Best for: Creativity, team bonding, fun engagement
Time: 45-90 minutes
Materials: Cooking tools and ingredients for in-person teams; recipe prompts for remote teams

Dinner Challenge brings teams together through the universal love of food. In this activity, teams collaborate to create a meal with a limited selection of ingredients. For remote teams, participants can share photos or videos of their culinary creations, adding a fun twist to the challenge.

This activity combines creativity with teamwork in a relaxed, enjoyable setting. It’s perfect for building relationships and encouraging out-of-the-box thinking. Plus, the shared experience of creating and sharing meals fosters a sense of community that extends beyond the workplace.

Drawing Together

Best for: Collaboration, creativity, visual communication
Time: 30-45 minutes
Materials: large sheets of paper or digital drawing tools, markers or pens

Drawing Together is a fun and engaging exercise that encourages teams to express ideas visually and collaborate in a non-verbal way. Participants start by drawing a simple shape or element on a shared piece of paper, then pass it to the next person, who adds to the drawing. This process continues until the artwork is complete, creating a collective visual representation of the team’s creativity.

This activity highlights the power of co-creation and teamwork, showing how individual contributions come together to form a bigger picture. It also encourages out-of-the-box thinking and can serve as a metaphor for how teams build ideas collaboratively. Whether used as an icebreaker or a reflection tool, Drawing Together helps foster engagement, communication, and shared creativity.

Book Club

Best for: Reflection, shared learning, team connection
Time: 60 minutes (recurring as needed)
Materials: Selected book or reading material

Book Club brings teams together to explore ideas, share perspectives, and bond over thought-provoking reading. Participants agree on a book or short articles to read, then meet to discuss key takeaways, favorite moments, and how the ideas apply to their work or personal growth.

A book insights workshop or club can help your team go beyond surface-level conversations and create deeper connections too. It’s a fantastic way to build a learning culture within your team while encouraging collaboration and curiosity. Whether you choose professional development titles or something lighter, Book Club is a great way to bring fresh inspiration into the workplace.

Corporate team building activities for celebration

Celebration is a crucial (and often overlooked) part of team success. Recognizing achievements, big or small, helps boost morale, reinforce positive behaviors, and strengthen team bonds. These activities encourage teams to take a moment to appreciate each other’s contributions, reflect on their progress, and have fun together—helping to build a more motivated and engaged workplace.

Appreciations Exercise

Best for: Team morale, positive feedback, strengthening bonds
Time: 30-45 minutes
Materials: Paper, pens

Appreciations Exercise is a heartwarming way to bring teams closer by sharing positive feedback and recognizing each other’s strengths. Participants sit in a circle, write their name on a piece of paper, and pass it to the person on their left. Each person then writes a short note about what they appreciate most about the person whose name is on the sheet before passing it along.

By the end, every participant receives a collection of meaningful affirmations from their teammates. The final sharing moment is uplifting and reinforces a culture of appreciation and support. This activity is particularly effective when included in team celebrations, retreats, or even a casual happy hour—making gratitude a core part of your workplace culture.

History Map

Best for: Reflection, team growth, celebrating milestones
Time: 45-60 minutes
Materials: Flip charts or whiteboard, markers, sticky notes

History Map is a powerful reflection exercise that helps teams visualize their collective journey. Participants create a “timeline” of key moments, challenges, and achievements, mapping out their shared experiences over a set period of time.

History Map helps provide groups with a sense of progress, reinforcing lessons learned while celebrating accomplishments. By visually capturing the team’s evolution, it fosters appreciation for past efforts and sets the stage for future growth. Whether used at the end of a project or during a team retreat, History Map is a meaningful way to reflect, realign, and move forward together.

Coat of Arms

Best for: Team bonding, self-expression, creativity
Time: 30-60 minutes
Materials: Paper, markers

Coat of Arms is a storytelling exercise that helps teams deepen their connections by exploring individual and group identities. Each participant begins by drawing a personal coat of arms that represents their values, experiences, or strengths. They then share their creation with a partner, who interprets and presents it to the larger group.

Coat of Arms does double-duty as an activity that encourages self-reflection while tapping into creativity and fun. By sharing personal symbols and meanings, team members develop a deeper appreciation for one another, strengthening trust and camaraderie. It’s especially effective for newly formed teams or as a refreshing way to reconnect in established groups.

Bus Trip

Best for: Vision planning, strategic thinking, team alignment
Time: 30-60 minutes
Materials: Flip chart paper, markers

Bus Trip is a creative and engaging activity that helps teams visualize their journey toward a shared goal. Participants imagine their team as a bus traveling toward a destination, with different elements representing aspects of their work. They discuss who’s driving (leading the team), who’s navigating (providing guidance), what’s fueling the journey (motivations), and potential roadblocks (challenges).

This exercise provides a powerful metaphor for teamwork, helping individuals reflect on roles, collaboration, and strategic priorities. It encourages open discussion about team dynamics while reinforcing alignment on objectives. By the end, teams gain a clearer sense of direction and a collective commitment to the road ahead.

More team building activities and resources

When you spend time improving the cohesiveness of your team and deepening group bonds, your entire company will benefit.

Purposeful team building activities like those above are a great start, but if you need more help these resources will help you put together an effective team building session and deepen your understanding.

• Our collection of 50+ team building activities features even more tried and test techniques you might bring to your next team building session.
• Check out our guide to planning a workshop to explore how to organize and structure your next workshop.
• These 5-minute team building activities will help you find techniques that can fit into any meeting or workshop, even if you’re short of time.
• Explore the team development day workshop template to see a complete agenda and get inspired.

So what’s next? Let us know how you get with these activities in the comments below or drop by in the SessionLab community.

You’ll find a community of expert facilitators, leaders and trainers who may be able to help you build a better team and bring these and other facilitation techniques to your organization.

But how do you choose the right activity, and where do you get started when trying to encourage team bonding or alignement? We’re here to help with this collection of simple and effective team building activities for work!

Building a highly effective team takes effort, consideration, and the deployment of a thoughtful team development process. All teams are composed of relationships between people and all relationships need care and attention. The team-building activities below are a great place to start!

We’ve put together a collection of proven team-building activities, games, and exercises that cover everything from communication and collaboration to alignment and vision. 

Whether you’re working in a small team or as part of a large organization, taking the time to develop your team and enable everyone in your group to do their best work is time well spent. Let’s take a look!

What are team building activities? 

Team building is an activity or process designed to build connections between members of a team, create lasting bonds, and enable better teamwork and working practices.

Team building activities are self-contained group exercises and games that help bring your team together and build the collaborative skillset of your group. They are especially effective in a work environment, where collaboration and cohesion is imperative to a team’s success and overall happiness.

Team building activities can include running team games and activities, holding group discussions, hosting away days, or simply doing things together as a team. Whether it’s an escape room or a deep activity design to help your team get to know each other, the key with any of these activities is to bring your team together with purpose in a fun and engaging way.

What are the main types of team building activities?

Team building activities are games and exercises that help a group collaborate on a shared goal, discuss important issues constructively, share in a fun experience and find better ways of working together.

These activities can take forms: ranging from 5-minute team building activities and fun games you use in your regular meetings, or the may be part of a larger process or team development workshop.

Being purposeful and knowing the objective of your session means you can choose an activity accordingly. Sometimes, your team will come together because they have problems to solve, or you might just want to have fun and celebrate your wins. Pick the right activity for the right time to ensure your team is onboard and ready to engage!

Here are the main categories of team building activity that you might want to run with your team. We’ve made it easy to get started with the right activity for your team by including the length of each game, how many participants can play and how hard it is to run alongside clear instructions.

Team building activities for work

Starting the team building process can be difficult, especially if you’re working with a new team who don’t yet know each other well. The activities in this section are focused on helping teams and employees get to know each other better and start to develop bonds.

Even if your team has been around a while, learning more about one another and building deeper bonds is useful for both team cohesion and group happiness. These are also great activities to use when trying to improve employee engagement and company culture – any organization is only as strong as the bonds between its people!

Try these workplace activities to encourage conversation and break the ice – especially if you’re working with a remote team who might not be in the office together.

Want more? See this collection of corporate team building activities for activities based around the 5 C’s of team building.

3 Question Mingle

In 3 Question Mingle, each team member writes three questions on sticky notes and then has a one-minute meeting with another person. They each ask another one question and then trade those post-its. Invite the group to move around the room asking questions in pairs and swapping questions afterwards. 

3 Question Mingle is a great way to help an entire team get to know each other while also inviting the group to ask the questions they really want to ask. By combining structure with self direction, you can get your team building workshop off to the right start! Bonus points for adding those sticky notes to a memory wall for later reflection!

9 Dimensions Team Building Activity

Building better team relationships and improving group dynamics often means sharing something about ourselves and finding space to discuss and be honest. In this team building exercise, give each team member a set of red, green, yellow and blue dots alongside the 9 dimensions you’ll be looking at. Each participant puts a dot on each dimension based on whether they believe they’re crushing it or need to do more work. 

By sharing some of their 9 dimensions, your team gets to surface things they’re proud of, as well as those that need work. You’ll explore what your group is aligned on in the debriefing section and then move forward together as a team.

Awareness Circle

Getting to know people is easier for some members of a group than it is for others. While extroverts can start chatting to new team members with ease, introverts may find it more difficult to bond with their team and create meaningful team bonds.

In this activity, you’ll encourage a group to get to know each other without speaking and show that everyone in a team has a connection. Another great takeaway from this activity is to take note of the diversity (or lack thereof) in the room and consider this as a point for future team development. 

Break the Ice with The Four Quadrants Activity

Sometimes pictures are better than words when it comes to helping a team get to know one another. Creative games like this one can also be especially effective at helping introverts or distanced teams share with the group.

Start by handing out sheets of paper and inviting each participant to draw a 2×2 grid and pose four questions to the group. Each team member draws their answer in one of the grid squares and once the time limit is up, invite the group to share. If you’re looking for a fun game that encourages creative thinking while being visual and memorable, look no further! 

Just One Lie

Not all team building games need to reinvent the wheel. Particularly with new teams or groups that aren’t used to team building, keeping it simple with a tried and tested method can be your best bet.

Just One Lie is adapted from the well-known icebreaker two truths and a lie, though encourages participants to mingle and share lots of facts about themselves with one another – great for breaking the ice and getting to know one another too!

Life Map

Both groups and individuals go through many twists, turns and changes throughout their life. At its best, team building not only helps create better teams but allows time for reflection and deeper sharing between participants.

With Life Map, encourage your group to draw or create a collage of their life story they can then share with the team. This kind of deeper getting to know your exercise can really help bring a team together and allow for meaningful self-reflection too! 

Personal Presentation

Team building is all about building trust and openness between teammates. Sharing personal experiences and enlarging the social aspects of the group with presentations not only allows everyone to get to know each other but also encourages team development skills too.

For this team building method, ask each participant to prepare a presentation including three things that have shaped who they are as a person. Encourage creative thinking by asking teams to use simple drawings and words to visualize their presentation too.

Passions Tic Tac Toe

Helping employees get to know each other more deeply and connect beyond the scope of their job roles is a great space to explore with a team building exercise. In this activity, your entire team fills in a 3×3 grid with a passion or core value in each of the boxes. Then, ask your group to mingle and compare passions.

When someone finds a match, they each sign for the other person in that square of the grid. Declare your first winner as the person who gets three passions in a row. This team building exercise works well for remote workers and is a great way for your entire team to get to know each other a little better.

Office Trivia Challenge

In Office Trivia, employees are asked to get into small teams and answer questions as a group. You’ll need a set of 15-20+ questions, the majority of which relate to your organization, company culture and little known facts from around the office.

Office Trivia is a fun, low-stakes way of helping your team get to know each other better while also reviewing key company information. Try throwing in some questions about KPIs or company values to bring these things into employee awareness. Mix in some lighthearted questions about your team members and some general knowledge and the result is great for any team building session.

Human Knot

Team meetings can sometimes be heavy going, but they don’t need to be. Human Knot is a fun team building game that encourages your group to loosen up while working together to solve a puzzle that involves their bodies!

Start Human Knot by getting your team members into groups of 7-12 people. Ask each group to stand in a circle, close their eyes and then link hands with two other people in the circle. Next, ask each group to work to untangle the human knot they have created without breaking the chain. This is a really fun game that requires clear communication, collaboration and a little flexibility too!

Quick team building activities for getting to know others

Team building doesn’t have to take all day. While running dedicated team workshops like a team canvas workshop can have a profound effect on team dynamics, you can also run team building exercises in as little as 5-10 minutes.

In this section, we’ll share some effective yet quick team building activities you might use to warm-up your group and kick off the team building process. If you’re looking for quick team building activities to easily slot into your meetings and events, this is a great place to start!

Best and Worst

Teambuilding activities are often at their most effective when you ignite the passions of everyone in a group and bring up talking points that enable people to share something of themselves with the team.

Best and Worst asks each participant to ask one question about the best and worst thing they want to learn from the group. For example, “What’s the best recipe you know?” or “What’s the worst injury you’ve ever had?” After putting all the questions in a hat and choosing a random pair, invite the group to share their answers and related stories.

Group Order

Supporting the get-to-know process at the start of a session or with a new team can be as simple as asking participants to group themselves together based on what they know about each other and inviting them to find out what they don’t.

This activity requires nothing more than getting your group together in a room and asking them to line themselves up in an order based on a criterion such as distance from home to the workplace, birth date in the calendar year or number of different countries visited. You’ll be surprised at how easy it is to get people talking and sharing when in pursuit of a common goal.

Happiness Exercise

Good teams know how to appreciate one another and share joyful, happy experiences. When a new team is getting to know each other, using an exercise that encourages the sharing of positive stories and experiences not only allows people to connect but also builds a positive atmosphere in the room.

You might also use this team building activity at work or with a more established team. If your team has been going through a challenging period, it can be transformational to share things that make everyone happy and defuse stress or tension as a team.

Name Juggling

Working with new teams means having new names to learn. Team building starts with getting to know everyone, but how can we make this more fun and dynamic than simple introductions?

In this get to know you game, start by having everyone stand in a circle and introduce themselves by name. Introduce a ball and have people state someone’s name before throwing the ball to that person. That person thanks the person who passed the ball by name before then passing the ball on to someone else. Once people get comfortable, spice things up by introducing more balls and trying to keep them in the air!

Open Fist

Finding you have things in common with other team members is one of the cornerstones of effective teamwork and communication. While conversation games or other team building activities might ask for an in-depth approach, Open Fist helps teams bond with a simple, effective activity.

Sharing little known facts about ourselves can help teams be more cohesive and by limiting the number of shared facts to the amount of fingers on a hand, this quick team building activity can fit into an agenda with ease.

Cross the Circle

Finding common ground and shared experiences across a diverse group is what team building is all about. In this playful team building activity, participants are encouraged to cross the circle in response to questions posed by a person in the middle.

For example, “Cross through the circle if you have worked here more than 5 years.” or “Cross through the circle if you can play an instrument.” After each stage, a new person gets to pose a question and your team gets to know one another and their commonalities in a simple, effective way.

Sync Claps

This fast-paced exercise is fun but gently challenging game that helps create focus and presence in a group. Get started by getting your team into a circle and ask them to move a clap around the room quickly by having two members clap at the same time.

By asking your group to synchronize and move quickly, sync claps is a fun way to energize the room and help your group feel more connected.

Fun team building activities

In an increasingly stressful environment of deadlines and meetings, it’s worth remembering the value of joy, play and simply have fun as a team.

Injecting fun and laughter into your team building event is effective on many levels. We often recommend starting a session with one of these activities, as they can help set a more relaxed and personable tone in an instant.

We’ve also found that some of the more memorable moments of our sessions have come out of these kinds of activities. It’s lovely to have something funny to reference in future meetings too!

Bringing team members out of their shells and loosening them up with a funny game can also help prevent existing hierarchies or team structures from affecting the team building session. 

You can also use these funny team building activities to kick off your session, or when the energy levels drop and you need to get your team re-engaged for the team workshop ahead. Let’s take a look.

Bang

Having fun and energizing your team is a great way to kick off your team building event. Bang is a simple and effective game that encourages quick reactions and fun – perfect for both new and established teams to play together! 

Start by electing a sheriff and having the rest of the group stand in a circle around them. The sheriff spins around and points at one person in the circle and says “bang!” That person then crouches as quickly as possible. The two people on either side of the person crouching must quickly point at each other and shout the other’s name. Whoever does not react quickly enough is eliminated. Try using this one at the beginning of a team building event to really loosen up the group!

Build-a-Shake

Creating a secret handshake was something many of us did as kids. This team building activity taps into that same sense of creativity and also encourages team members to get to know each other while sharing and building on their handshake in pairs. By moving between pairs and teaching others the steps of your handshake, this also helps create group closeness and cohesion. We love team building activities or office games that encourage people to bring a little of themselves to the table and Build-a-Shake is a great example of that!  

Count Up

Simple tasks that require team focus, cohesion, and awareness are great for any group working on team building. In Count Up, a team has to come together and count up to twenty with their eyes closed and without any other communication. People cannot say more than one number at a time, and if two people speak at the same time, the group must start over. 

Though it seems simple, this team building exercise can really demonstrate the power of effective teamwork and is a great opener for a team building workshop. 

Follow the Leader

When performing online team building, simple activities are often the best strategy in ensuring participation and removing frustration. Follow the Leader is a great team building energiser suitable for online and offline teams.

In virtual settings, put Zoom into gallery view and invite people to perform an action in the frame of their screen that other participants have to follow. Being a little silly is encouraged and this team building exercise often results in laughter and energy as a result! 

Portrait Gallery

Creative team building activities are great for breaking the ice or energising a team via play. In Portrait Gallery, you and your team will collaboratively create portraits of everyone in the group and have a fun, electric set of portraits to display afterward.

Start by splitting your group into two teams. Team B will draw portraits of Team A, though every 10-15 seconds, they’ll pass their current drawing to the next person to continue. By the end of this team building game, you’ll have a set of eclectic portraits for everyone in the group and have broken the ice significantly too! 

Snowball

Fun team building games are a great way to start any group development process, and they’re even better if they energize the team too! Snowball is a great activity for getting people out of their seats and moving around while also breaking the ice. 

Start by asking a question relevant to your group and ask each participant to write an answer on a piece of paper. Once that’s done, invite everyone to crumple their paper and come to the centre of the room to have a snowball fight! After a few minutes, ask everyone to keep a snowball and find the person who wrote the answer. Not only does this team building exercise invite energy into the room, but it encourages people to get to know each other too.

Celebrity Party

You’ve likely played the game where you stick the name of a random celebrity on your head while then asking questions to help you guess who it is. (Or at least seen a film where someone else does it!) It’s simple, but it absolutely works when you want to break the ice or just generate some laughter and conversation.

This classic team building game is a great way to warm up large groups, encouraging mingling and have fun too. Ask participants to be creative, keep it light and not to give hints and you have all the makings of an effective team building exercise.

Non-verbal improv

Whether you’re working with remote teams or co-located groups, having fun when you get together should never be undervalued. We love simple games that are also ways to begin conversations about how we’d like to work together more effectively.

This improv game is easy to touch and is a great way to build team connections while raising some smiles. Start by preparing some actions on post-it notes, such as drinking a glass of water or eating pasta. Next, invite participants to mime the action without speaking. Include more difficult and amusing scenarios to challenge the group and create some funny opportunities for team connection!

Rock, Paper, Scissors (Tournament)

Encouraging team members to play and have fun is an often overlooked aspect of building better teams. Play is an inherently human activity, and by doing this as a team, we can start to see ourselves as more than just a group of people who work together.

In this version of Rock, Paper, Scissors, large groups pair off until only two players remain for a final showdown. We love that losing players become fans of the winners and cheer them on. This is a quick and easy team game that can build excitement and get the group ready for deeper team building activities to come!

The Viking

Fun team building activities often ask the group to let go of their inhibitions and find space to be playful and silly. This game from Hyper Island encourages the group to perform some loud, exuberant moves to emulate our favourite historical raiders – the Vikings.

You might use this activity during a longer workshop or meeting to energize a group and create a memorable moment with your team. For bonus points, have a group photographer capture those moments and put them on a history wall for reflection later!

Wink Murder

We love team building exercises that include space for friendly competition and laughter. Wink murder is a variation on a classic party game that asks every team member to try and catch the wink assassin, whose job it is to eliminate the other players by winking at them without being caught.

