Need Ideas for Soft Skills Training? Ice Breaker Games for Teams

I wish I knew who introduced the idea that team building activities would solve team problems. It just isn't an easy or fast way to build relationships with your coworkers or mend past tussles. What these activities are good for is for new teams that don't know anything about each other. You don't need to spend tons of money. My advice is to just borrow from your kid's classroom! There are tons of games and activities that can be reused in the board room.

1. Apples to Apples
• Many people are fans of the adult version Cards Against Humanity but for a PG version for work, pull this one out! Getting people to laugh and learning what makes them laugh is a great ice breaker! And it has no time limit so everyone can get a turn and you can end at any time.
2. Puzzles
• You can learn a lot about someone's thought process by watching them solve fun puzzles. Whether a brain teaser, riddle, or cardboard puzzle pieces, it exercises the brain as well as your people skills with little stress of "being wrong". It's almost a guessing game and giving people an avenue to participate without being judged.
3. Physical Activities
• Our team has gone to a cooking class, done curling, hiking, etc. You don't have to go that extreme; there are lots of simple games that involve moving. Here are some, or more here, and one of my favorites if you have the setup time is here. I mean, seriously, who doesn't like a good game of Red Light Green Light? Video ideas here too.

A fun twist for the end of the game for those of you playing Applies to Apples? If you keep "score" with the green cards, read them at the end and the cards describe the player that won them! Haha.