We especially like the fact this game makes team members to use creative thinking while playing. Run multiple rounds with extra rules such as adding an accomplice to spice things up and have even more fun!

Team building activities for small groups

Team work doesn’t always come naturally, and effective team collaboration needs attention, reflection and work in order to happen. It’s not enough to just assume your team members will be able to work together efficiently: all teams can benefit from a strategic and well-thought approach to how they communicate and collaborate.

Whether you’re having a team away day or using methods expressly designed to improve collaboration and communication in small groups, you’ll find inspiration in the activities here!

These team building games are helpful whether you’re trying to solve miscommunication or collaboration issues, or just want to strengthen your company culture or communication skills in small groups.

Conflict Responses

It’s important to remember that every team is made up of individuals and sometimes, conflicts or disagreements can arise. While its regular working practice to disagree, our responses to conflict and how we deal with them when they arise are in our control and can be improved.

In this exercise, reflect on previous conflicts as a team and collectively create a set of guidelines to use in the future. Resolving issues effectively is a massive part of team collaboration, and by including all team members in this process you can get more meaningful results too.

Heard, Seen, Respected

Team empathy is a vital ingredient of good team work though whatever the size of your organization, it can sometimes be difficult to walk in the shoes of others and see things from other perspectives.

Heard, Seen, Respected is a team building activity designed to help participants practice deeper empathy for colleagues and build the kinds of bonds and working practices that can improve team collaboration. By inviting participants to notice patterns in the stories shared and find common takeaways, it’s a great way to get everyone involved on the same page and improve communication skills too.

Myers-Briggs Team Reflection

One potential obstacle to effective team collaboration is when members of the group don’t fully understand one another. Team building activities for work that encourage participants to not only try and understand their colleagues but themselves can be especially helpful when helping a team be more cohesive.

In this activity, invite your group to first take a version of the Myers-Briggs personality test. Start by asking each team member to reflect on their own personality type before then moving towards small group discussion. 

When using this activity, it’s important to correctly frame the usage of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) framework: This can be a useful framework to understand different communication preferences between people, but team members should not be labeled or put into boxes based on their self-reported preferences. 

Strength Building exercise

Exercises for team building come in many varieties. In this activity, the emphasis is on the team championing one another and increasing confidence, self esteem and mutual trust.

Start by asking team members to share an event where they accomplished something that made them feel good about themselves. The rest of the team chimes in to suggest two to three strengths they must have exhibited in order to achieve the accomplishment. Team collaboration often means helping others on the team achieve their best, and this activity helps the group uplift one another meaningfully and effectively.

Strength Envelopes

All members of a team have unique strengths, capabilities and working preferences. When working as a group, you can improve engagement and group workflow by having each participant utilize their strengths and do work that interests them the most.

With this team building activity, ask participants to write their name on an envelope and invite other members of their team to spend a few minutes writing down strength statements for that person. Place these in the envelope and pass them along so at the end of the session, each person has a set full of strengths they can use as the basis for reflection. 

Team of Two

Whether you work in a small startup or a multinational organisation, the reality is that a large part of your working day will be spent working in pairs and interacting on a one-to-one basis. Whether in-person, over email or on video chat, finding ways to work together more effectively is vital for effective teams.

Try this team building exercise to help empower your groups toward more effective communication skills and have more meaningful interpersonal relationships at work. As a member of a remote team, I’ve found this method to be personally useful time and time again.

What I Need From You (WINFY)

Some of the best team building activities focus on helping your group improve their teamwork skills and communicate and collaborate better as a team. A sometimes overlooked part of working as a team is clearly articulating what you need from other people and knowing how to ask for it.

What I Need From You is a team building method designed to help team members better articulate their core needs and be transparent with the group. This leads to a more cohesive team that works together with integrity and understanding.

Physical team building activities

Teams often come together to solve big problems as a group. Whether in the form of large projects or daily collaboration, improving this skill is something all teams should do – in or out of a conference room!

Improving team work and problem solving skills with a physical game that asks for communication, collaboration and creative thinking is a wonderful way to bring everyone together.

By engaging team members in this way, they not only have fun, but they learn how to work together more effectively and reflect on how they can take that learning back to their day work.

In this section, we’ll look at team building exercises you can use to encourage creative thinking, build problem solving skills and teamwork in an experiential, physical way!

Blind Square – Rope Game

Nothing energizes a team workshop like a seemingly simple problem that also gets everyone moving and engaged. In this team problem solving game, start by tying a length of rope into a circle and invite the participants to plan how to make the rope into a perfect square while blindfolded.

After planning time, team members is blindfolded and has ten minutes to form a perfect square. By debriefing afterwards, your group will find communication, planning and attention to detail are all important aspects of creative problem solving – all while having fun too!

Crocodile River

We love team building activities that challenge the group to work together in inventive ways and also help energize a workshop setting. Crocodile River is a team problem solving exercise that challenges team members to support one another physically as they look to move across a wide outdoor space and reach the finish line together.

By changing the setting and inviting problem solving and strategic thinking to solve a challenge, your group not only stretches their problem solving muscles but also works on team communication, leadership and cooperation. As with any more abstract team building game, be sure to debrief afterward for best results!

Egg Drop

Classic team building games like Egg Drop offer tried and tested ways to encourage teams to solve problems together while improving the way they communicate. This game often generates a bunch of laughter and creative thinking too – how can we save this poor egg!

In this team problem solving activity, invite small groups to build a freestanding structure that can support the dropping of an egg from seven feet. Include some caveats and challenges to make it more difficult and encourage an even greater degree of team collaboration. Just make sure you bring a mop for afterwards!

Helium Stick

Bringing team members together with problem solving activities that also encourages play can perform multiple functions. Not only do you encourage teamwork and the building of various team skills but you can have fun and promote laughter too.

Helium Stick is an example of a simple team building game that does double duty by encouraging fun, physical activity while introducing and exploring some core team building concepts. Ask the group to lower a long pole to the ground while keeping all of their fingers in contact with the pole at all times – more difficult than it first appears!

Lego Challenge

Creating something is often the purpose of bringing your team members together. Tap into the engaging process of co-creation and collaboration with this team building game using LEGO.

Building on the concept of LEGO Serious Play, this exercise is a great way of encouraging play, out-of-the-box thinking and creative approaches to existing problems. Additionally, each team member has a secret assignment which increases the challenge and encourages finding inventive ways to cooperate effectively and achieve both personal and team goals. 

Marshmallow Challenge with Debriefing 

Real-life challenges are often time-sensitive and need to be considered thoughtfully and pragmatically. Team building activities for work are especially effective when they help create this same sense of urgency while encouraging team work.

In just eighteen minutes, groups must build the tallest free-standing structure out of materials including: spaghetti, tape, string, and one marshmallow, placing this last item on top. In this version of the team building game, there’s a debriefing section which encourages reflection on the roles of everyone in the team. 

Spider Web

Getting outside and doing fun, physical activity can be a great way to bond teams and mix up a normal working routine. In this team problem solving game, participants are asked to work to make holes in a grid of string and rope that can safely and effectively accommodate everyone in the group getting through at once. Team members are not allowed to touch the string or rope and with diverse groups, the difficulty this presents makes for an interesting problem solving challenge for teams to solve. 

Stress Balls

At one point or another, most teams will be asked to perform effectively under pressure, whether that’s generated by internal or external stressors. By using team building games that help participants work together and communicate effectively even under difficult circumstances you can prepare your team members for almost anything!

Stress Balls is a fun game to help start exploring team resilience and problem solving under pressure, and it’s easy to run with large groups too! Start by simply passing a single ball around the room before adding more complex rules to help team members learn a valuable lesson about communication and teamwork!

Scavenger Hunt

Activities that encourage groups to use teamwork and communication to achieve their goals are great ways to build team spirit. A classic scavenger hunt is a wonderful way to bring large groups together and have fun doing something a bit different!

Be sure to use office trivia, inside jokes or aspects of your company culture to inform this fun team building activity. You’ll find it much more effective if it’s tailored to your group. Bonus points if you can mix in activities that speak to the various departments or skillsets in the group during your scavenger hunt!

In the virtual-friendly version below, you’ll also find rules to help you run this activity with a remote team.

Team bonding activities

Mutual trust is a vital ingredient for any group of people working together, though it doesn’t always emerge organically. Taking the opportunity to build team bonds and create trust creates benefits for team connection, happiness and your company culture too!

While many of the fun team building activities above will bring your team together in some way, these methods are designed to expressly create better team bonds and build trust.

When working on improving team trust, we recommend being open about the goals of the exercise and encouraging the group to be honest. Being intentional during these activities can really help bring the group together!

Trust Battery

Great teamwork isn’t just about bringing a group of people together into the same space. Without honesty, openness, and trust, your team can’t collaborate effectively and can lead to frustration or frazzled relationships.

Trust Battery is a team building activity designed to help all members of your group reflect on their trust levels and rebuild those batteries with lower levels. By encouraging all members of a team to meaningfully reflect, you can enable better team collaboration and help your team feel closer and more cohesive too.

Telling Our Stories

Everyone has a story to tell, though without a framework or guiding principles, surfacing those stories in a way that makes everyone feel safe and head can be tricky – especially for new teams. Team building activities that combine self reflection, sharing and structure are great for helping people to get to know each other deeply and build better bonds.

In Telling Our Stories, invite participants to reflect on childhood, young adulthood and today while answering questions on colored post-it notes. By sharing from the full gamut of our experiences, your team can get to know one another meaningfully and create trust too. 

Better Connections

Great teamwork and collaboration is all about building stronger relationships and connections and this often means taking the time to see each other as more than just our job title. Once we get a fuller picture of who we are outside the office, everyone can feel more seen and understood. This is one of the cornerstones of team bonding and trust!

Encourage people who know each other the least to pair up and create space for meaningful reflection too – your team culture will thank you for it! It’s also a great way to improve communication skills and break down silos.

Feedback: Current Strongest Impression

Giving and receiving feedback is a great team building activity that sees benefits long after your session. When we find ways to be more open with one another and say what we really think, the results can be transformative for any group.

This activity is a great one to bring to any event where you want to improve team bonding, as it creates a safe and simple way to start practicing more honest feedback. The next time you think about how to improve the way your team works together, think about whether you have a good feedback culture. The trust that good, open feedback can create is a fundamental part of any high performing team!

Trust

When a team doesn’t trust one another, the atmosphere and culture of a team suffers. Creating space to align and create a shared understanding of what trust means to your team is a great way to build team bonds and improve the way you all work together.

Start this activity by bringing together a set of trust cards containing characteristics, behaviours, attitudes, habits, values, and beliefs associated with trust in the workplace. Next, ask participants to create their own trust cards and move towards creating three core trust cards for your team.

By co-creating the output together, this team building activity is great for ensuring buy-in and creating long-lasting trust.

Translated Rant

Team building workshops are a great place to give your team room to have fun, vent and be honest with one another. Creating space for honesty while also building communication skills is the goal of this fun team building activity!

Split your group into pairs and have one person rant about a pet peeve for 60 seconds. Next, have the other person translate this rant while focusing on what the person really cares about. This kind of deep listening activity is fundamental to creating team trust, and sharing some of our annoyances in the group is great for building bonds too!

Team building activities for purpose and alignment

Even the best teams can have differences of opinion and approach. While different viewpoints and perspectives are useful in many situations, it’s also vital that everyone is aligned on team purpose and vision.

Aligning on how the team will work together is an important part of helping the team be happy, productive and pulling in the same direction.

In this section, we’ll look at team work activities to help improve team alignment and get everyone working towards the same purpose. Let’s get started!

Alignment & Autonomy

Activities that help improve each member of your team work more effectively and feel empowered to operate autonomously can be great for improving employee happiness and productivity. If we feel aligned on the core purpose and goals of our team while also being given the space to work in the way that is right for us, we can boost employee engagement and job satisfaction too! 

In Alignment & Autonomy, invite participants to reflect on times when they felt aligned and autonomous versus non-aligned and non-autonomous. By sharing, reflecting, and then ideating on solutions, your whole group can move forward together.

Engineering Your Team OS

When seeking to improve teamwork, it can be useful to think of your team as a system with complex, interlocking parts which may need a gradual refresh and redesign. This kind of abstraction can help prevent discussions from becoming too personal or difficult and ensure that your team alignment efforts are a success.

In this activity, your team designs an ideal working system by making aspirational statements and then methodically chooses a single statement to work towards ahead of the next meeting. By making positive changes incrementally, your team can achieve alignment and better working practices in a meaningful and sustainable manner. 

Generative Relationships STAR

Better working relationships start with shared reflection and the discovery and discussion of existing working patterns. This team alignment activity invites participants to assess their team along four vertices: Separateness, Tuning, Action and Reason and jointly shape next steps and future actions.

By including the whole team in the alignment process from start to finish, you can get meaningful buy-in and see real results! We love using this on an online whiteboard too. It can be a great way to help remote workers consider their inter-personal relationships!

Team Canvas Session

Team alignment isn’t always straightforward. The more large, complex or multi-discipline your team is, the trickier it can be to help the group mesh and understand their roles and responsibilities to the team and each other.

In Team Canvas Session, you and your team create a shared visual resource for understanding and articulating your goals, values and roles of your team. It can be used for general alignment, for onboarding new team members and even for defining the structure and purpose of a brand new team – simply recreate or download the team canvas and get started today!

Team Self Assessment

All groups need to go through a period of reflection and self-assessment in order to grow. But without structure or a guiding framework, these discussions can become bogged down or unproductive. With this reflective team building activity, you can enable a thoughtful and thorough team self-assessment along six guiding dimensions.

Start with individual reflection before bringing everyone back together to debrief and see what you’re aligned on and what needs more work. By then narrowing these down to the most important elements, you can align and enable better co-working practices quickly and efficiently!

Letter from the Future

Without a cohesive shared vision, teams can become unproductive or harbor frustration on team direction. By spending time with visioning activities, you can help everyone push in the same direction while still utilizing their unique talents.

In Letter from the Future, invite your team to imagine all the changes that might impact them in the next 5 years and write a letter back from that point. Ask your team to cover what’s been accomplished in those five years, and what kind of challenges and obstacles were overcome to make this happen. Remember to remind teams that good letters have a beginning, middle, and end and that they should read clearly – this will help during the sharing and debriefing section of this method!

Team Purpose & Culture

Defining your team’s purpose and culture is an integral part of team building. By clearly articulating why your team exists and how you will all work together to fulfill that purpose, you can align and bring focus to all the work you do. This team values and vision activity aims to create a shared visual resource that your team can refer to in the future.

It also uses wisdom from other successful organizations to help enable meaningful conversation and move from individual purpose statements to a single one for the whole team. If you’re looking for a complete process that can guide your team values and vision efforts, this method from Hyper Island is worth a try!

Checkout and recap activities for your team building workshop

The process of team building and enabling a group to work together more effectively can be involved and exhaustive.

As with any group process or workshop, taking the time to reflect, recap and check out can ensure the lasting impact of what was covered in the session.

You’ll often find that finding time to close team building activities creates space for further employee engagement and reflection. Getting team members involved in choosing the next activity or coming up with a theme for the next round of office trivia!

In this section, we’ll take a look at some great team building activities for closing a session and for recapping the main learning points. Let’s dive in!

Check-in / Check-out

Ensuring everyone in a group is present, focused and committed to the work of a session is a vital ingredient in making a team building session a success. With this workshop method from Hyper Island, you can not only start and end your session the right way, but you can help everyone in your group be seen, heard and understood by the rest of the team.

This is especially useful with a remote team, where ensuring clear connection between team members who don’t share a physical office is especially important.

This activity also helps encourage reflection and brings the workshop to an effective close – be sure to give it a try!

Bus Trip

The trip back from a team building event is a great place to share feedback and appreciate one another. Don’t have a bus? No worries! Create a few rows of chairs and simulate the experience for this reflective closing activity.

Once you’ve gotten the chairs of the bus set-up, ask participants to speak the person next to them and share: what they like about the other person, what they appreciate and what about the other person makes them happy. Speak for just 45 seconds each and then ask the group to switch seats.

One Breath Feedback

In particularly large teams, it can be tempting to forgo the closing activity or individual feedback steps just because it will take so long and it can be hard to maintain energy and interest. One Breath Feedback solves this problem by giving each participant the space of a single breath to check out and reflect on the session. By ensuring that everyone has room to speak and be heard while also placing a time limit on the reflection, you can cap off a team building workshop effectively and intelligently.

What is the main purpose of a team building activity? 

The main purpose of any team-building activity is on improving some aspects of how a team works together while bringing everyone together in a shared experience.

This might include working on communication, collaboration, alignment, team values, motivation, and anything else that can enable a group to work together more effectively. It might also include resolving conflicts, sharing skills, or simply bringing your group together in a shared experience.

Broadly speaking, any team building effort should be designed to help bring team members closer or find ways to first define and then move towards your shared goals as a group.

As Forbes notes, team building is “most important investment you can make for your people.” On this point, it’s worth noting that team building doesn’t just happen during the activity and so being purposeful your choice of exercise is important.

The best team building activities hold space for building connections in a way that spills over into day-to-day work and creates lasting bonds. It’s not enough to throw your team into an escape room or scavenger hunt without first thinking about why or how this will benefit your team!

After you’ve chosen some engaging team building activities, it’s time to design a complete process that will engage your team while achieving your desired outcomes.

SessionLab makes it easy to build a complete team building agenda in minutes. Start by dragging and dropping blocks, add activity timings and adjust your session flow to create an effective session.

Team building workshop templates

Building better teams often starts with designing an effective group process. Whether this takes the form of a workshop or meeting, you’ll want a balance of activities, ice breakers and reflective methods in order to help your group align and grow together.    

In this next section, we’ll take a look at some example processes with a complete workshop template you can use to get started. Let’s take a look.

Team development day for a new team

Helping new teams to bond and find a shared purpose and value system is often best achieved with a well designed group process. Try the team development day template when working with a brand new team or one which has seen large growth and is in need of development.

Here, you’ll find a complete one-day group process full of team building activities that can take a group from getting to know each other all the way through to defining their needs and making commitments. 

Emotional Culture Workshop

Good teams are empathetic and in touch with their emotions. Using the emotional culture deck, this workshop can be run in under 3 hours and helps your team define and improve working relationships and the emotional culture of your team.

Taking the time to articulate and define these items ensures that everyone in your group is seen, understood and valued, and that you have a shared language for moving forward.

Team Dynamics Workshop

Cohesive teams that work well together are those with an understanding about what makes a team and how it functions.

Support your team building activities with this half-day workshop template and guide your group through a process of understanding and building on the dynamics of working together. 

Team building sessions made easy

Designing an effective team building workshop means creating a balanced agenda of activities and group discussions while also keeping everything on time.

With SessionLab, you drag, drop and reorder blocks to build your agenda in minutes.

Your session timing adjusts automatically as you make changes and when you’re done, you can share a beautiful printout with your colleagues and participants.

Explore how teams use SessionLab to collaboratively design effective workshops and meetings or watch this five minute video to see the planner in action!

Over to you

Enabling better teamwork and building stronger, more cohesive teams isn’t easy. Whether you’re running a team building day, team workshop, or simply adding some team building activities to your meetings, we hope that some of the methods above can help you and your group come together and do better work. 

Looking for a quick team building activity you can add to any session? Explore our collection of 5-minute team building activities for a set of quick and simple activities you can bring to any meeting.

Got a team workshop to plan? Check out our complete guide to workshop planning to make the process a breeze. Want to start creating your agenda quickly? Use a meeting or workshop template to save time designing or get inspiration.

Which of these team building activities is your favourite? Is there anything missing from the list above? Let us know in the comments! We’d love to hear about how we can all improve our team building efforts.

In this post, we’ll share some of the best team building activities you can run with zero-prep and with in-person and remote teams alike.

You’ll find tried and tested activities used by experienced facilitators and team leaders alongside instructions for using them. Let’s take a look.

Why run 5-minute team building activities?

As Forbes notes, team building is one of the best investments you can make in your team. Five minutes isn’t a long time. So is it worth running a team building activity that short at all? Absolutely!

With the right activity, you’ll be surprised at how much you can accomplish and the kind of connections and moments you can create. Here’s why you should run quick team building activities during your team meetings and workshops.

• Team building activities create a foundation for further conversation and connection. Whether you’re working with new team members or established groups, the conversations you begin in your chosen activity encourage open communication in the session ahead.

• 5-minute team building activities are great ways to improve collaboration and team cohesion in short order. Starting a workshop with a quick problem solving game can help shift the group into the collaborative, productive mindset, rather than being hung-up on what came before or is scheduled to happen after the meeting.

• Quick team building activities can create a jolt of energy that refreshes the group and keeps them engaged. If you’re running a long session, team building games are a great way to create balance and variation in your workshop agenda, keeping things fresh while still allowing you to finish on time.

• Even short activities can help remote teams feel more connected and embodied. Often, we can zone out during virtual meetings and when working alone. A quick activity that encourages us to get out of our chairs or switch perspectives can help us land back in our bodies and reconnect to the other people in the session.

In a world of virtual or hybrid work and shortened attention spans, facilitators have an opportunity – and the responsibility – to bring the body back into the workspace.

Myriam Hadnes, host of Workshops Work

• Ultimately, people are not robots who just exist to work. Working hard as a team and something you all care about is connective, but so is taking a moment to remember why you appreciate each other as people, not just as colleagues.
  
  5-minute team building activities are an easy way to take a breath together as a team and remember that you’re all people who deserve empathy and kindness.

The best 5-minute team building activities

Below, you’ll find our list of tried and tested activities that can be run in just five minutes. Most of these activities require zero prep; many can be run equally well with in-person or remote teams.

You’ll find a brief explanation of each team building activity and a link to full instructions in the SessionLab library, an open source collection of 1000+ activities you can bring to your meetings, training sessions and workshops.

You might also find our full collection of team building activities helpful if you want to go into more depth or find an exercise for a specific purpose such as building collaboration skills, getting aligned or just having fun as a team.

Appreciations Exercise 

The Appreciations Exercise is a simple but effective way to create good vibes, improve team morale and create positive momentum at any point of a session.  

Team members sit in a circle and each write their name on the bottom of a piece of paper. Next, each person hands their paper to the person on their left, who writes some words of appreciation and thanks for that person. They fold the paper over so those words are hidden and continue passing the paper around the group. The activity ends once the paper returns to the starting player.

Here at SessionLab, we run this activity online at our end-of-year team meetup online. To run it online, create spaces on a Miro or Mural whiteboard for each team member, then ask everyone to write notes there. Special tip: to help keep notes anonymous, we write them yellow-on-yellow so text stays invisible until you click on it!

Giving appreciation to colleagues can help cement bonds, build team spirit and give the entire group a boost. Whenever we run this activity, people feel good and more connected to others in just a few minutes!

Two truths and one lie

Two Truths and One Lie is a tried and tested team building game, probably one of the best-known out there! As such, it has acquired a bit of a reputation as something meaningless and stale, but we beg to differ: if done well, it can be fun and bring people together.

In this game, each person will present three statements about themselves: two statements must be true while one will be a lie. For example:

• I have been teaching for 10 years.
• I have a pet cat called, “Mini”
• I lived in Rome for a year.

Don’t put people on the spot: give them a few moments to work out what they want to share about themselves, and to make their lie a smart one.

Our favorite use of this game is actually with teams who know one another well: it’s when we think we have nothing new to learn about our teammates that we can really be surprised!

Icebreaker Questions

Icebreaker questions are a fast and effective way to help in-person and remote teams form connections and get to know each other better.

Needing almost no set-up whatsoever, icebreaker questions and conversation starters are a simple but powerful way to kick-off a team meeting or group session. You can separate team members into small groups or pairs and simply ask them to respond to a single question you share with the group. If you have more time to prep, you can create a set of questions people can choose to ask.

For best results, have one or more of these questions relate to the topic of the session to help prime the group for what come’s next. For example, if you’re running a training session on conflict resolution, why not encourage team members to talk about what makes them angry or what helps them stay calm.

Sometimes people interpret this type of activity as putting pressure on them to talk about very personal matters, and it should never be this way. A pro tip is to always remind everyone to keep their contributions as light or as deep as they are comfortable with.

Who are you? The Pirate Ship Exercise

The Pirate Ship exercise is a simple but powerful activity for helping teams reflect on their feelings and align on roles within the group.

Start by showing participants the image of the below pirate ship and ask them to silently choose which of the 20 characters they most align with in relation to the team or the project you’re working on. Some team members might pick the lookout or the captain while others may pick the person firing a cannon or pretending to be a shark!

You can easily run The Pirate Ship exercise in five minutes, though extending it with a debrief about the roles everyone chose can be a great way to create alignment and shared understanding.

Group Order

Group Order is a simple exercise that supports the getting-to-know-you process at the start of a session and gets people moving. Helping engage and integrate a new team can be as simple as asking participants to group themselves together based on what they know about each other and inviting them to find out what they don’t.

Group Order requires nothing more than getting your group together in a room and asking them to line themselves up in an order based on a criterion such as distance from home to the workplace, birth date in the calendar year or number of different countries visited. You’ll be surprised at how easy it is to get people talking and sharing when in pursuit of a common goal.

Pro tip: after running this activity with a couple of “obvious” criteria such as the ones above, ask participants to come up with questions they are curious about themselves.

Name Juggling

Working with new teams means having new names to learn. Team building starts with getting to know everyone, but how can we make this more fun and dynamic than simple introductions?

Name Juggling is a get to know you game that also serves to energize the group and get them moving. Start by having everyone stand in a circle and introduce themselves by name. Introduce a ball and have people state someone’s name before throwing the ball to that person. That person thanks the person who passed the ball by name before then passing the ball on to someone else. Once people get comfortable with Name Juggling, spice things up by introducing more balls and trying to keep them in the air!

With this and any other game that is based on movement and/or dexterity, always be aware of any people with disabilities in the room, and apply your common sense to whether it’s adequate to the group and situation.

Open Fist

Open First is a fast, fun activity where team members work to find things they have common with one another in order to build cohesion and improve group communication.

Start by asking team members to sit in a circle. The first player calls out an interesting and little known fact about themselves. (Examples might include: I have traveled to Japan, I like science fiction novels, or I play the piano.) Ask the other team members to open one finger from their fist if this statement is also true for them.

Sharing little known facts about ourselves can help teams be more cohesive and by limiting the number of shared facts to the amount of fingers on a hand, this quick team building activity can fit into any agenda and facilitate team bonding with ease. It’s always surprising to find out how many more things unite us than divide us!

Quotes

The Quotes team building activity is a simple way to help team members start meaningful discussions and get to know each other more deeply.

Start by assembling a number of meaningful quotes relating to the topic of your workshop or teamwork in general. (Google or BrainyQuote can help here!) Next, distribute one quote to each person and ask folks to pair up and discuss what the quotes mean to them.

Though this activity can go for much longer, even a single five-minute conversation between pairs or small groups can help set the stage for the session ahead and improve team cohesion.

I’ve found the Quotes exercise particularly useful when discussing company culture or engaging critical thinking skills at the start of a team building session. Choose your quotes accordingly and there’s little you cannot cover with this activity!

Cross the Circle

Cross the Circle is a playful team building activity where participants are encouraged to cross a circle of people in response to questions posed by a person in the middle. It’s a simple variation on many get-to-know-you games, though it’s especially effective when you might want to create more energy in a team or create breakout groups as a result of your opening activity.

Start by getting everyone in a circle and having one person make a statement based on a personal fact. For example, “Cross through the circle if you have worked here more than 5 years.” or “Cross through the circle if you can play an instrument.” After each stage, a new person gets to pose a statement and you continue until everyone has moved at least once.

I’ve found Cross the Circle is especially useful when introducing new team members to the group but it also has a bit of a secret power. In my experience, it’s so easy for team members to fall into familiar pattens, cliques and even places where they stand in a meeting room. Literally changing where we stand can help bring a fresh energy to a session, so give it a go if this is what you need!

Sync Claps

Sync claps is a fast-paced exercise that helps create focus and presence in a group. Get started by getting your team into a circle and ask them to move a clap around the room quickly by having two members clap at the same time.

By asking your group to synchronise and move quickly, Sync Claps is a fun way to energize the room and help your group feel more connected. By introducing complexity and multiple claps, you can easily up the ante and give your group a sense of satisfaction when they finally get it right! Sync claps is a great way to build team spirit in just a few minutes!

Stand up if

Stand up if is a great example of a simple team building activity that can help create connection points in minutes. Begin with a small set of yes/no questions that will allow folks to share and learn a little about each other. As facilitator, ask the first question and invite people to stand-up if the statement is true for them.

Some example questions might be:

1. Have you ever climbed a mountain?
2. Have you ever been horse riding?
3. Have you ever done bungee jumping.

I recommend starting with some fairly simple, universal questions and then move towards questions which relate to the session you’re running or the group. For example, if you’re running a leadership training workshop you might ask “Have you ever been in a conflict you could not solve?” or “Have you ever managed a team of more than 5 people?” 

These questions can provide talking points for participants during the session while also allowing you as a facilitator to figure out competency levels or have points to follow-up on.  

A classic way to run this activity online is to invite people to switch cameras on and off in response to the questions.

Draw your mood

A supportive team culture is one which creates space for everyone to contribute and people feel safe to share how they are feeling.

Draw your mood is a simple team building game that encourages team members to share their current mood by drawing it and adding it to a shared canvas or whiteboard. Simply hand out materials to the group, ask the question and give them five minutes – easy!

It’s a great way to start a team meeting and ensure that people are able to share where how they are doing without feeling pressured to go into more detail with the group. It can also help the team stretch their creative muscles, think visually, and kick-off proceedings in an engaging, fun way. Makes for great pictures and screenshots too!

Catch all

Catch all is a fast paced team building activity that helps build communication skills, encourages knowledge sharing and keeps a team engaged too!

Start by grabbing a ball and asking team members to sit or stand in a circle. Next, let them know the topic for the session. This might be on a particular skill, product or the material of your training session. Throw the ball to someone in the group who needs to share something relevant to the topic of the session. They throw the ball to the next person and play continues. Stop after five minutes or once the entire team has had chance to speak.

But vs And

But vs And is an improv-inspired, fast, effective exercise where team members split into small groups and practice their collaboration and communication skills.

Start by asking groups to plan a company party. Each person must add one idea. Anyone can start, though each successive idea must begin with the words, “Yes, but…” After a few minutes, ask groups to start over but by following each idea with “Yes, and...”

Debrief the activity with the entire team and ask members to reflect on how it felt to have their ideas blocked or encouraged. Generally, team members feel valued when they’re listened to and accepted – But Vs And helps the whole team talk about this subject in a safe and fun way.

This team building activity works great with both in-person and remote teams. The creative, collaborative nature of But Vs And is also a simple way to build team morale and get ideas flowing quickly!

Desert Island

Desert island is a classic team building activity that helps encourage team bonding, share understanding while also having a little fun.

Begin Desert Island by telling participants that they are stranded on a desert island and must choose 3 items to bring with them. With small groups, you can have team members pair up or work solo. If you’re working with groups of more than 10 people, you might wish to split people up into breakout groups and ask them to come to a (quick) decision as a team.

Desert Island is a fun game that gives groups a great chance to get to know each other better. When used with small groups, it’s also an effective way to explore team dynamics – who put themselves in charge of your island, how did it feel to collaborate on something quite so important?

Helium Stick

Helium Stick is a great team building activity for building group connections, encouraging team work and engaging the team’s problem solving skills.

Start by getting the group to line up on either side of a long thin rod (a broom handle works fine) which we call the helium stick. Balance the stick on everyone’s index fingers and instruct participants that they must lower the rod to the ground while ensuring everyone’s fingers touch the rod at all times.

Helium Stick is a fun game that is not as simple as it first appears and which gets your team thinking carefully about how to succeed as a group.

Snapshot of my life

Snapshot of my life is a simple but effective team building exercise that can enhance team dynamics and create instant connections and talking points.

Before your next team meeting, ask participants to take a photograph of something important in their life and share it to a shared whiteboard or online document. During your session, each person will share their photo with other members of the virtual team and tell the group a little more about it.

By sharing a story and something outside the ordinary with the group, you can encourage team bonding and help remote teams feel more connected too.

Follow the Follower

Follow the follower is an active, physical team building activity that helps create joy, connection and energy in any group.

Start by designating one member of the group as the leader. This person will begin moving and everyone else needs to copy their moves as best they can. After 15 seconds or so, they’ll name another person and pass the leadership role to them. Continue until each person has lead or when things devolve into chaos!

Follow the follower is great for getting teams moving and can be especially fun for remote teams on a Zoom call. Encourage team members to explore the frame of their camera when leading their movements and incorporate stretches and dynamic movement to build even more energy.

One Word Method

One Word Method is one of my favourite 5-minute team building activities because its fun, flexible and gets everyone involved.

Start by setting a topic for the activity and explain that each person in the group will contribute a single word to a sentence that you’ll build together. Have the team leader or facilitator start the sentence and go round the group.

While this can be a fun activity in itself, it can be great to challenge the team members to make a sentence that makes sense or speaks to the topic of the session. One Word Method is a simple but fun word association game that can relax a group and serve as a great warm-up for any team meeting.

Rock Paper Scissors Tournament

Running a Rock Paper Scissors Tournament at your next team building session is a great way to encourage friendly competition and energize the group.

Start by simply asking team members to pair up and play a round of rock, paper, scissors. The winner goes to find a new opponent while the loser becomes their cheerleader. Continue play until there are just two players remaining, each with a massive fanbase! While this game works especially well with in person teams, you can adapt it to work with remote teams too!

5-minute team building activities work best when they are simple to learn, get the group moving and create moments of instant connection: Rock Paper Scissors Tournament ticks all these boxes with ease!

Team Charades

Charades is a simple game that has stood the test of time for good reason: it’s easy to teach, creates memorable moments and helps bring people together.

Begin by having team members write down words or phrases on pieces of paper and putting them in a hat. One by one, team members stand and act out a phrase they pull from the hat while the rest of the group tries to guess what it is. Working with a virtual team? This online charades game in the SessionLab library is a simple way to play by using an online whiteboard and Zoom.

The way we communicate and collaborate as a team sets the tone for how we feel as members of that group. By spending a few minutes having fun while exercising some problem solving skills, you can easily improve connection and boost team morale too!

What’s next?

We hope this collection of 5-minute team building activities has given you a bunch of ideas for adding an opportunity to create team connection to any session.

Want to go deeper by exploring a full team building workshop or get tips for running a virtual session? You’ll find some more resources and heaps of team building ideas below.

• Want to dive deeper into team dynamics or give your team something more to chew on while working on collaboration or problem solving skills? Our collection of the best team building activities is a comprehensive list of tried and tested methods you can use with teams of any size.
  
  You’ll find activities grouped by purpose, time limit and participant size to help you easily find the right exercise for you.
• Working in a virtual team can make connection and team cohesion a challenge. Check out this post on icebreakers for virtual meetings if you want some effective ways to bring energy and conversation to the start of your sessions. You’ll also find this post on virtual team building activities a great source of inspiration for any online session.
• Running a dedicated team building workshop is a great way to supercharge collaboration, bring a team together and work on team development as a group. The team development day workshop is a great example of a session to introduce and develop a new team.
  
  If your group needs some help working on alignment and wants to improve collaboration, this team alignment workshop is a great way to rally everyone towards creating the best possible team.

In conclusion

So there you have it! A collection of fast, effective methods with near-zero prep and which take just a few minutes to run.

While these are a natural fit as openers and energizers during a team building session, they’re also great activities to bring to your regular meetings and collaborative workshops.

Working little and often on team cohesion can go a long way to helping everyone in the group feel connected, and we hope these activities can get you started.

Need some advice on planning the rest of your team building workshop? Check out our guide on how to plan a workshop for more guidance there.

If you want more bespoke advice and to discuss team building in greater depth, our facilitation community is a great place to ask questions and talk shop with facilitators and leaders!

Proven problem solving techniques such as those outlined below can guide your group through a process of identifying problems and challenges, ideating on possible solutions, and then evaluating and implementing the most suitable.

In this post, you’ll find problem-solving tools you can use to develop effective solutions. You’ll also find some tips for facilitating the problem solving process and solving complex problems.

What is problem solving?

Problem solving is a process of finding and implementing a solution to a challenge or obstacle. In most contexts, this means going through a problem solving process that begins with identifying the issue, exploring its root causes, ideating and refining possible solutions before implementing and measuring the impact of that solution.

For simple or small problems, it can be tempting to skip straight to implementing what you believe is the right solution. The danger with this approach is that without exploring the true causes of the issue, it might just occur again or your chosen solution may cause other issues.

Particularly in the world of work, good problem solving means using data to back up each step of the process, bringing in new perspectives and effectively measuring the impact of your solution.

Effective problem solving can help ensure that your team or organization is well positioned to overcome challenges, be resilient to change and create innovation. In my experience, problem solving is a combination of skillset, mindset and process, and it’s especially vital for leaders to cultivate this skill.

What is the seven step problem solving process?

A problem solving process is a step-by-step framework from going from discovering a problem all the way through to implementing a solution.

With practice, this framework can become intuitive, and innovative companies tend to have a consistent and ongoing ability to discover and tackle challenges when they come up.

You might see everything from a four step problem solving process through to seven steps. While all these processes cover roughly the same ground, I’ve found a seven step problem solving process is helpful for making all key steps legible.

We’ll outline that process here and then follow with techniques you can use to explore and work on that step of the problem solving process with a group.

The seven-step problem solving process is:

1. Problem identification 

The first stage of any problem solving process is to identify the problem(s) you need to solve. This often looks like using group discussions and activities to help a group surface and effectively articulate the challenges they’re facing and wish to resolve.

Be sure to align with your team on the exact definition and nature of the problem you’re solving. An effective process is one where everyone is pulling in the same direction – ensure clarity and alignment now to help avoid misunderstandings later.

2. Problem analysis and refinement

The process of problem analysis means ensuring that the problem you are seeking to solve is the right problem. Choosing the right problem to solve means you are on the right path to creating the right solution.

At this stage, you may look deeper at the problem you identified to try and discover the root cause at the level of people or process. You may also spend some time sourcing data, consulting relevant parties and creating and refining a problem statement.

Problem refinement means adjusting scope or focus of the problem you will be aiming to solve based on what comes up during your analysis. As you analyze data sources, you might discover that the root cause means you need to adjust your problem statement. Alternatively, you might find that your original problem statement is too big to be meaningful approached within your current project.

Remember that the goal of any problem refinement is to help set the stage for effective solution development and deployment. Set the right focus and get buy-in from your team here and you’ll be well positioned to move forward with confidence.

3. Solution generation

Once your group has nailed down the particulars of the problem you wish to solve, you want to encourage a free flow of ideas connecting to solving that problem. This can take the form of problem solving games that encourage creative thinking or techniquess designed to produce working prototypes of possible solutions. 

The key to ensuring the success of this stage of the problem solving process is to encourage quick, creative thinking and create an open space where all ideas are considered. The best solutions can often come from unlikely places and by using problem solving techniques that celebrate invention, you might come up with solution gold. 

4. Solution development

No solution is perfect right out of the gate. It’s important to discuss and develop the solutions your group has come up with over the course of following the previous problem solving steps in order to arrive at the best possible solution. Problem solving games used in this stage involve lots of critical thinking, measuring potential effort and impact, and looking at possible solutions analytically. 

During this stage, you will often ask your team to iterate and improve upon your front-running solutions and develop them further. Remember that problem solving strategies always benefit from a multitude of voices and opinions, and not to let ego get involved when it comes to choosing which solutions to develop and take further.

Finding the best solution is the goal of all problem solving workshops and here is the place to ensure that your solution is well thought out, sufficiently robust and fit for purpose. 

5. Decision making and planning

Nearly there! Once you’ve got a set of possible, you’ll need to make a decision on which to implement. This can be a consensus-based group decision or it might be for a leader or major stakeholder to decide. You’ll find a set of effective decision making methods below.

Once your group has reached consensus and selected a solution, there are some additional actions that also need to be decided upon. You’ll want to work on allocating ownership of the project, figure out who will do what, how the success of the solution will be measured and decide the next course of action.

Set clear accountabilities, actions, timeframes, and follow-ups for your chosen solution. Make these decisions and set clear next-steps in the problem solving workshop so that everyone is aligned and you can move forward effectively as a group. 

Ensuring that you plan for the roll-out of a solution is one of the most important problem solving steps. Without adequate planning or oversight, it can prove impossible to measure success or iterate further if the problem was not solved. 

6. Solution implementation 

This is what we were waiting for! All problem solving processes have the end goal of implementing an effective and impactful solution that your group has confidence in.

Project management and communication skills are key here – your solution may need to adjust when out in the wild or you might discover new challenges along the way. For some solutions, you might also implement a test with a small group and monitor results before rolling it out to an entire company.

You should have a clear owner for your solution who will oversee the plans you made together and help ensure they’re put into place. This person will often coordinate the implementation team and set-up processes to measure the efficacy of your solution too.

7. Solution evaluation 

So you and your team developed a great solution to a problem and have a gut feeling it’s been solved. Work done, right? Wrong. All problem solving strategies benefit from evaluation, consideration, and feedback.

You might find that the solution does not work for everyone, might create new problems, or is potentially so successful that you will want to roll it out to larger teams or as part of other initiatives. 

None of that is possible without taking the time to evaluate the success of the solution you developed in your problem solving model and adjust if necessary.

Remember that the problem solving process is often iterative and it can be common to not solve complex issues on the first try. Even when this is the case, you and your team will have generated learning that will be important for future problem solving workshops or in other parts of the organization. 

It’s also worth underlining how important record keeping is throughout the problem solving process. If a solution didn’t work, you need to have the data and records to see why that was the case. If you go back to the drawing board, notes from the previous workshop can help save time.

What does an effective problem solving process look like?

Every effective problem solving process begins with an agenda. In our experience, a well-structured problem solving workshop is one of the best methods for successfully guiding a group from exploring a problem to implementing a solution.

The format of a workshop ensures that you can get buy-in from your group, encourage free-thinking and solution exploration before making a decision on what to implement following the session.

This Design Sprint 2.0 template is an effective problem solving process from top agency AJ&Smart. It’s a great format for the entire problem solving process, with four-days of workshops designed to surface issues, explore solutions and even test a solution.

Check it for an example of how you might structure and run a problem solving process and feel free to copy and adjust it your needs!

For a shorter process you can run in a single afternoon, this remote problem solving agenda will guide you effectively in just a couple of hours.

Whatever the length of your workshop, by using SessionLab, it’s easy to go from an idea to a complete agenda. Start by dragging and dropping your core problem solving activities into place. Add timings, breaks and necessary materials before sharing your agenda with your colleagues.

The resulting agenda will be your guide to an effective and productive problem solving session that will also help you stay organized on the day!

Complete problem-solving methods

In this section, we’ll look at in-depth problem-solving methods that provide a complete end-to-end process for developing effective solutions. These will help guide your team from the discovery and definition of a problem through to delivering the right solution.

If you’re looking for an all-encompassing method or problem-solving model, these processes are a great place to start. They’ll ask your team to challenge preconceived ideas and adopt a mindset for solving problems more effectively.

Six Thinking Hats

Individual approaches to solving a problem can be very different based on what team or role an individual holds. It can be easy for existing biases or perspectives to find their way into the mix, or for internal politics to direct a conversation.

Six Thinking Hats is a classic method for identifying the problems that need to be solved and enables your team to consider them from different angles, whether that is by focusing on facts and data, creative solutions, or by considering why a particular solution might not work.

Like all problem-solving frameworks, Six Thinking Hats is effective at helping teams remove roadblocks from a conversation or discussion and come to terms with all the aspects necessary to solve complex problems.

Lightning Decision Jam

Featured courtesy of Jonathan Courtney of AJ&Smart Berlin, Lightning Decision Jam is one of those strategies that should be in every facilitation toolbox. Exploring problems and finding solutions is often creative in nature, though as with any creative process, there is the potential to lose focus and get lost.

Unstructured discussions might get you there in the end, but it’s much more effective to use a method that creates a clear process and team focus.

In Lightning Decision Jam, participants are invited to begin by writing challenges, concerns, or mistakes on post-its without discussing them before then being invited by the moderator to present them to the group.

From there, the team vote on which problems to solve and are guided through steps that will allow them to reframe those problems, create solutions and then decide what to execute on. 

By deciding the problems that need to be solved as a team before moving on, this group process is great for ensuring the whole team is aligned and can take ownership over the next stages. 

Problem Definition Process

While problems can be complex, the problem-solving methods you use to identify and solve those problems can often be simple in design. 

By taking the time to truly identify and define a problem before asking the group to reframe the challenge as an opportunity, this method is a great way to enable change.

Begin by identifying a focus question and exploring the ways in which it manifests before splitting into five teams who will each consider the problem using a different method: escape, reversal, exaggeration, distortion or wishful. Teams develop a problem objective and create ideas in line with their method before then feeding them back to the group.

This method is great for enabling in-depth discussions while also creating space for finding creative solutions too!

The 5 Whys 

Sometimes, a group needs to go further with their strategies and analyze the root cause at the heart of organizational issues. An RCA or root cause analysis is the process of identifying what is at the heart of business problems or recurring challenges. 

The 5 Whys is a simple and effective method of helping a group go find the root cause of any problem or challenge and conduct analysis that will deliver results. 

By beginning with the creation of a problem statement and going through five stages to refine it, The 5 Whys provides everything you need to truly discover the cause of an issue.

World Cafe

World Cafe is a simple but powerful facilitation technique to help bigger groups to focus their energy and attention on solving complex problems.

World Cafe enables this approach by creating a relaxed atmosphere where participants are able to self-organize and explore topics relevant and important to them which are themed around a central problem-solving purpose. Create the right atmosphere by modeling your space after a cafe and after guiding the group through the method, let them take the lead!

Making problem-solving a part of your organization’s culture in the long term can be a difficult undertaking. More approachable formats like World Cafe can be especially effective in bringing people unfamiliar with workshops into the fold. 

Discovery & Action Dialogue (DAD)

One of the best approaches is to create a safe space for a group to share and discover practices and behaviors that can help them find their own solutions.

With DAD, you can help a group choose which problems they wish to solve and which approaches they will take to do so. It’s great at helping remove resistance to change and can help get buy-in at every level too!

This process of enabling frontline ownership is great in ensuring follow-through and is one of the methods you will want in your toolbox as a facilitator.

Design Sprint 2.0

Want to see how a team can solve big problems and move forward with prototyping and testing solutions in a few days? The Design Sprint 2.0 template from Jake Knapp, author of Sprint, is a complete agenda for a with proven results.

Developing the right agenda can involve difficult but necessary planning. Ensuring all the correct steps are followed can also be stressful or time-consuming depending on your level of experience.

Use this complete 4-day workshop template if you are finding there is no obvious solution to your challenge and want to focus your team around a specific problem that might require a shortcut to launching a minimum viable product or waiting for the organization-wide implementation of a solution.

Open space technology

Open space technology- developed by Harrison Owen – creates a space where large groups are invited to take ownership of their problem solving and lead individual sessions. Open space technology is a great format when you have a great deal of expertise and insight in the room and want to allow for different takes and approaches on a particular theme or problem you need to be solved.

Start by bringing your participants together to align around a central theme and focus their efforts. Explain the ground rules to help guide the problem-solving process and then invite members to identify any issue connecting to the central theme that they are interested in and are prepared to take responsibility for.

Once participants have decided on their approach to the core theme, they write their issue on a piece of paper, announce it to the group, pick a session time and place, and post the paper on the wall. As the wall fills up with sessions, the group is then invited to join the sessions that interest them the most and which they can contribute to, then you’re ready to begin!

Everyone joins the problem-solving group they’ve signed up to, record the discussion and if appropriate, findings can then be shared with the rest of the group afterward.

Techniques to identify and analyze problems

Using a problem-solving method to help a team identify and analyze a problem can be a quick and effective addition to any workshop or meeting.

While further actions are always necessary, you can generate momentum and alignment easily, and these activities are a great place to get started.

We’ve put together this list of techniques to help you and your team with problem identification, analysis, and discussion that sets the foundation for developing effective solutions.

Let’s take a look!

Fishbone Analysis

Organizational or team challenges are rarely simple, and it’s important to remember that one problem can be an indication of something that goes deeper and may require further consideration to be solved.

Fishbone Analysis helps groups to dig deeper and understand the origins of a problem. It’s a great example of a root cause analysis method that is simple for everyone on a team to get their head around. 

Participants in this activity are asked to annotate a diagram of a fish, first adding the problem or issue to be worked on at the head of a fish before then brainstorming the root causes of the problem and adding them as bones on the fish. 

Using abstractions such as a diagram of a fish can really help a team break out of their regular thinking and develop a creative approach.

Problem Tree 

Encouraging visual thinking can be an essential part of many strategies. By simply reframing and clarifying problems, a group can move towards developing a problem solving model that works for them. 

In Problem Tree, groups are asked to first brainstorm a list of problems – these can be design problems, team problems or larger business problems – and then organize them into a hierarchy. The hierarchy could be from most important to least important or abstract to practical, though the key thing with problem solving games that involve this aspect is that your group has some way of managing and sorting all the issues that are raised.

Once you have a list of problems that need to be solved and have organized them accordingly, you’re then well-positioned for the next problem solving steps.

SWOT Analysis

Chances are you’ve heard of the SWOT Analysis before. This problem-solving method focuses on identifying strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats is a tried and tested method for both individuals and teams.

Start by creating a desired end state or outcome and bare this in mind – any process solving model is made more effective by knowing what you are moving towards. Create a quadrant made up of the four categories of a SWOT analysis and ask participants to generate ideas based on each of those quadrants.

Once you have those ideas assembled in their quadrants, cluster them together based on their affinity with other ideas. These clusters are then used to facilitate group conversations and move things forward. 

Agreement-Certainty Matrix

Not every problem-solving approach is right for every challenge, and deciding on the right method for the challenge at hand is a key part of being an effective team.

The Agreement Certainty matrix helps teams align on the nature of the challenges facing them. By sorting problems from simple to chaotic, your team can understand what methods are suitable for each problem and what they can do to ensure effective results. 

If you are already using Liberating Structures techniques as part of your problem-solving strategy, the Agreement-Certainty Matrix can be an invaluable addition to your process. We’ve found it particularly if you are having issues with recurring problems in your organization and want to go deeper in understanding the root cause. 

SQUID

Organizing and charting a team’s progress can be important in ensuring its success. SQUID (Sequential Question and Insight Diagram) is a great model that allows a team to effectively switch between giving questions and answers and develop the skills they need to stay on track throughout the process. 

Begin with two different colored sticky notes – one for questions and one for answers – and with your central topic (the head of the squid) on the board. Ask the group to first come up with a series of questions connected to their best guess of how to approach the topic. Ask the group to come up with answers to those questions, fix them to the board and connect them with a line. After some discussion, go back to question mode by responding to the generated answers or other points on the board.

It’s rewarding to see a diagram grow throughout the exercise, and a completed SQUID can provide a visual resource for future effort and as an example for other teams.

Speed Boat

To continue with our nautical theme, Speed Boat is a short and sweet activity that can help a team quickly identify what employees, clients or service users might have a problem with and analyze what might be standing in the way of achieving a solution.

Methods that allow for a group to make observations, have insights and obtain those eureka moments quickly are invaluable when trying to solve complex problems.

In Speed Boat, the approach is to first consider what anchors and challenges might be holding an organization (or boat) back. Bonus points if you are able to identify any sharks in the water and develop ideas that can also deal with competitors!   

The Journalistic Six

Some of the most effective ways of solving problems is by encouraging teams to be more inclusive and diverse in their thinking.

Based on the six key questions journalism students are taught to answer in articles and news stories, The Journalistic Six helps create teams to see the whole picture. By using who, what, when, where, why, and how to facilitate the conversation and encourage creative thinking, your team can make sure that the problem identification and problem analysis stages of the are covered exhaustively and thoughtfully. Reporter’s notebook and dictaphone optional.

Flip It

Individual and group perspectives are incredibly important, but what happens if people are set in their minds and need a change of perspective in order to approach a problem more effectively?

Flip It is a method we love because it is both simple to understand and run, and allows groups to understand how their perspectives and biases are formed. 

Participants in Flip It are first invited to consider concerns, issues, or problems from a perspective of fear and write them on a flip chart. Then, the group is asked to consider those same issues from a perspective of hope and flip their understanding.  

No problem and solution is free from existing bias and by changing perspectives with Flip It, you can then develop a problem solving model quickly and effectively.

LEGO Challenge

Now for an activity that is a little out of the (toy) box. LEGO Serious Play is a facilitation methodology that can be used to improve creative thinking and problem-solving skills. 

The LEGO Challenge includes giving each member of the team an assignment that is hidden from the rest of the group while they create a structure without speaking.

What the LEGO challenge brings to the table is a fun working example of working with stakeholders who might not be on the same page to solve problems. Also, it’s LEGO! Who doesn’t love LEGO! 

What, So What, Now What?

If not carefully managed, the problem identification and problem analysis stages of the problem-solving process can actually create more problems and misunderstandings.

The What, So What, Now What? problem-solving activity is designed to help collect insights and move forward while also eliminating the possibility of disagreement when it comes to identifying, clarifying, and analyzing organizational or work problems. 

Facilitation is all about bringing groups together so that might work on a shared goal and the best problem-solving strategies ensure that teams are aligned in purpose, if not initially in opinion or insight.

Throughout the three steps of this game, you give everyone on a team to reflect on a problem by asking what happened, why it is important, and what actions should then be taken. 

This can be a great activity for bringing our individual perceptions about a problem or challenge and contextualizing it in a larger group setting. This is one of the most important problem-solving skills you can bring to your organization.

Journalists 

Problem analysis can be one of the most important and decisive stages of all problem-solving tools. Sometimes, a team can become bogged down in the details and are unable to move forward.

Journalists is an activity that can avoid a group from getting stuck in the problem identification or problem analysis stages of the process.

In Journalists, the group is invited to draft the front page of a fictional newspaper and figure out what stories deserve to be on the cover and what headlines those stories will have. By reframing how your problems and challenges are approached, you can help a team move productively through the process and be better prepared for the steps to follow.

Problem-solving techniques for brainstorming solutions

Now you have the context and background of the problem you are trying to solving, now comes the time to start ideating and thinking about how you’ll solve the issue.

Here, you’ll want to encourage creative, free thinking and speed. Get as many ideas out as possible and explore different perspectives so you have the raw material for the next step.

TRIZ

Looking at a problem from a new angle can be one of the most effective ways of creating an effective solution. TRIZ is a problem-solving tool that asks the group to consider what they must not do in order to solve a challenge.

By reversing the discussion, new topics and taboo subjects often emerge, allowing the group to think more deeply and create ideas that confront the status quo in a safe and meaningful way. If you’re working on a problem that you’ve tried to solve before, TRIZ is a great problem-solving method to help your team get unblocked.

Mindspin 

Brainstorming is part of the bread and butter of the problem-solving process and all problem-solving strategies benefit from getting ideas out and challenging a team to generate solutions quickly. 

With Mindspin, participants are encouraged not only to generate ideas but to do so under time constraints and by slamming down cards and passing them on. By doing multiple rounds, your team can begin with a free generation of possible solutions before moving on to developing those solutions and encouraging further ideation. 

This is one of our favorite problem-solving activities and can be great for keeping the energy up throughout the workshop. Remember the importance of helping people become engaged in the process – energizing problem-solving techniques like Mindspin can help ensure your team stays engaged and happy, even when the problems they’re coming together to solve are complex. 

The Creativity Dice

One of the most useful problem solving skills you can teach your team is of approaching challenges with creativity, flexibility, and openness. Games like The Creativity Dice allow teams to overcome the potential hurdle of too much linear thinking and approach the process with a sense of fun and speed. 

In The Creativity Dice, participants are organized around a topic and roll a dice to determine what they will work on for a period of 3 minutes at a time. They might roll a 3 and work on investigating factual information on the chosen topic. They might roll a 1 and work on identifying the specific goals, standards, or criteria for the session.

Encouraging rapid work and iteration while asking participants to be flexible are great skills to cultivate. Having a stage for idea incubation in this game is also important. Moments of pause can help ensure the ideas that are put forward are the most suitable. 

Idea and Concept Development

Brainstorming without structure can quickly become chaotic or frustrating. In a problem-solving context, having an ideation framework to follow can help ensure your team is both creative and disciplined.

In this method, you’ll find an idea generation process that encourages your group to brainstorm effectively before developing their ideas and begin clustering them together. By using concepts such as Yes and…, more is more and postponing judgement, you can create the ideal conditions for brainstorming with ease.

Problem-solving techniques for developing and refining solutions 

The success of any problem-solving process can be measured by the solutions it produces. After you’ve defined the issue, explored existing ideas, and ideated, it’s time to develop and refine your ideas in order to bring them closer to a solution that actually solves the problem.

Use these problem-solving techniques when you want to help your team think through their ideas and refine them as part of your problem solving process.

Improved Solutions

After a team has successfully identified a problem and come up with a few solutions, it can be tempting to call the work of the problem-solving process complete. That said, the first solution is not necessarily the best, and by including a further review and reflection activity into your problem-solving model, you can ensure your group reaches the best possible result. 

One of a number of problem-solving games from Thiagi Group, Improved Solutions helps you go the extra mile and develop suggested solutions with close consideration and peer review. By supporting the discussion of several problems at once and by shifting team roles throughout, this problem-solving technique is a dynamic way of finding the best solution. 

Four Step Sketch

Creative thinking and visual ideation does not need to be confined to the opening stages of your problem-solving strategies. Exercises that include sketching and prototyping on paper can be effective at the solution finding and development stage of the process, and can be great for keeping a team engaged. 

By going from simple notes to a crazy 8s round that involves rapidly sketching 8 variations on their ideas before then producing a final solution sketch, the group is able to iterate quickly and visually. Problem-solving techniques like Four-Step Sketch are great if you have a group of different thinkers and want to change things up from a more textual or discussion-based approach.

1-2-4-All

Ensuring that everyone in a group is able to contribute to a discussion is vital during any problem solving process. Not only does this ensure all bases are covered, but its then easier to get buy-in and accountability when people have been able to contribute to the process.

1-2-4-All is a tried and tested facilitation technique where participants are asked to first brainstorm on a topic on their own. Next, they discuss and share ideas in a pair before moving into a small group. Those groups are then asked to present the best idea from their discussion to the rest of the team.

This method can be used in many different contexts effectively, though I find it particularly shines in the idea development stage of the process. Giving each participant time to concretize their ideas and develop them in progressively larger groups can create a great space for both innovation and psychological safety.

15% Solutions

Some problems are simpler than others and with the right problem-solving activities, you can empower people to take immediate actions that can help create organizational change. 

Part of the liberating structures toolkit, 15% solutions is a problem-solving technique that focuses on finding and implementing solutions quickly. A process of iterating and making small changes quickly can help generate momentum and an appetite for solving complex problems.

Problem-solving strategies can live and die on whether people are onboard. Getting some quick wins is a great way of getting people behind the process.   

It can be extremely empowering for a team to realize that problem-solving techniques can be deployed quickly and easily and delineate between things they can positively impact and those things they cannot change. 

Problem-solving techniques for making decisions and planning

After your group is happy with the possible solutions you’ve developed, now comes the time to choose which to implement. There’s more than one way to make a decision and the best option is often dependant on the needs and set-up of your group.

Sometimes, it’s the case that you’ll want to vote as a group on what is likely to be the most impactful solution. Other times, it might be down to a decision maker or major stakeholder to make the final decision. Whatever your process, here’s some techniques you can use to help you make a decision during your problem solving process.

How-Now-Wow Matrix

The problem-solving process is often creative, as complex problems usually require a change of thinking and creative response in order to find the best solutions. While it’s common for the first stages to encourage creative thinking, groups can often gravitate to familiar solutions when it comes to the end of the process. 

When selecting solutions, you don’t want to lose your creative energy! The How-Now-Wow Matrix from Gamestorming is a great problem-solving activity that enables a group to stay creative and think out of the box when it comes to selecting the right solution for a given problem.

Problem-solving techniques that encourage creative thinking and the ideation and selection of new solutions can be the most effective in organisational change. Give the How-Now-Wow Matrix a go, and not just for how pleasant it is to say out loud. 

Impact and Effort Matrix

All problem-solving techniques hope to not only find solutions to a given problem or challenge but to find the best solution. When it comes to finding a solution, groups are invited to put on their decision-making hats and really think about how a proposed idea would work in practice. 

The Impact and Effort Matrix is one of the problem-solving techniques that fall into this camp, empowering participants to first generate ideas and then categorize them into a 2×2 matrix based on impact and effort.

Activities that invite critical thinking while remaining simple are invaluable. Use the Impact and Effort Matrix to move from ideation and towards evaluating potential solutions before then committing to them. 

Dotmocracy

If you’ve followed each of the problem-solving steps with your group successfully, you should move towards the end of your process with heaps of possible solutions developed with a specific problem in mind. But how do you help a group go from ideation to putting a solution into action? 

Dotmocracy – or Dot Voting -is a tried and tested method of helping a team in the problem-solving process make decisions and put actions in place with a degree of oversight and consensus. 

One of the problem-solving techniques that should be in every facilitator’s toolbox, Dot Voting is fast and effective and can help identify the most popular and best solutions and help bring a group to a decision effectively. 

MoSCow

Straddling the gap between decision making and planning, MoSCoW is a simple and effective method that allows a group team to easily prioritize a set of possible options.

Use this method in a problem solving process by collecting and summarizing all your possible solutions and then categorize them into 4 sections: “Must have”, “Should have”, “Could have”, or “Would like but won‘t get”.

This method is particularly useful when its less about choosing one possible solution and more about prioritorizing which to do first and which may not fit in the scope of your project. In my experience, complex challenges often require multiple small fixes, and this method can be a great way to move from a pile of things you’d all like to do to a structured plan.

RAACI

When it comes to managing the rollout of a solution, clarity and accountability are key factors in ensuring the success of the project. The RAACI chart is a simple but effective model for setting roles and responsibilities as part of a planning session.

Start by listing each person involved in the project and put them into the following groups in order to make it clear who is responsible for what during the rollout of your solution.

• Responsibility (Which person and/or team will be taking action?)
• Authority (At what “point” must the responsible person check in before going further?)
• Accountability (Who must the responsible person check in with?)
• Consultation (Who must be consulted by the responsible person before decisions are made?)
• Information (Who must be informed of decisions, once made?)

Ensure this information is easily accessible and use it to inform who does what and who is looped into discussions and kept up to date.

Problem-solving warm-up activities

All facilitators know that warm-ups and icebreakers are useful for any workshop or group process. Problem-solving workshops are no different.

Use these problem-solving techniques to warm up a group and prepare them for the rest of the process. Activating your group by tapping into some of the top problem-solving skills can be one of the best ways to see great outcomes from your session.

Check-in / Check-out

Solid processes are planned from beginning to end, and the best facilitators know that setting the tone and establishing a safe, open environment can be integral to a successful problem-solving process.

Check-in / Check-out is a great way to begin and/or bookend a problem-solving workshop. Checking in to a session emphasizes that everyone will be seen, heard, and expected to contribute. 

If you are running a series of meetings, setting a consistent pattern of checking in and checking out can really help your team get into a groove. We recommend this opening-closing activity for small to medium-sized groups though it can work with large groups if they’re disciplined!

Doodling Together 

Thinking creatively and not being afraid to make suggestions are important problem-solving skills for any group or team, and warming up by encouraging these behaviors is a great way to start. 

Doodling Together is one of our favorite creative ice breaker games – it’s quick, effective, and fun and can make all following problem-solving steps easier by encouraging a group to collaborate visually. By passing cards and adding additional items as they go, the workshop group gets into a groove of co-creation and idea development that is crucial to finding solutions to problems. 

Show and Tell

You might remember some version of Show and Tell from being a kid in school and it’s a great problem-solving activity to kick off a session.

Asking participants to prepare a little something before a workshop by bringing an object for show and tell can help them warm up before the session has even begun! Games that include a physical object can also help encourage early engagement before moving onto more big-picture thinking.

By asking your participants to tell stories about why they chose to bring a particular item to the group, you can help teams see things from new perspectives and see both differences and similarities in the way they approach a topic. Great groundwork for approaching a problem-solving process as a team! 

Constellations

Who doesn’t love stars? Constellations is a great warm-up activity for any workshop as it gets people up off their feet, energized, and ready to engage in new ways with established topics. It’s also great for showing existing beliefs, biases, and patterns that can come into play as part of your session.

Using warm-up games that help build trust and connection while also allowing for non-verbal responses can be great for easing people into the problem-solving process and encouraging engagement from everyone in the group. Constellations is great in large spaces that allow for movement and is definitely a practical exercise to allow the group to see patterns that are otherwise invisible. 

Draw a Tree

Problem-solving games that help raise group awareness through a central, unifying metaphor can be effective ways to warm-up a group in any problem-solving model.

Draw a Tree is a simple warm-up activity you can use in any group and which can provide a quick jolt of energy. Start by asking your participants to draw a tree in just 45 seconds – they can choose whether it will be abstract or realistic. 

Once the timer is up, ask the group how many people included the roots of the tree and use this as a means to discuss how we can ignore important parts of any system simply because they are not visible.

All problem-solving strategies are made more effective by thinking of problems critically and by exposing things that may not normally come to light. Warm-up games like Draw a Tree are great in that they quickly demonstrate some key problem-solving skills in an accessible and effective way.

Closing activities for a problem-solving process

Each step of the problem-solving workshop benefits from an intelligent deployment of activities, games, and techniques. Bringing your session to an effective close helps ensure that solutions are followed through on and that you also celebrate what has been achieved.

Here are some problem-solving activities you can use to effectively close a workshop or meeting and ensure the great work you’ve done can continue afterward.

One Breath Feedback

Maintaining attention and focus during the closing stages of a problem-solving workshop can be tricky and so being concise when giving feedback can be important. It’s easy to incur “death by feedback” should some team members go on for too long sharing their perspectives in a quick feedback round. 

One Breath Feedback is a great closing activity for workshops. You give everyone an opportunity to provide feedback on what they’ve done but only in the space of a single breath. This keeps feedback short and to the point and means that everyone is encouraged to provide the most important piece of feedback to them. 

Who What When Matrix 

Matrices feature as part of many effective problem-solving strategies and with good reason. They are easily recognizable, simple to use, and generate results.

The Who What When Matrix is a great tool to use when closing your problem-solving session by attributing a who, what and when to the actions and solutions you have decided upon. The resulting matrix is a simple, easy-to-follow way of ensuring your team can move forward. 

Great solutions can’t be enacted without action and ownership. Your problem-solving process should include a stage for allocating tasks to individuals or teams and creating a realistic timeframe for those solutions to be implemented or checked out. Use this method to keep the solution implementation process clear and simple for all involved. 

Response cards

Group discussion can comprise the bulk of most problem-solving activities and by the end of the process, you might find that your team is talked out! 

Providing a means for your team to give feedback with short written notes can ensure everyone is head and can contribute without the need to stand up and talk. Depending on the needs of the group, giving an alternative can help ensure everyone can contribute to your problem-solving model in the way that makes the most sense for them.

Response Cards is a great way to close a workshop if you are looking for a gentle warm-down and want to get some swift discussion around some of the feedback that is raised. 

Tips for effective problem solving

Problem-solving activities are only one part of the puzzle. While a great method can help unlock your team’s ability to solve problems, without a thoughtful approach and strong facilitation the solutions may not be fit for purpose.

Let’s take a look at some problem-solving tips you can apply to any process to help it be a success!

Clearly define the problem

Jumping straight to solutions can be tempting, though without first clearly articulating a problem, the solution might not be the right one. Many of the problem-solving activities below include sections where the problem is explored and clearly defined before moving on.

This is a vital part of the problem-solving process and taking the time to fully define an issue can save time and effort later. A clear definition helps identify irrelevant information and it also ensures that your team sets off on the right track.

Don’t jump to conclusions

It’s easy for groups to exhibit cognitive bias or have preconceived ideas about both problems and potential solutions. Be sure to back up any problem statements or potential solutions with facts, research, and adequate forethought.

The best techniques ask participants to be methodical and challenge preconceived notions. Make sure you give the group enough time and space to collect relevant information and consider the problem in a new way. By approaching the process with a clear, rational mindset, you’ll often find that better solutions are more forthcoming.  

Try different approaches  

Problems come in all shapes and sizes and so too should the methods you use to solve them. If you find that one approach isn’t yielding results and your team isn’t finding different solutions, try mixing it up. You’ll be surprised at how using a new creative activity can unblock your team and generate great solutions.

Don’t take it personally 

Depending on the nature of your team or organizational problems, it’s easy for conversations to get heated. While it’s good for participants to be engaged in the discussions, ensure that emotions don’t run too high and that blame isn’t thrown around while finding solutions.

You’re all in it together, and even if your team or area is seeing problems, that isn’t necessarily a disparagement of you personally. Using facilitation skills to manage group dynamics is one effective method of helping conversations be more constructive.

Get the right people in the room

Your problem-solving method is often only as effective as the group using it. Getting the right people on the job and managing the number of people present is important too!

If the group is too small, you may not get enough different perspectives to effectively solve a problem. If the group is too large, you can go round and round during the ideation stages.

Creating the right group makeup is also important in ensuring you have the necessary expertise and skillset to both identify and follow up on potential solutions. Carefully consider who to include at each stage to help ensure your problem-solving method is followed and positioned for success.

Create psychologically safe spaces for discussion

Identifying a problem accurately also requires that all members of a group are able to contribute their views in an open and safe manner.

It can be tough for people to stand up and contribute if the problems or challenges are emotive or personal in nature. Try and create a psychologically safe space for these kinds of discussions and where possible, create regular opportunities for challenges to be brought up organically.

Document everything

The best solutions can take refinement, iteration, and reflection to come out. Get into a habit of documenting your process in order to keep all the learnings from the session and to allow ideas to mature and develop. Many of the methods below involve the creation of documents or shared resources. Be sure to keep and share these so everyone can benefit from the work done!

Bring a facilitator 

Facilitation is all about making group processes easier. With a subject as potentially emotive and important as problem-solving, having an impartial third party in the form of a facilitator can make all the difference in finding great solutions and keeping the process moving. Consider bringing a facilitator to your problem-solving session to get better results and generate meaningful solutions!

Develop your problem-solving skills

It takes time and practice to be an effective problem solver. While some roles or participants might more naturally gravitate towards problem-solving, it can take development and planning to help everyone create better solutions.

You might develop a training program, run a problem-solving workshop or simply ask your team to practice using the techniques below. Check out our post on problem-solving skills to see how you and your group can develop the right mental process and be more resilient to issues too!

Design a great agenda

Workshops are a great format for solving problems. With the right approach, you can focus a group and help them find the solutions to their own problems. But designing a process can be time-consuming and finding the right activities can be difficult.

Check out our workshop planning guide to level-up your agenda design and start running more effective workshops. Need inspiration? Check out templates designed by expert facilitators to help you kickstart your process!

Save time and effort creating an effective problem solving process

A structured problem solving process is a surefire way of solving tough problems, discovering creative solutions and driving organizational change. But how can you design for successful outcomes?

With SessionLab, it’s easy to design engaging workshops that deliver results. Drag, drop and reorder blocks to build your agenda. When you make changes or update your agenda, your session timing adjusts automatically, saving you time on manual adjustments.

Collaborating with stakeholders or clients? Share your agenda with a single click and collaborate in real-time. No more sending documents back and forth over email.

Explore how to use SessionLab to design effective problem solving workshops or watch this five minute video to see the planner in action!

Over to you

The problem-solving process can often be as complicated and multifaceted as the problems they are set-up to solve. With the right problem-solving techniques and a mix of exercises designed to guide discussion and generate purposeful ideas, we hope we’ve given you the tools to find the best solutions as simply and easily as possible.

Is there a problem-solving technique that you are missing here? Do you have a favorite activity or method you use when facilitating? Let us know in the comments below, we’d love to hear from you! 

Training games are a great way to engage trainees with interactive activities that help facilitate the learning process. In this guide, we’ll share our favourite training activities alongside tips for engaging trainees. You’ll leave with practical ideas for improving your next employee training and add new methods to your toolkit. Let’s dive in!

What are training games and activities?

Training games and activities are interactive activities designed to engage trainees and create a more memorable and engaging learning experience.

These games are experiential in nature, and they invite trainees to actively participate in a task or game rather than just passively receive information. These kinds of training activities include group discussions, role-play games, debriefing and sharing exercises, group discussions, hand-on activities and more. 

Training activities are used to help facilitate some aspect of the learning process and often correlate with one or more stages of Robert Gagné’s pricinples of effective learning.

In some scenarios, these activities can go further by asking participants to actively use knowledge they are gaining in the session or to practice soft skills too. These opportunities for interactivity are a wonderful addition to any training program.

For example, if you’re delivering feedback training to a team, you might include an activity where they practice giving each other feedback in the session. This kind of gamified training is a great way to enhance learning and build practical skills that can be used immediately after the training is complete. 

On another occasion, enhancing your corporate training with a fun activity can do double duty in enabling better learning while also building team connections and communication skills.

Why use training games and activities?

According to Seymour Epstein’s cognitive experiential self-theory (CEST), our brains process and retain information in two ways: analytical-rational and intuitive-experiential. 

The intuitive-experiential parts of our brain are more active when focusing on specific tasks, especially those that are physical in nature or which invoke feelings and experiences. Knowledge gained through this kind of experiential learning tends to be retained more quickly and is forgotten more slowly than other methods. 

The analytical-rational parts of our brain are more active when focusing on processes, synthesizing information and making decisions .

In Seymour Epstein’s theory, our brains work best when both of these parts are working in tandem. Great instructor-led training often employs various methods in order to activate both of these systems and help learners get the most out of the experience.

To simplify, adult learners can learn by passively receiving information but any learning is more effective when paired with experiential activities such as participating in tasks and games. 

Training games are an effective way to bring that intuitive-experiential part of our brains online. They also help create space in an agenda and enhance the learning experience.

For best results, try pairing training activities with a discussion or debrief in order to also activate the analytical-rational part of the brain and help trainees retain and use the training material you provide. 

However you use these games and activities, you’ll want to consider when and where to place them in your training agenda so you can create an effective learning flow and deliver a successful training program.

In SessionLab, it’s easy to create everything from a training program outline to an agenda for an individual training session. Start by dragging and dropping your training content into place.

Colour code your activities according to interaction type so you can build a balanced training session that caters to different learning styles. 

When you’re ready to lead your session, it’s easy to export your agenda in the format of your choice. Create a PDF handout for your trainers and trainees or invite stakeholders to collaborate on your session directly. 

Training icebreakers

Every training session has to start somewhere. After you’ve gotten the group’s attention and outlined the objectives of the training session, this is a perfect time to break the ice and start warming up the group. 

These training icebreaker activities are designed to help loosen up the group and create connections while also creating space to begin exploring the topic of your training programs.

While it might be tempting to jump right into presenting your training materials, using a training icebreaker game can ensure that you truly have the attention of your learners and that they’re best positioned to engage in learning. 

Just the facts

Getting a group of trainees energized at the beginning of a training session while also getting them to talk about the topic at hand is a great use of an icebreaker. In this training icebreaker,  start by defining a topic the group is going to list facts about. 

For example, for training on feedback skills, the topic might be “Facts about good feedback.” Next, invite the group to sit in a circle and have each person in turn contribute a fact about the topic.

While this is easy to start with, it can be difficult to keep going around the circle without repeating a fact or introducing an opinion or unproven theory. When someone breaks the rules of the game, another member should challenge by saying “Just the facts!” and then the group will vote on whether it is a fact or not.  

This is a great training icebreaker to get people warmed up while thinking critically about the topic at hand. 

I Expect

Having the group share their expectations of a training session can help create alignment and spur engagement while also giving the trainer insight into how they might best serve the group.

In this ice breaker for training, start by dividing a flipchart or virtual whiteboard into four quadrants. Then ask participants to respond with what they expect from: 1. The Training, 2. The Trainer, 3. From Yourself and 4. Other Participants.

You can have participants write their responses on sticky notes and add them to the chart, or simply ask for responses and write them in the necessary place. Check back at the end to show the group what they’ve achieved in line with their expectations. 

Magic Box

Training icebreaker games are often at their best when they encourage participants to begin engaging with the topic at hand while also sharing their perspective with the group.

Magic Box is an effective exercise that asks trainees to start by choosing an object from a pre-created box. Next, they’ll tell the group who they are, why they selected the object and what they think it has to do with the training ahead.

Participants are asked to think creatively about the relationship between the object and the workshop they’re about to undertake, creating engagement and allowing space for personal expression. It’s one of my favourite training icebreakers! 

Best and Worst

Sharing personal experiences and encouraging curiosity at the beginning of a training session can help set the stage for learning. In this training icebreaker, start by asking each person in the group to write down one best and one worst question that they want to learn about the group. For example: what’s the worst present you’ve ever been given, what’s the best advice you ever received.

Put all the questions in a hat and have everyone pick 2 at random. Go around the circle and have everyone share their answers and related stories. 

In a training environment, I tend to ask participants to add a third question relating to the topic at hand or put some extras in the hat myself: for example, what’s the worst feedback you ever received or what makes you cringe during a presentation?

One Word Method

Training icebreakers are great for helping your group to fully arrive in the space and relax into the training session to come. One Word Method is one of my favourite ice breakers as it’s easy to run, encourages creativity, and it can also be adapted to serve any topic or training session. 

Start by introducing a topic of theme and let participants know that they’ll collaboratively create a sentence by each contributing one word of that sentence in order. The aim of the game is to create a sentence that makes sense and which also covers the subject or topic you’ve chosen.

This training game is especially effective at encouraging everyone in the group to speak early in the session and can help introduce a difficult subject in an approachable manner. 

Who are you? The pirate ship exercise

Every member of the group brings a unique perspective to any workshop, meeting or training session. In this fun training icebreaker, participants are encouraged to consider their role and perspective and what they’ll bring to the training ahead.

Start by sharing the picture of the pirate ship and ask people to reflect on which character on the ship best represents them. You might also ask, “Which character in the image best represents how you feel about this training? Why? Put your answer in the chat”. The ensuing discussion can help break the ice while also getting the group to think about how they’ll engage with the training to come. 

Training games to enable effective learning

Helping learners to learn is the goal of every educator and trainer. These training activities are designed to help create an ideal learning environment and can be used to support your main training content and get your trainees engaged early in the process.

Often, employees learn as much from each other as from a presentation, and these activities are designed to enhance employee engagement by encouraging participation and the sharing of experiences among the team. Design and deliver these learning games in line with the needs surfaced during your training needs assessment for best results.

Catch All

In Robert Gagné’s 9 principles of instructional design, he notes the importance of asking participants to recall previous learnings. This training activity from Thiagi Group is a simple game where participants are asked to recall something relevant to the topic at hand and share it with the group. 

Start by getting participants to stand in a circle and choose a category relevant to your topic or training materials. Next, throw the ball to a participant who must respond by recalling something they know or have learned about the topic before throwing it to another participant. You can use this at the start of a session to gauge existing knowledge or use it after lunch to help the group recall what they did in the morning.

Walking Questions 

In many training scenarios, one of the best sources of information and insights is from trainees themselves. In this training activity, you’ll invite groups to answer one anothers questions in order to close knowledge gaps and encourage proactivity in the group. 

Start by giving each participant a sheet of paper at the end of a training block. Each trainee writes one open question on top of a sheet of paper. They then hand the paper to the person to their right. On the new sheet they receive, each trainee will read the question and write down any ideas or insights they might have before handing it onto the next person. The activity ends when everybody has their original sheet back, complete with ideas from everyone else in the group. 

Angry Customers

The fourth stage of Kolb’s learning cycle is Active experimentation, where participants get to practice using the skills they’ve learned during the training. Role-play or simulation games are an especially effective training activity to encourage this in trainees. While the specific role-play you use will need to reflect your training topic, Angry Customers is a great example of how it’s done.

In this training game, split your team into two groups. One group will brainstorm examples of angry customer statements while the other group will brainstorm statements that might help defuse such a situation. Next, pair people from separate groups together and roleplay an angry conversation. Debrief at the end to help the group identify what worked best and how they might use these insights in real-life situations.

Pecha Kucha

It’s common for trainers to ask trainees to present learnings or summarize discussions in small groups during live training. Such a presentation can help enable knowledge retention and to ensure participants have a good understanding of the material.

Pecha Kucha is an effective training activity that asks participants to create a presentation with 20 images that they present for 20 seconds each. It provides a great framework for sharing information in a fast but comprehensive and visually interesting manner that can help enable knowledge retention and recall. 

As an added bonus, it’s also a great way of building presentation skills and teaching employees simple ways of sharing information with other teams.

Fun with Snowballs

Creating an opportunity for participants to recall and share information while also having fun can enhance learning and create a memorable training experience for all. In this training game, start by distributing paper to each participant. Next, ask a question relevant to your training topic or material presented and ask each participant to write their response on the piece of paper. 

Next, get everyone to move into an open space and have a snowball fight using the responses they’ve made. After a few minutes, blow a whistle and have each participant grab the snowball closest to them and read the answer or information out loud.

Variations for this game include asking participants to write a key takeaway or learning, or to use this at the start of training to ask participants what they know about the subject before you begin.

You might also award points for a correct answer to a question or keep a record of correct and incorrect answers so you can adjust your training materials accordingly.

Triz 

Adult learners and trainees are typically more goal oriented than child learners. Getting your trainees to think about their personal goals, as well as those of the training at large can help pave the way for engaged learners. 

Triz is an effective training activity that asks participants to list all the things they must do in order to fail at their goals. For example, you might ask, “What should you do to make sure that you achieve the worst result imaginable during this training?”

By flipping perspectives, its often easier to surface key barriers to learning and create space for a considered reflection on how to engage and make progress on their goals. 

Mixed Up Sentences

Passive presentations with no interactivity or space for trainee engagement can be a drag for participants to sit through. While it’s often necessary to present information in this way, there are ways to enliven the process and also reinforce learings too. 

With this training method, start by creating a sequence of sentences that summarize the main points of your presentation. Next, put those sentences out of order and remove one from the list. During your lecture or presentation, invite participants to take notes and at the end of the session, split them into teams who will use their own notes and the sentences to recreate the missing sentence and also put the sentences back in order. 

1-2-4 All

People learn in all sorts of different ways. While some people enjoy lively group discussions and interactive presentations, others need some quiet time alone with the material. 1-2-4 All is an effective way of catering to multiple learning styles while also creating space for personal reflection and small group discussion. 

Start by inviting participants to silently reflect on a question or topic of the training. Next, ask participants to form pairs and build on the reflection or ideas they each had. Finally, ask participants to form groups of four and discuss further before presenting their main learnings or ideas to the group. 1-2-4 All is a simple training activity but it’s also one of the most effective ways of creating space for everyone to be heard and contribute to a group discussion. 

Collaborative and fun training games

One of the fundamental principles of adult learning is experiential learning, which gives participants the chance to use skills and knowledge in a practical way.

Asking trainees to utilize their creative or critical thinking skills in the form of a game can help create an experiential learning experience and enliven the group. They’re a great way to enhance group dynamics and improve communication between trainees too.

Marshmallow challenge with debriefing 

Marhsmallow Challenge is a classic team building game that works well in a training environment by asking participants to work together as a team and engage their problem solving skills. 

Start by briefing the team on the task: they must build the tallest free-standing structure out of 20 sticks of spaghetti, one yard of tape, one yard of string, and one marshmallow, which needs to be on top. After each team has presented their marshmallow tower and a winner has been crowned, conduct a debriefing where participants will reflect on what went well, what could have been improved and what learnings they will take from the exercise. 

Human Machine 

Effective collaboration is an important aspect of how groups operate. Collaboration and camaraderie is important in a training environment too, and this training game is an effective way of engaging a group collaboratively. Start by getting the group into a circle. Let them know that together, they will be creating a human machine where each person will be a part of that machine. 

Start by asking one person to enter the middle of the circle while making the sound and physical movement of one part of the machine. After 5 seconds, another person enters the circle and connects to the first person, also making a sound and a movement.

Continue until everyone has been connected to the machine. In small groups, you can also deconstruct the machine one piece at a time. Use this training game when you’re looking to encourage creative thinking and collaboration in your trainees. 

Blind Square – Rope game

Fun training games where participants need to engage their problem solving brain while working as a team can be a great counterpoint to heavier training material and presentations. In this training game, start by tying a long piece of rope into a circle. 

Instruct trainees that they’ll need to turn the circle into a square but must do so while blindfolded. They’ll have 15 minutes to plan their actions but must not touch the rope. They’ll then have 10 minutes to create the square as a team while wearing their blindfolds.

This is a simple but effective training game that builds communication skills and can also be used to start a conversation about collaboration, planning and problem solving.  

Helium Stick

Training activities don’t need to be complicated in order to create engagement in your group and help pave the way for collaborative learning. Helium Stick is a fun and engaging training game that is a simple and effective way to encourage presence and collaboration in the group. 

Start by asking everyone in the group to form two rows, facing each other. Next, ask them to put their index fingers out and rest a long, thin rod on everyone’s fingers, ensuring its level. Finally, ask the group to try moving the rod down while ensuring everyone’s fingers remain in contact with the rod. The result is a fun, engaging game that helps trainees land in the session and create some levity in your agenda. 

Human Knot

This physical training game is a fun energizing game that also doubles as an exploration of the differences between self-organization and command-control management. For any training that contains elements of group dynamics and human systems, this is a great choice of training icebreaker or energizer. 

Start by getting trainees into groups of 7-16 people. Next, ask everyone to get into a circle and close their eyes. Next, they should link hands with two different people in the group and then open their eyes. The group must then untangle themselves without breaking any links. This training game often results in a lot of laughter and fun, while debriefing it can help give groups an understanding of how certain dynamics can manifest within a group. 

Virtual Scavenger Hunt

Scavenger hunts on a specific topic can be a great way to get participants engaged in their own learning and encourage proactive exploration of a training topic. Start by creating a list of items that participants need to find that relate in some way to the topic of your training. 

For example, if you were running training on conflict resolution, your list might include finding a series of quotes or articles to cover each step of the resolution process, finding or taking photographs to represent four emotions experienced as a result of conflict, collecting the social media profiles of 3 thought leaders in the space, or even creating a spotify playlist of songs relating to core feedback principles.

Creativity is vital here, but the end result can be an engaging exercise that not only reinforces learning but also creates lots of space for fun. 

Games and activities for closing a training session

The closing stages of your training session can be among the most important when it comes to reinforcing learnings and helping your participants retain the key points of your training.

These training activities are designed to give trainees space to reflect on the session, reinforce their learnings and debrief with the group. They can be especially useful if you want to encourage trainees to take action following the training session or create a sense of closure too. 

If you’re following the ADDIE model of training design, these closing activities can also help you evaluate the effectiveness of your material and provide crucial feedback for future training sessions. 

Letter to Myself 

The best training sessions often result in positive change, whether that’s solving a problem or enabling trainees to do something they couldn’t do before. That said, it’s not uncommon for some participants to struggle to retain or implement learnings after the training. This training activity is a great way to avoid that issue.

Start by handing out pens and postcards/paper to the group and explain that everyone is going to write a letter to their future selves. In that letter, they’ll explain what they wish to achieve by the time their future selves open the letter.

You can add additional prompts such as, “I want to remember…” “I want to make a positive change because…” or “The biggest takeaway from today is…” to help guide the group and ensure participants are well positioned to retain and use their new knowledge in the future.

I used to think…But now I think…

Effective training is all about creating positive change. In this closing training activity, participants are asked to reflect on what they’ve learned and how their knowledge or perspective has changed as a result of what they’ve learned. Giving immediate feedback in this way can help surface valuable insights and cement learning too.

First, trainees will consider what they thought or knew about your training topic before the session, then they’ll reflect on what they think or know now. Give a few minutes for solo reflection before group sharing so that everyone is able to gather their thoughts before also enjoying the collective wisdom of other team members. 

Artful Closer 

Closing a training seminar by asking participants to create a visual representation of something they’ve learned can be an effective way to aid knowledge retention, share insights and create a memorable experience. Start this training activity by asking participants to close their eyes and think about the highlights of the session and choose one of the key lessons they learned. 

Next, participants will create an abstract image to represent that learning and which captures the essence of what they’ve learned. After they’re done, trainees then share the images in small groups and try to interpret what each image represents. For a closing activity with a visual edge, Artful Closer is a great choice that can prompt interesting discussions and aid knowledge retention too! 

Magical Gifts 

Having the members of your group share their takeaways from a training session is a great way to reinforce learnings and create a sense of closure.

In this paired training activity, one person starts by sharing their favourite takeaway from the training session or what action they’re going to take next. The second person listens carefully and then hands them an imaginary gift in response and describes what it is. 

For example, if I say that my next step after receiving training on emotional intelligence is to reflect on my experience and prepare for a tough conversation with my boss, the other person might hand me a magical pillow to help me rest and prepare for that conversation or a megaphone to help my voice be heard. After receiving the gift, the first person shows appreciation and explains how they will use the gift before switching. 

For particularly heavy training topics, this closing activity can be effective at introducing some levity and kindness while still ensuring people meaningfully reflect on what they’ve learned. 

Conclusion

Whether you’re designing live training sessions or blended learning courses, training games and activities can be an effective way to enhance the training experience and create space for experiential learning. Use them alongside tools like Gagne’s instructional design principles in order to design the most effective learning experiences possible.

These games aren’t just about using up time or giving people a break (although that’s also a worthy cause!) – activities like these can help engage participants and create a memorable experience that ensures learning is retained long after the session is over. 

Want to go further? Check out our guide on how to design a training session plan and create an agenda that will set the foundation for an effective session. 

Looking for an example training agenda? Explore this training plan template based on Kolb’s learning cycle and adjust it to your needs. 

Leadership activities are a great way of developing the skills and competencies needed to be an effective leader. It’s not easy to learn these skills, especially when so many leaders don’t receive effective training or support. In this article, we’ll explore the leadership activities you should master in order to lead a high-performing team and become a better leader!

Learning the why and how of being a great leader alongside practical techniques and frameworks is one of the easiest ways to become a better leader.

Anyone in a leadership role has both a big influence and responsibility for their team. Some of the aspects they need to pay attention to in order to be a good leader are:

• Setting the climate of a workplace
• Making decisions
• Inspiring team members
• Setting values for their team
• Improving team spirit and cohesion
• Being responsible for their team’s communication and wellbeing
• Developing leadership skills in other team members

There are a number of tools to help you with leadership development. Coaching, peer support circles, and leadership development workshops can all help one to become a better leader.

Leadership activities such as those featured here are also effective at introducing leadership concepts and learning how to solve common leadership challenges. You might run these leadership training activities during a workshop, add them to an ongoing learning program or simply introduce them to managers as needed.

In this guide, we’ve grouped leadership activities by these core competencies, so you can choose the right activity to help yourself or others develop their leadership skills. Let’s dive in!

What are leadership activities?

Leadership activities are exercises designed to help develop leadership skills and enable leaders to be more effective in their roles. They can include activities that help train new leaders and improve core leadership skills like problem-solving, active listening, or effective group management.

You’ll also find that the best leadership development activities give leaders tools and techniques they can use on the job. It’s one thing to know that leaders need to be good listeners, but quite another to be given a framework and toolkit that means you are a great listener who always helps their team feel heard and understood.

The exercises below are not only great to use when training leaders, but they are practical techniques leaders can use with every team member immediately, whatever their leadership style.

What are leadership activities used for?

While managers might approach tasks differently based on their leadership style, there are skills and competencies that all leaders should learn in order to best service their team. Learning how to be a good leader can be difficult, so using exercises and activities to improve leadership skills in a safe, experiential environment can help leaders be more effective in their role.

If you’re running a leadership development program, you might use these activities during the training program. For example, after conducting a self-assessment and deciding how they want to develop as a leader, participants might work on improving their leadership skills with these activities.

Whether you’re running such a program and developing managers internally with workshops or simply want to brush up on your own leadership skills, these exercises are a great place to begin.

A bespoke leadership development workshop (like the one featured in this leadership template!) is also a natural place to include these activities.

In SessionLab, it’s quick and easy to design a leadership workshop fit for your needs. Start by dragging and dropping blocks to design your outline. Add minute-perfect timing and instructions to each activity to refine your agenda.

When you’re ready to share with collaborators or participants, export your workshop agenda in PDF, Word, Powerpoint or invite them directly to the session.

Leadership training activities for building a positive work climate

Leaders are role models to their colleagues and organization. Their leadership styles, principles, and values determine the culture that drives their organization’s behavior.

That is why a competitive, paranoid leader can easily create an organization where team members are similarly competitive and less open to collaboration. While a leader who is open and inclusive will create a climate of openness and inclusiveness. How they behave, and what they consider the norm, also affects which kinds of behaviors are enforced and celebrated and which behaviors are punished.

The following leadership activities can help you in recognising important leadership behaviors that result in a productive workplace. They can also be used by leaders to set the stage for team bonding and a great workplace environment with their team. A must for all leaders!

Leadership Envelopes

Leadership games like this help groups translate abstract leadership principles into practical on-the-job behaviors. Participants work in groups to come up with real-life applications of different leadership principles.

The groups conduct multiple rounds of discussion to build upon each others’ ideas, and in the end, evaluate the best ideas to identify the most useful behaviors. This is also a great activity to run with all your team members. Seeing how they consider and respond to different leadership styles can help you focus on the right approach as a leader!

Leadership Envelopes #leadership #issue analysis #thiagi 

Leadership exercise in groups, working with practical leadership principles.

This activity helps groups to translate abstract leadership principles into practical on-the-job behaviours. Participants work in groups to come up with real-life application of leadership principles. The groups take multiple rounds to build upon the ideas of each other, and in the end, evaluate the best ideas to identify the most useful behaviours.

Your Favourite Manager

In this activity, participants take on three different employee personas and list the behaviors of a positive leader or manager and a negative one from the perspectives of those employees. After some individual reflection, participants compare their lists, first in pairs and then in groups. Finally, they collect the ultimate do’s and don’ts for managers and leaders.

Any activity that encourages deep reflection on your own leadership style and those of your role models is a wonderful way to grow. I’ve been especially inspired by how some of my old bosses approach problem solving while I was a team member working beneath them.

My Favourite Manager #management #leadership #thiagi #teamwork #remote-friendly 

Participants work individually, assuming the roles of three different people and brainstorming their perceptions of three most favourite managers and three least favourite managers. Later, they work with a partner (and still later, in teams) to prepare a list of dos and don’t-s for improving employees’ perception of a manager’s style.

Leadership Pizza

This leadership development activity offers a self-assessment framework for people to first identify the skills, attributes and attitudes they find important for effective leadership, and then assess their own development in these areas. This framework is also a great tool to set individual leadership development goals in a coaching process.

We love activities that allow team members to reflect on different leadership styles and assess their own skills and preferences. The visual format makes it easy to share and reflect on leadership styles later too!

Leadership Pizza #leadership #team #remote-friendly 

This leadership development activity offers a self-assessment framework for people to first identify what skills, attributes and attitudes they find important for effective leadership, and then assess their own development and initiate goal setting.

Playing with Status

The best leadership training activities often allow managers to work on their leadership skills while also providing an opportunity to reflect on their leadership style and how it might affect other employees.

Playing with Status is a role playing game where pairs enact a job interview or coaching session and enact different versions of the conversation based on whether each person has high or low status. By experiencing the effect of status on the relationship, would-be leaders can consider how they interact with other members of their team and create a more positive workplace culture.

Heard Seen Respected

Standing in the shoes of others, practicing empathy and ensuring that everyone on a team is able to be heard is a necessity for great leaders and your team in general. In this activity, participants shift between telling stories where they were not heard, seen or respected and then being listeners who do not pass judgment. 

Remember that leadership training should often start with the fundamentals of respect and empathy. If you can’t respect and empathize with your team members, how can you expect them to do the same for you? Keeping things simple with an activity like Heard Seen Respected can be an especially effective option whether you’re working online or offline. 

Team building leadership activities

Every leader has an integral role in the formation of the teams they work with. Whether you are consciously working on it or not, your attitude and actions as a leader will significantly influence team cohesion, communication and the team spirit of the people you work with.

This comes through in small everyday actions, the way you share responsibilities, the way you empower colleagues, and the way you foster a cooperative work environment as opposed to a competitive one.

Sometimes, it can also be effective to run team building activities with your company that are expressly focused on helping teams come together and bond. Try using the following leadership team building activities with new teams, or groups that need to spend a little time getting to know each other better.

Marshmallow challenge

The Marshmallow Challenge is a team-building activity in which teams compete to build the tallest free-standing structure out of spaghetti sticks, tape, string, and the marshmallow that needs to be on the top. This leadership activity emphasizes group communication, leadership dynamics, collaboration, and innovation and problem-solving.

It’s a wonderful game that allows participants’s natural leadership qualities to shine through, and it helps teams have a lot of fun too!

Marshmallow challenge with debriefing #teamwork #team #leadership #collaboration 

In eighteen minutes, teams must build the tallest free-standing structure out of 20 sticks of spaghetti, one yard of tape, one yard of string, and one marshmallow. The marshmallow needs to be on top.

The Marshmallow Challenge was developed by Tom Wujec, who has done the activity with hundreds of groups around the world. Visit the Marshmallow Challenge website for more information. This version has an extra debriefing question added with sample questions focusing on roles within the team.

Blind Square Rope Game

This activity is a tried and tested game that asks teams to communicate well and solve a problem as a team. Not only is this a fun team building activity, but it’s a great way for potential leaders to step up and help their team win!

Start by tying a length of rope into a circle and then instruct participants they will have 20 minutes to turn it into a square, with fifteen minutes to plan their actions and five minutes to implement. Here’s the catch – no one may touch the rope until you begin, and every team member is blindfolded during implementation. This is an effective leadership game that is great with both small groups and larger teams separated into breakouts.

Tower of Power

All leaders need to work closely with other members of their organization in order to succeed. This leadership game encourages groups to work together in order to build a tower with specific (and sometimes tricky!) rules before than reflecting on what worked, what didn’t and what they would do next time.

It’s a wonderful activity for leadership training, as it provides an experiential way to explore leadership concepts, all wrapped in a fun game!

Minefield

When teams work together well, something magic happens. But what elements constitute a high performing team? As a leader, how can you help ensure those conditions are met? In this leadership game, participants must work together to get every team member across an obstacle while blindfolded.

It’s a simple concept that creates a perfect space for exploring how teams operate and the role leaders have within them. Bring plenty of fun obstacles (squeaky toys are best) and encourage groups to think strategically for best results!

Crocodile River

The Crocodile River is a team-building activity in which group members need to support each other in a task to move from one end of a space to another. It requires working together creatively and strategically in order to solve a practical, physical problem. It tends to emphasize group communication, cooperation, leadership and membership, patience and problem-solving.

Crocodile River #hyperisland #team #outdoor 

A team-building activity in which a group is challenged to physically support one another in an endeavour to move from one end of a space to another. It requires working together creatively and strategically in order to solve a practical, physical problem. It tends to emphasize group communication, cooperation, leadership and membership, patience and problem-solving.

Human knot

This is a simple game to help team members learn how to work together (better). It can also focus on the group’s understanding of communication, leadership, problem-solving, trust or persistence. Participants stand in a circle, close their eyes and put their hands into the circle to find two other hands to hold. Then they open their eyes and the group has to try to get back into a circle without letting go, though they can change their grip, of course.

Who are you? The pirate ship exercise

Every member of a group occupies a different position in the team. An effective team leader is one who considers their role and is aware of where employees also stand.

This leadership training activity is an effective method of getting a group to consider their roles with the metaphor of a pirate ship. Start by sharing the image and invite each person to consider which person on the deck they most identify with. Is it the captain, or perhaps is it the person repairing damage to the hull? What follows is an effective conversation on roles within a team.

Collaborative leadership activities

Whether you’re leading a small group or working across a massive organization, part of your role of a leader is to help their team work together more effectively. Removing obstacles to effective collaboration and creating frameworks for better teamwork is something you’ll be doing as a leader.

Use the activities below to develop the skills necessary to facilitate better collaboration and working habits between team members.

Circles of Influence

Effective teamwork is often about identifying where each member of a team can have the most impact and use their skills best. Leaders often need to find ways to identify where to direct their team and consider how different skills and working styles fit together to make a cohesive team. This activity makes it easy to facilitate this process and encourage employees to reflect and be proactive too!

We love that this leadership exercise encourages every team member to take responsibility and action. When looking for leadership qualities in a group and considering who you might want to develop into a future leader, this is also a great place to start!

Team of Two

Whether you’re leading a team of just a few people or hundreds, the reality is that many of your discussions and interactions with the people you will lead will be interpersonal and one-on-one in nature. Developing the skillset you need to solve issues in your team when they arise and finding ways to ensure these conversations are productive is one of the most important things you can do as a leader.

Use Team of Two whether working online or as part of an in-person session to help your working pairs and interpersonal relationships go from strength to strength. By articulating needs and consequences clearly, this leadership exercise helps people communicate efficiently and see the results they need – a must for anyone in a leadership role! 

What I Need From You

One of the most important leadership skills to cultivate is clarity: being clear in what you expect and need from others in your organisation or group is an integral component of high-functioning teams. With What I Need From You, each team member involved in the exchange is given the chance to articulate their core needs to others and respond in a structured way.

This kind of clear, direct action is great at unblocking conversational roadblocks in both large and small groups, and is something all leaders should have in their toolkit.

Generative Relationships STAR

The relationships between the members of a team can make or break the work you do together. In this leadership training activity, leaders learn how to help a group understand their current working patterns and identify possible changes.

Each participant will individually rate the current performance of the group on the 4 points of the STAR compass tool included. Next, small groups will discuss their choices and find points of alignment and disagreement. Finally, the whole team will discuss the first steps they can take to improve relationships and performance for the group.

Team Canvas

When it comes to enabling true collaboration throughout your organization, it pays to involve your team members in helping shape the way you want to work together. Different leadership styles may call for a different approach to this process, but it’s always helpful to see a complete example of how you might define your team culture and working processes.

In this workshop template, you can see a complete agenda for a team canvas workshop. This will take a team through a process of co-creating and defining everything from your goals, values, assets, and rules. Effective leadership often means tapping into group intelligence and enabling your team to take shared ownership of their success. Team Canvas great way of achieving this!

Inspirational leadership activities

Great leaders inspire others. However, there are many different reasons why someone will find a leader inspirational. Developing the skills to inspire team members and lead with this energy is important, whatever your leadership style.

In order to grasp what facilitates inspiring leadership, try the following exercises. You’ll be surprised at how thinking more deeply about your own role models or what your values can help you in all of your leadership interactions!

Leadership Advice from your Role Model

Everyone is asked to think of a role model they look up to and ask themselves: If a young person would ask these role models for leadership advice and what kind of advice that would be.

Facilitate a group conversation where these pieces of advice are shared and contradicting points are discussed and reconciled. Given diverse enough responses, this structured sharing activity might be a good introduction to the concept of situational leadership.

Leadership Advice from Your Role Model #skills #leadership #thiagi #role playing 

This structured sharing activity provides a faster, cheaper, and better alternative to buying and reading a lot of books: You tap into the wisdom of the group—and of their role models.

Living Core Values

The core values of your organization are a great place to look when you want to inspire your team members. Leaders should be involved in defining and exemplifying their core values and also helping create space for the team to share how they’re living those values. The result is an inspiring leadership exercise that allows a leader to help the group celebrate their wins and also suggest places for improvement.

Start by choosing one of your core values and asking activity participants to share a story of how they have been practicing this core value. After sharing, ask the team to reflect on what inspired them from the story. As with any leadership development game, be the first one to share a story to help guide the discussion. Running this exercise will not only help inspire a team to greater heights but also surface any areas that need improvement – it’s a great method to have in your leadership toolbox!

Campfire

Throughout human history, stories have been a consistent source of inspiration. Whatever your leadership style, finding time to share more about your own story and create space for others to share theirs can be massively useful as a leader.

In Campfire, start by creating a selection of 10-20 sticky notes relating to a concept you wish to explore with the group. Put these on the wall and then invite your group to review them and consider stories they might tell related to one of those words. Start the storytelling session yourself and think about how you might inspire and elicit further stories from the rest of the team before passing the torch to the next person around the campfire!

This is a great activity to run during leadership training or when team building. Creating safe spaces for people to share their experiences is a leadership skill you absolutely want to cultivate and practice!

Letter from the Future

Leaders are often called upon to inspire their team members about the future of their product or organization. Employees who are excited about where you’re going are more likely to work together well and be energized to see results. This activity is useful for helping inspire a team, or even just to inspire yourself as a leader and get your vision for the future down on paper!

Begin by asking your team to speculate on what the world will look like in five years. Next, ask them to write a letter from the future detailing what the group has accomplished in that time and how they overcame any challenges.

Share the results to inspire the group for what you might accomplish and also start creating plans for how you’ll create your desired future. You might even find that running this activity solo is effective when thinking about how you want to develop as a team leader!

Leadership activities for personal development

A good leader is one who helps uplift and upskill the members of their team. These leadership activities are designed to help you encourage participants to be more autonomous, take initiative and work on their personal development.

If you’re new to a leadership role or trying on various leadership styles, these can also be great activities to practice on the road to leading a team. Growth and development is a vital aspect of employee happiness and fulfilment – be sure to bring ideas for enabling others to your leadership role.

Roles in a meeting

Learning by doing is an important aspect of effective leadership. Sometimes, you have to try something new and approach the task with an open mind while working to the best of your ability. This simple method is a great way of encouraging participants to take an important role during a meeting and also take part in developing and refining those roles.

If you’re running a leadership development program and want to start upskilling participants, this is a great way of delegating some simple leadership roles. Plus, it helps encourage the group to contribute and engage with how a successful meeting is put together too!

Alignment & Autonomy

One of the most impactful things a leader can do is get out of a team’s way and allow them to perform more autonomously. Doing so effectively means people can take ownership of their work, be more invested, and develop their skills too. But how can you do this without creating chaos or misalignment?

In this activity, you first help every team member align on your goals and then reflect on where they can take more ownership and be more autonomous in their work while still contributing to the goals of the team. Not only is this a great way to help your team develop, but it also takes work off your plate as a leader and can enable you to get out of the trenches if necessary.

15% Solutions

One of the biggest barriers to personal development is being overwhelmed by what you need to do to achieve your goals. As a leader, you can help your team by enabling them to take the small, important actions that are within their control.

Start by asking participants to reflect on where they have the discretion and freedom to act and how they might make a small step towards a goal without needing outside help. By flipping the conversation to what 15% of a solution looks like, rather than 100%, employees can begin to make changes without fear of being overwhelmed.

The GROW Coaching Model

The best leaders are often great coaches, helping individual team members achieve their potential and grow. This tried and test method is a wonderful way to help activate the development of everyone from a new start to an established leader.

Begin by teaching your mentee or group the GROW acronym (Goal, Reality, Obstacles/Options, and Will.) and guide them through a process of defining each section and collectively agreeing on how you’ll make progress. This is an effective leadership activity that is great for leadership training and is equally useful when it comes to help any team member grow.

Decision-making leadership activities

An important aspect of leadership development is learning how to make informed and intelligent decisions while also ensuring you listen to your team. A leader who bulldozes their team into a decision without first listening to their expertise is not going to make their team feel valued.

The outcomes of uninformed decisions are often poor or frustrating for those involved too. While leaders are justifiably responsible for making final decisions, it’s integral to find methods to do so in a well-reasoned way.

These leadership activities are useful when it comes to making good decisions while involving your team members in the process and developing a leadership style that creates space for others.

Dotmocracy

When solving problems as a team, it’s common to have various options for moving forward. As a leader, it often falls to you to make the decision for which solution or direction to pursue. But how can you do that while also creating space for the opinions of your team to be heard?

Dotmocracy is a tried and tested facilitation method for making informed decisions with the help of your team. After presenting the available options, give everyone on your team a number of dots to indicate which option they prefer. You’ll want to adjust the number of votes based on the number of options there are to choose from. A good rule of thumb is to have fewer dots than there are options, giving just a few for every team member.

Leaders want to be on hand to break any ties and to facilitate discussion around what is chosen, but when it comes to making decisions with your team, this method is hard to beat.

Impact and Effort Matrix

The hallmark of a good decision making process is transparency. Leaders should know why a decision is made and should be able to clearly explain their thinking to team members. As such, the best decision making activities make the process open and easy to understand.

Start this activity by creating a 2×2 matrix and then place possible options on the matrix based on the expected impact and effort it would take to achieve them. This makes it easy to prioritize and compare possible decisions while also including team members in the process.

An inclusive leadership style means bringing your own knowledge to the table while also listening to the opinions of the team. When running this activity, be sure to combine these aspects to ensure items are placed in the appropriate place on the matrix.

Level of influence

Making the right decision is often a process of weighing up various factors and prioritizing accordingly. While there are many methods for doing this, being an effective leader often means making this as simple as possible.

We love this decision making activity because it asks the group (and its leader!) some simple questions to narrow down possible options and makes it easy to prioritize too. Start by asking the level of influence a team has to make possible actions happen and ranking them accordingly.

Next, choose those items that you have the most influence on and then prioritize the ones you really want to happen. This simple, two-step process is a great activity for leadership development as it is something any leader can use with ease!

Fishbone Analysis

Making good decisions requires a complete knowledge of the problem at hand. For leaders who may no longer be on the frontlines of their department, it’s important to surface insights from their team and understand the root cause of any problem before making a decision.

In this leadership activity, start by choosing a problem area and adding it to the head of the fish. Next, brainstorm ideas that might cause the problem and add these as categories to the skeleton. Brainstorm on each of these categories and ask why is this happening in order to dive deeper and fully understand the issue at hand before making an informed decision as a group.

Leadership exercises for setting team values

Usually, the values of a leader are mirrored in the organization. If shortcuts are common practice for the leader, then she will see shortcuts made by her team members all across their projects. But if learning and self-improvement are important to the leader, then this will be a good foundation for these values in the whole organization, too.

To be more aware of your own values as a leader and then bring these ideas to your team, try these leadership exercises!

Explore Your Values

Explore your Values is a group exercise for thinking on what your own and your team’s most important values are. It’s done in an intuitive and rapid way to encourage participants to follow their intuitions rather than over-thinking and finding the “correct” values.

It’s a good leadership game to use to initiate reflection and dialogue around personal values and consider how various leadership styles might chime with some values more than others.

Explore your Values #hyperisland #skills #values #remote-friendly 

Your Values is an exercise for participants to explore what their most important values are. It’s done in an intuitive and rapid way to encourage participants to follow their intuitive feeling rather than over-thinking and finding the “correct” values. It is a good exercise to use to initiate reflection and dialogue around personal values.

Your Leadership Coat of Arms

In this leadership development activity, participants are asked to draw their own coat of arms symbolising the most important elements of their leadership philosophy. The coat of arms drawings are then debriefed and discussed together with the group.

This activity works well with equally well with leadership and team members. Creating a visual representation of what you stand for in the form of a coat of arms can help create a memorable asset you can refer to and rally behind in the future.

Your Leadership Coat of Arms #leadership #leadership development #skills #remote-friendly #values 

In this leadership development activity, participants are asked to draw their own coat of arms symbolising the most important elements of their leadership philosophy. The coat of arms drawings are then debriefed and discussed together with the group.

After the exercise you may prepare a coat of arms gallery, exhibiting the leadership approach and philosophy of group members

Team Purpose & Culture

Ensuring all group participants are aligned when it comes to purpose and cultural values is one of the jobs of a leader. Teams and organizations that have a shared and cohesive vision are often happier and more productive and by helping a group arrive at these conclusions, a good leader can help empower everyone to succeed.

Even with multi-discipline teams and organizations with different leadership styles, this method is an effective way of getting everyone on the same page. This is a framework you’ll likely use again and again with different teams throughout your career.

Leadership communication activities

Leaders are usually viewed as the parents of the organization. It is expected from them that they take care of their people and make sure that proper norms and rules are followed. One of the key areas where a leader has a large influence is the style and amount of communication between people.

Active Listening and giving effective feedback are critical skills to have as a leader but are also crucial for your team members. In fact, the issue that leaders rank as one of the biggest barriers to successful leadership is avoiding tough conversations, including giving honest, constructive feedback.

Develop good communication practices with the following leadership games and activities.

Active Listening

This activity supports participants in reflecting on a question and generating their own solutions using simple principles of active listening and peer coaching. It’s an excellent introduction to active listening but can also be used with groups that are already familiar with this activity. Participants work in groups of three and take turns being “the subject” who will explore a question, “the listener” who is supposed to be totally focused on the subject, and “the observer” who will watch the dynamic between the other two.

Active Listening #hyperisland #skills #active listening #remote-friendly 

This activity supports participants to reflect on a question and generate their own solutions using simple principles of active listening and peer coaching. It’s an excellent introduction to active listening but can also be used with groups that are already familiar with it. Participants work in groups of three and take turns being: “the subject”, the listener, and the observer.

Trust battery

Every time you work together with someone, your trust battery – the trust you have towards a certain person, or the ‘emotional credit’ that person has in your eyes – either charges or depletes based on things like whether you deliver on what you promise and the social interaction you exhibit. A low trust battery is the core of many personal issues at the workplace.

This self-assessment activity allows you and your team members to reflect on the ‘trust battery’ they individually have towards each person on the team and encourages focus on actions that can charge the depleted trust batteries.  It also works great when promoting virtual leadership and working with online teams!

Trust Battery #leadership #teamwork #team #remote-friendly 

This self-assessment activity allows you and your team members to reflect on the ‘trust battery’ they individually have towards each person on the team, and encourages focus on actions that can charge the depleted trust batteries.

Feedback: Start, Stop, Continue

Regular and constructive feedback is one of the most important ingredients for effective teams. Openness creates trust, and trust creates more openness. This is an activity for teams that have worked together for some time and are familiar with giving and receiving feedback. The objective of Start, Stop, Continue is to examine aspects of a situation or develop next steps by polling people on what to start, what to stop and what to continue doing.

For those in charge of online leadership, it’s vital to find ways of having difficult conversations in constructive ways virtually – try this method when working to resolve issues with your distributed team!

Feedback: Start, Stop, Continue #hyperisland #skills #feedback #remote-friendly 

Regular, effective feedback is one of the most important ingredients in building constructive relationships and thriving teams. Openness creates trust and trust creates more openness. Feedback exercises aim to support groups to build trust and openness and for individuals to gain self-awareness and insight. Feedback exercises should always be conducted with thoughtfulness and high awareness of group dynamics. This is an exercise for groups or teams that have worked together for some time and are familiar with giving and receiving feedback. It uses the words “stop”, “start” and “continue” to guide the feedback messages.

Reflection: Team

All leaders know the value of structured and considered reflection. Teams that take the time to reflect and improve are those that can grow and by creating an environment of reflection, team leaders and managers can help their group move forward together.

This method is effective for both offline and virtual leadership development. It helps a group progress from individual reflection through to full group discussion in a way that encourages constructive thought and minimizes potential frustration or antagonistic conversation. 

Leadership conflict resolution activities

One of the most important leadership skills you’ll want to develop is the ability to mediate and resolve team conflicts. Even the most connected and effective teams can run into conflict and it will fall to managers and team leaders to help get things back on track.

Even for established leaders, navigating conflict can be difficult! These leadership development activities are designed to help groups manage and resolve conflicts more effectively.

Giving leaders a framework they can trust and use with their team right away is always a good use of time, and we’d recommend teaching these methods to all new leaders!

What, So What, Now What?

It’s easy to get lost in the woods when it comes to managing conflict. Helping a group see what happened objectively and without judgment is an important leadership skill, and this framework helps make this process easy.

Start by working with the group to collect facts about what happened before moving towards making sense of them. Once everywhere has been heard and given space to process these facts, you can then move towards suggesting practical actions. By following this kind of framework, you can manage a conflict in a pragmatic way that also ensures everyone in a group can contribute.

Conflict Responses

All of us can be guilty of handling conflicts in a less than ideal manner. Part of developing as a leader is identifying when something didn’t go well before finding ways to do things better next time.

In this leadership activity, ask the group to provide examples of previous conflicts and then reflect on how they handled them. Next, ask everyone to reflect on how they might change their behavior for a better outcome in the future. As a leader, use this opportunity to lead the way and be honest and vulnerable. It’s your role to provide a model for interaction and its always worthwhile to see how you can do better as a people manager dealing with conflict too!

Bright Blurry Blind

Finding opportunities to reframe conflict as an opportunity to solve problems and create clarity is a very useful leadership quality. Often, conflict is a signifier of a deeper problem and so finding ways to surface and work on these issues as a team is a great way to move forward and bring a group together too.

In this leadership activity, start by asking the group to reflect on the central metaphor of bright to blind issues or topics, based on whether the problem is out in the open or unknown. Next, invite small groups to ideate on what issues facing the team are bright, blurry, or blind and then discuss them as a group. By working together to illuminate what is blurry or blind, you can create a one-team mentality and start resolving problems that can lead to conflict too.

The Art of Effective Feedback Workshop

All leaders will need to give effective feedback in order to help their team develop and do great work. The best leaders also solicit feedback from their direct reports and use this is an opportunity to grow. But how can you teach these feedback skills and help leaders develop this important skill?

Check out our Effective Feedback Workshop template for a complete agenda you can use to develop this leadership skill. You’ll find a ready-to-go workshop with a guide and PowerPoint presentation you can use to help anyone in a leadership role give and receive better feedback.

Workshop design made easy

Designing and running effective workshops and meetings is an important leadership skill; whether it’s staying organized and on time during your daily stand-ups or planning more involved sessions.

With SessionLab, it’s easy to create engaging workshops that create impact while engaging every member of your team. Drag, drop and reorder blocks to build your agenda. When you make changes or update your agenda, your session timing adjusts automatically, saving you time on manual adjustments.

Collaborating with stakeholders or clients? Share your agenda with a single click and collaborate in real-time. No more sending documents back and forth over email.

Explore how you and your team might use SessionLab to design more effective sessions or watch this five minute video to see the planner in action!

Now over to you…

I hope you have found some useful tips for leadership development workshops above. Now we’d love to hear from you!

What are your favorite leadership workshop ideas and training exercises for leadership development? Did you incorporate any of them into your facilitation practice?

Have you tried any of the activities above? Let us know about your experiences in the comments.

These activities create space for fun and play in big teams, whatever your environment. In this post, we’ll share our favorite large group games alongside tips for running them too!

Whenever you design a session, you’ll want to consider the number of participants so you can plan activities appropriately. With very large groups, it gets harder to involve everyone, but it’s important that you do. Research has proven that play is vital not only at home or in the classroom, but at work too!

These large group games are designed to help you encourage play, connect and team build with groups of twenty or more people. They are also easy to run in parallel in smaller groups and are designed so that everyone can easily organize themselves easily.

We’ve categorized them for the following purposes, so you can find a suitable activity whether you are running a specific event or are looking for ideas for large group games you might use in the future!

Group games for breaking the ice

Do you need some large group games to get people moving and raise the energy level in the room? Or an activity that helps to break the ice and get participants comfortable talking to each other?

Consider these exercises and group activities for kicking off your next training workshop or large group team building session. They’re great to get large groups comfortable with one another in a fun, playful way.

Rock-Paper-Scissors Tournament

This is fun and loud energizer game based on the well-known “Rock, Paper, Scissor” game. People play against each other in pairs until the first win. But instead of the losing players becoming eliminated from the tournament, they become a fan of the winner, and they cheer for them as the winner plays against a new opponent. You repeat the process until there are only two players left with a huge fan base cheering for them. The last two players have to play until one has won twice.

As this group activity tends to get loud, it’s best to play it somewhere outside. The great thing about this game is that it works whether you’re looking for a small group activity or large group game – it scales very easily and requires very little preparation!

Doodling Together

Doodling Together is a fun and creative game where the group gets to collaboratively draw postcards through a series of instructions as participants complete the postcards started by others. You can simply use this technique in parallel groups as the instructions are easy to follow.

It is a great group activity to establish creative confidence, collaborate effortlessly and build capacity for working together as a workshop group. Large group games rarely have the potential to be more hilarious and creative!

Bang!

Bang is a group game, played in a circle, where participants must react quickly or face elimination. One person stands in the middle of the circle as “the sheriff”, pointing at other players who must quickly crouch while those on either side of them quickly “draw”.

This is a good activity to generate laughter and it can also help with name-learning for groups getting to know each other. For a party or event with more than 30 people, it is best to play it in parallel groups. If you’re looking for energizers for large groups, this is one of the best group games to help get people excited and raise their energy level.

3 Question Mingle

In this group game, every participant creates three thoughtful questions that they want to ask other group members to get to know them better. People start to mingle to ask and answer questions in pairs. After asking a question and listening to the answer, they hand over that question. Thus, in each one-on-one meeting, participants will swap one question each.

This allows your team to learn interesting facts about each other and works with a group size of up to 50-60 people. A more thoughtful group game, 3 Question Mingle is great whether you’re working with internal teams or at a conference where you’re trying to encourage participation.

Group Order

Help teams get to know each other better with this fast, simple ordering game. Start with everyone standing and milling around your space and ask them to organize themselves into a line based on a criteria such as height, number of pets, time at your company or something else entirely! Helping friends learn something new about each other while getting into a line is a great addition to a team building session, and can help kick-off any group event.

Though the number of people playing is dependant on available space, I’ve found this quick game a hit, especially playing with ideas and ordering criteria that are a little outside of the box!

Icebreaker: The Group Map

Large group icebreakers are a wonderful opportunity to get to know each other and share a little about yourself with the team. This game invites participants to imagine the available space as a map of the world and place themselves where they are from.

This first step is often energetic as people try to find their relative geographies and move around the space. Next, ask your team to reflect on where they are from and then share some positive memories or experiences from that place. As with any large group activity, it’s helpful to go first and demonstrate the kind of thing people should share and set things off in a fun, light mood.

Apple, Orange and Banana!

Complexity isn’t your friend with a large group. Sometimes, all you need is a quick game with simple instructions in order to get things kicked off!

Apple, Orange and Banana! is a fast, active energizer that is great for teams of any size. Start by asking the group to form a circle and put their hands on the shoulders of the person in front of them. Next, ask everyone playing to jump forward when you say apple, jump back when you say orange and then jump and turn 180 degrees to put their hands on the shoulders of the person who has behind them. Work up to combining multiple commands to keep your team on their toes and generate lots of laughter too!

One Word Method

Some of the best games for playing with big groups of people are the simplest. This word game invites everyone in the room to contribute a single word to a collective sentence that grows as you go round the group.

I love running this game with kids and adults alike, and it’s really fun to see how things change as every player contributes a word. It also scales well with any number of players and it’s easy for people to learn and improve at with repeated turns. If you’re looking for a hilarious way to spend time with others without a need for equipment, this is a guaranteed hit where everyone wins!

Team building games for large groups

Facilitation techniques that help build team spirit, encourage teamwork and are suitable for running with lots of people are important to have in your toolkit.

These large group games put an emphasis on fostering trust and openness for better collaboration and managing team dynamics effectively. You could use them to initiate meaningful conversation or engage your party in engaging tasks where they work together in order to win.

Working together towards a common goal is often essential to increase cohesion within teams and you should definitely include such activities in a team building or development workshop. They’re also great for bringing a sense of play and fun to proceedings and encouraging everyone in your team to get involved.

Draw your Coat of Arms

This group game helps group members to get to know each other better through a creative drawing exercise: Each participant draws their own coat of arms – a design that is unique to themselves, representing important characteristics, achievements and values of its owner.

If you want to direct the focus of this game then you can instruct your team to the best question to answer in each segment of the Coat of Arms. (E.g. What is something you are very good at? What is something your colleagues don’t know about you?).

When people are finished drawing, they present their work to in their group. The presentation part is practical to do in smaller groups. And whether you have a small or large group, you can arrange a neat Coat of Arms gallery by sticking all the drawings on the wall of the workshop room. Large group games where participants have something to show at the end can be especially effective and can really set the stage for a productive, interactive workshop.

Marshmallow Challenge

In eighteen minutes, teams of 3-5 people must build the tallest free-standing structure out of 20 sticks of spaghetti, one yard of tape, one yard of string, and one marshmallow. The marshmallow needs to be on top.

Since the instructions are fairly simple, it is easy to scale this activity up to 20-30 groups playing in parallel and competing who builds the highest structure. It emphasizes collaboration, group communication, leadership dynamics and problem-solving strategy – everything you want in your large group games. Also, there are marshmallows. All group activities are better with marshmallows!

Helium Stick

The Helium stick group activity gives a simple challenge to teams that require teamwork and coordination to manage. People are lined up in two rows facing each other, 5 to 10 people per row, depending on the length of the sticks you have for the game. Participants point with their index finger and hold their arms out in a way that a stick can be horizontally laid on their index fingers.

The task is to lower the stick to the ground while everyone’s index fingers stay in contact with the rod. Why Helium Stick? Often, the stick will rise first, like helium!

You can easily scale this activity for larger teams, just have as many sticks as the number of lines you will create, and the sub-groups will compete against each other who manages to lower their stick first. A gentle sense of competition can be great for bringing people together – try mixing teams if you’re working with multiple departments and encourage people who don’t normally interact to work together in this group activity.

History Map

Creating something collaboratively is a wonderful way of building team spirit with a large group or party. When we find time to reflect on our shared history and create something tangible as a result, even better!

Begin by rolling out a large piece of paper and draw a timeline representing a shared project, experience or the history of your group. Next, instruct everyone to use the materials provided (colored pens, pencils, even collage materials!) to add memorable experiences and moments to the timeline. History Map is a great activity to run with any number of people, though be sure you bring enough materials for everyone to get involved!

This activity works great on an online whiteboard, and be sure to encourage your virtual team to use GIFs and videos to illustrate the map further! Debrief by going round your team and inviting commentary and reflection.

Cross the Circle

While group discussions can be an effective way of helping bring everyone together, this can be time-consuming and unwieldy, especially with large groups. This activity is a fast, playful way to uncover commonalities and bring everyone together.

Begin with all the players around a circle except for one, who stands in the middle. The person in the middle then makes a statement such as “Cross the circle if you can speak a second language,” or “Cross the circle if you’ve worked here more than three years.” Instruct those who match the statement to cross the circle, though the last person to cross must then stand in the middle and make a new statement.

Continue this game as time allows, and try to give everyone a spot in the middle of the circle! It’s always interesting to note what everyone asks, and this approach allows the team to learn something new about each other too,

Egg drop

This classic group activity is a proven method of bringing a team together for a shared goal while also generating some laughs. Split your participants into two or more teams and provide each team with an egg, a heap of straws, tapes and any other crafting material you wish. Next, ask each group to create a structure that will allow the egg to fall over 7 feet without breaking. To add complexity, add some additional rules for building the structure, a time limit or some other constraint.

When designing a session for groups of more than 20 people, it pays to be organized.

In SessionLab, it’s easy to create a structured agenda for any group event or workshop. Add an opening section, core group activities and closing exercises to build your session in minutes.

Add clear timings and instructions for every activity to stay on track. Need to make changes on the day? Your event timing will automatically adjust so you’ll stay organized, whatever changes!

Party games for large groups

Classic party games are a great way to bring people together, even outside of a party environment. A sense of familiarity can help rouse any hesitant participants and they’re a proven method of helping people having fun.

While all of the games in this post could be used in a party setting, these large group party games are especially conducive to a party atmosphere. Whether at work, home or some other gathering, bring these party games to help engage any large group.

Wink Murder

Inspired by the classic party games Werewolf and Mafia, Wink Murder is a fun game that asks an assassin try to “murder” other players by winking at them.

First, get the group in a circle. Next, get a folded piece of paper for each player and put a cross on one of them. Distribute the papers and let the group know that whoever gets the cross is the assassin. While they attempt to wink and murder the other team, the other players must guess who is the assassin and accuse accordingly. If they guess right, they win. If they guess wrong, they are out of the game.

Snowball

When you bring a large group together, there is almost always a period where everyone is feeling out the room and getting to know each other. Combining this stage with a fun, light activity is a wonderful way of breaking the ice and energizing the team too!

In Snowball, start by asking players to write the answer to five questions relating to a topic of your choosing on a piece of paper. Then, instruct players to join you in a circle in the middle of the room and crumple up their papers into a ball and get ready: you are about to have a snowball fight!

After play has gotten a bit rowdy, stop the game and invite each person to pick up the snowball closest to them. (Pick up another one if someone finds their own!) Finally, ask people to find who wrote the answers on the snowball they’re holding, have a quick chat, and then introduce them to the group!

Human Knot

Solving a puzzle as a team is a great way to bring a large number of people together. In this large group party game, start by organizing people into groups of 7-16 people and ask them to stand in a circle where they are close enough to reach and touch other players. Next, ask each person to close their eyes and connect hands with two other people. Have everyone open their eyes and try to untangle the human knot without breaking the chain.

This activity asks people to engage their problem solving skills while also getting to know each other better! It’s a fun game that scales well to very large groups with multiple human knots being played simultaneously.

What are you doing?

Improv games are a great way to introduce a sense of fun and creativity to any gathering. This group activity asks that a volunteer enters the centre of the room and starts miming an action.

When someone is ready to guess what the action is, they enter the circle and guess the action. The first player then comes up with another action the next player must perform and whispers it to them. They then mime that action for the rest of the group to guess. Encourage participants to be creative in the actions they mime and give to other players and hilarity will often ensue!

Charades

Charades is a classic game for both large and small groups for good reason. It’s fun, easy to teach and often brings a party together around shared jokes and memorable moments.

In a live setting, hand out paper and pens and ask each person to write words that they think would be fun or challenging to act out. Players then draw a a word at random and act it out for the rest of the group to guess.

Below, we’ve also included a version you can use to guess and have fun with teams online. You can replicate the act of writing down prompts using your online whiteboard and have people guess on webcam for a fun alternative that works great in gallery mode, even with groups of more than 20 people.

Active games for large groups

Most teams can benefit from getting away from their desks, standing up and having fun as a group. These activities involve lots of physical activity, running, and movement and can be run in a variety of spaces. There’s some crossover with the outdoor games you’ll see below, but these games can also work great in smaller spaces too!

Whether it’s for a party, team-building session, school event, or conference, try adding one of these ideas to your agenda when you need a burst of energy and physical activity in your schedule.

Giants, Wizards, Elves

This fantasy inspired game where points are awarded to Giants, Elves and Wizards is a fun one to bring to any party or event. To start, split your group into two teams. Each group forms a circle and decides what character they are going to all play for that round. Next, each group stands in a line facing each other and on the count of three, act out the role they have chosen.

Giants put their hands above their heads and roar. Elves put their hands over their ears to make them appear more elvish and make an elvish noise, while Wizards put their hands out as if casting and spell and making a buzzing noise.

When you face off, remember that Giants beat Elves, Elves beat Wizards and Wizards beat Giants. The winning team then has the chance to tag the other team before they get to the safe zone. Everyone who is tagged joins the winning team and you can repeat the game until only one team remains!

Spy

Start by getting all the players to stand in a circle. Tell them they are all spies, and that the aim of the game is not to be caught by the spy catcher. Ask them to silently guess who they believe is the spy catcher and to select one other person who will be their bodyguard. Do this without telling anyone! Next, ask participants to run around and try and position themselves so that their chosen bodyguard is between them and the spy catcher.

This is a great game to get people and energized, and it’s fun to debrief too! Especially if friends may have accused others of being a spy in order to win! Players might try and guess who they thought the spy catcher was or talk about how even a few simple rules can create utter chaos.

Human Machine

Improvisation and silliness combined with physical activity is a sure-fire way of getting a large group engaged in the fun! Start this game by explaining that each team will collaboratively create a machine using their bodies. Choose one person to start by improvising the sounds and movements of a part of a machine or robot. Everyone else observes and then one by one, they join the machine and improvise another part.

This can also be a fun game to play with two teams in tandem, or by briefing the players to create a collaborative machine with a particular purpose, such as generating power or cooking a complex meal. This game is best when played with large teams where the machines can become big and very energetic. Just make sure you have enough room!

The Viking

When looking to engage your team in physical activity, why not take a leaf from the pillaging toolkit of our favorite Nordic invaders? We’ll stop short of any actual raiding, but this game encourages participants to shout Norse words and physical actions to build energy as a team.

Start with everyone standing in a circle. One person begins by shouting the word “Mjolner!” and air punches to the left or right to transfer the role of Viking. Play proceeds loudly and actively, as players respond with different words and by throwing the role of Viking around the room. This is a playful game that works to bring a lot of noise and energy to big teams!

Dance, Dance, Dance.

No prizes for guessing the subject of this active game! Start by organizing everyone into groups of three to five people. Instruct the group that when you start playing a song, one player in each group becomes the leader and starts dancing. Everyone else must follow their moves. When the music changes, another player must then start dancing and lead the group.

This is a fun game to play with friends and for warming up new teams alike. For bonus points, invite participants to contribute a song to a shared playlist before your session so they recognize their favorite song as you go or can guess who contributed what track! I also like to award points after every round for the most exuberant or creative dance moves though when the goal is to have fun, every player wins!

Red Ball

In this improv game for large groups, participants are asked to pass imaginary objects around the circle, beginning with a red ball and ending up with objects like the keys to a Ferrari, a wriggling cat, a sleepy baby and more.

What begins as a quiet group game can quickly become a hotbed of creative chaos that encourages the group to act out the passing of various objects with energy. You might even give the group the opportunity to choose what to pass around next and give players points based on how they correctly (or incorrectly!) handle what’s given to them.

Fun outdoor games for large groups

When the weather allows, it’s great to take your team outside to play group games in the fresh air. These activities benefit from the outdoor setting as they require space to be run effectively.

Some of these games include asking your group to spread out, and a few of them have a bonus angle of including natural elements that can take advantage of your setting too. These are great games to play with young people and adults alike and always help raise the level of group energy!

Blind Square – Rope Game

Seemingly simple games are a wonderful way to engage large teams. We love that this activity encourages everyone to work together towards a common challenge while helping bring individual skills to the surface.

In this outdoor-friendly activity, begin by explaining that all a team has to do is make a length of rope into a perfect square. They have fifteen minutes to plan what they are going to do before everyone is blindfolded and play can commence. It’s so fun to see plans form and fall apart, and this activity works with kids and adults perfectly. Just remember to bring enough blindfolds for everyone! With especially large groups, separate into two teams and see who can create the most perfect square!

Spider Web

Games you can play outdoors with your team are great ways to enjoy the weather, spread out, and also be closer to nature while teambuilding.

This activity requires two ropes, some strong poles or trees, and a supervisor for each team playing. Safety and fun go hand-in-hand when it comes to large groups! Start by tying your ropes from one tree to the other to form a rectangle. Connect string between the top and bottom to form holes in a variety of shapes and sizes. Next, instruct your team that the aim of the game is to get all the members of the group through the web without touching the string or knocking the web.

This is a great game for encouraging players to work together and problem solve in the moment while also having a lot of fun!

Crocodile River

Getting outside is a wonderful way to break up a team-building session and put people into a new frame of mind. This can create a great foundation for setting hypothetical challenges such as trying to cross a treacherous river as a group.

This game asks two teams to work together to collect planks and get everyone in their group across the river. The challenge is that the planks are magic, and sink when not in contact with a person. We love that this game encourages collaboration and critical thinking, while also being fun enough for a party of adults or kids to engage and have fun as a group.

Equilateral Triangles Collaboration

This large group game is a great way to introduce the topic of collaboration in an approachable and fun way. Get all your players standing and start by explaining that everyone in a group should choose two people with whom they will form an equilateral triangle but they do not say who those people are. Next, everyone’s goal is to move around and form that triangle with the other players without verbally communicating.

This game can end up with some hilarious outcomes as your group maneuvers around while aiming to get in sync with one another! It also has some very teachable lessons about clear communication and team alignment you can slot into a larger workshop or conference program. I often like to play a second round to help my team see if they can do better and apply the lessons from the previous round.

Flamingo & Penguins

Getting outside is a great opportunity for movement and running around. Whatever the age of your group, players often benefit from the extra energy and fun of trying to catch other players and

The instructions for this game are simple. One player starts as a flamingo who must then chase the penguins and give them a little peck on the head to make them a flamingo. The last person to be a penguin is the winner!

Demonstrate how each role moves – one arm is raised to imitate the Flamingo‘s head and it lifts its knee with slow, swinging movements, while a Penguin is walking with waddling, fast, small steps – and then send the group on their way!

Stress Balls

Passing information from one person to another in a very large team can be difficult, whether you’re working with adults or kids! Stress balls is a fast paced game where everyone playing gets to practice their communication and teamwork skills in order to win.

Start by getting your team into a circle and as them to throwing a ball around to represent the movement of a message. Run consecutive rounds and increase speed, more balls and rules that reverse direction to keep everyone on their toes. I love using this game to teach some lessons about team communication while also generating energy and laughter!

Near and Far

Warming up a group of more than 20 people at the same time can be a challenge. In this energizing group game, get everyone outside and invite them to silently choose one person to stay close to and another to stay away from. Next, ask your team to start playing, using the near and far rules to move around the space without talking. You’ll quickly notice some interesting dynamics and perhaps a bit of chaos as people try to figure things out!

Near and Far is a wonderfully simple game you can use to teach the importance of communication and connections while having fun and being active. Perfect for a large group session with both new and established teams.

Large group facilitation techniques

Quick games like charades are undeniably effective at getting things rolling, and fun group activities are essential for getting a team engaged, but what if you need to go deeper?

There are dedicated facilitation methods that work really effectively if you need certain conversations to happen in large groups. The techniques below can be used as core group activities for planning and facilitating group workshops with your team. They tend to have only a few guiding principles and rules, which allows smaller groups to organize and manage themselves during a workshop.

Open Space Technology

Open Space Technology – developed by Harrison Owen – is a method perfectly suited for organizing and running large-scale meetings where participants self-organize themselves to find solutions for a complex issue. There are only a few rules guiding the structure of the event, and the agenda is created by the teams attending.

It is a great method for tackling important and complex problems where the solutions are not obvious. The technology can even accommodate hundreds of people!

Open space group activities can be incredibly productive, though remember that there is a degree of self-determination here, and the individual groups in the open space are only as good as their members and the set-up of the session. If you’d like to see a complete open space workshop agenda, you can find an example template here.

World Café

World Café, developed by Juanita Brown and David Isaacs, is a simple yet powerful method to host large group dialogue and is well known among this style of group activity. Facilitators create a cafe-style space and provide simple guidelines for the groups of people to discuss different topics at different tables. Participants switch tables periodically and getting introduced to the previous discussion at their new table by a “table host”.

The structure of this method enables meaningful conversations driven completely by participants and the topics that they find relevant and important. World Cafe works great when slightly informal, with a relaxed cafe-style atmosphere. Group activities like this benefit from the setting of the right tone – make sure to get this right and brief your team before you begin!

Conversation Café

While the World Café is a structured process to encourage the cross-pollination of ideas in a large group, the Conversation Café is structured to begin a dialogue regarding a provocative or complex question. So, here the team members do not switch tables but participate in four rounds of conversation with taking different approaches to exchange opinions and discuss the same topic in depth.

This more focused group activity format helps to build trust and connection between teams and is therefore well-suited to handle controversial or difficult topics among diverse participants. Again this method is very practical when dealing with large groups by setting up parallel discussion groups.

1-2-4-All

This is an idea generation method that is really easy to scale into large groups, yet still allows every participant to actively take part in the process. You split your team into groups of four, share the challenge or question that people should focus on, then kick off the following sequence of activities in the parallel groups: at first, silent self-reflection by individuals, then generate ideas in pairs, and then share and develop further the ideas in the circle of four people.

At the end of the process, the best ideas from each group should be shared with the whole audience. This method allows you to leverage the whole group’s intelligence and ensure everyone will be included. We love this activity as it allows any number of people to contribute without difficulty!

Dot voting

Dot voting – or ‘dotmocracy’ – is a method for prioritizing options and making decisions by a group. Every participant receives a set of colorful sticky dots and they place them next to the ideas they find best – the ideas need to be written on post-its or on a board before the voting starts.

There are different variations: you may give multiple dots to people and they can choose how many dots they assign to each option they like. This tool quickly helps a group to recognize – without spending time on discussions – which options are the most popular. Using group activities that are time efficient can help ensure you cover everything in your agenda.

One thing to watch out for is group bias. The more voting dots an option collects during the process, the more appealing it may become to get further votes from the participants who still have to assign their dots. For this reason, it is wise to use dot-voting not as a final instrument to select the best option, but as an indicator of which few options are the most popular.

Curious to see how this activity fits in a complete process? Check out our Design Sprint 2.0 template for inspiration.

Large group activities for closing a session

So you opened your workshop with large group games that were fun and inclusive, and then included group activities that got the group talking and making important decisions. How then, should you finish the day? What group activities help a team reflect and come away from a workshop with a sense of accomplishment?

The below facilitation techniques will help to effectively close a large group session with any number of people. They are simple, time-bound and allow every group member to share their opinion and find the key takeaways after a workshop or event.

Remember that you should close a session with the same attention and enthusiasm you started with. Group activities such as those below help ensure the energy and success of the session are carried forward and followed up upon.