Employee Engagement icebreakers

[Maurine Seguin]

Does anyone have any suggestions?. Recent cutbacks to an organization that I work with have left the remaining employee's disengaged. I am preparing a follow up check in with the employee's and would like to have something fun as an icebreaker.

Any suggestions are welcome.

[Kevin Mazur]

Welcome.
Not sure what type of company you work for but have a Dinner or a social with Employee's and their spouse. Right now employee's are wondering who will be next and if you have get together and get employee's input with their spouses involved and possible ideas from employee's it will make things a whole lot easier when decisions are made on the direction of a company. Also if an employee is having trouble, a spouse knows them more than a boss does and could help in getting an employee back engaged which would make it better both for the company and at home.
Hope this helps.

[Maurine Seguin]

Hi Kevin,

Thanks for your suggestion. My client is a civil engineering consulting firm with a young employee base (Gen Y)...any suggestions for breaking the ice and reminding them that they are on the same team.

By the way, I agree with your "smartest person in the room sentence". May I pass that one on?

Maurine

[Kevin Mazur]

With the Gen Y group try to use the KISS method (Keep It Simple Stupid), Stupid is Yourself. With the Gen Y Group everything is not basic in there thinking and sometimes u have to teach them to stand back and look at the basic's and build from there and learn to relax and remember that tomorrow is another day. Tell them sometimes that not everything is based on there numbers that they have to get their hands dirty. Yes you may use the "smartest person in the room sentence"

Kevin

[Doug Shaw]

Hi Maurine. I use a simple tool based on a set of cards. It's a fun icebreaker, helps people with self and others awareness. You can use it for all sorts of other stuff like 360 feedback, performance reviews etc etc. It's loosely based on stuff like myers briggs but as you leave it with the people, and it's easy to reuse and adapt, I find the learning sticks well. It's light hearted without being flippant. Drop me a line if you want to know more.

Cheers - Doug

[Maurine Seguin]

Hi Doug,

Yes, I would appreciate it if you would share more.

Thanks, Maurine

[Debora McLaughlin]

I'd like to learn more about this too Doug. I do all sorts of professional assessments but this sounds like fun!
Warmly,
Debora

[David King]

Maurine,
A couple of ice-breakers that I've used successfully to create some energy in the room:
1) Change Chairs - have everyone sit in a circle, there being one less chair than the number of people one person will be left standing - at the start his will be you. The person at the front makes a statement like 'Change chairs if you are wearing socks/ate breakfast/have been to Australia'. Everyone who that statement applies to has to change chairs, but they are not allowed to end up in the chair they just left, or either side of it. There will be one person left standing. They then have to introduce themselves, or make a poitive statment about the company, or about what they bring to the company - whatever you think would work with that group. After this they then call who should change chairs by saying 'change chairs if ..........'. If a person left standing has already taken their turn, then they can nominate another person who has not.
2) Five fingers. People stand in a circle with one hand pointing to the centre. They take it in turns to make a statement such as 'I have never been to Australia' and anybody who has been to Australia 'loses' a finger. Once all five fingers have been lost that person is out and must sit down. Last person standing is the 'winner'. Be careful because some of the statements can get out of hand as peoplpe try to eliminate others towards the end.
Have fun
Regards
Dave

[Lynn Ferguson]

I would point you to a book that I've found is a good resource: "Quick Team-Building Activities for busy managers" by Brian Cole Miller. Its inexpensive around $20 but has 50 exercises that you can choose from and build on to customize it for them without any real expense.

Lynn

[Rob Fox]

Hi,

You might like to see: www.engagingideas.co.uk for tools and exercises designed to inspire higher employee engagement and change. rapidly and cost-effectively.

Right now we, in our client workshops are using and ice breaker based on what is "scientifically" proven to be the best chat-up line in the world! Give us an e-mail or call if you would like to know more.

Best wishes,

Rob.

[Julie Noonan]

If the employee base is younger then it is likely that many have and enjoy using technology. You could do a team trivia or electronic treasure hunt and acknowledge 1st to finish, most creative, etc. For additional acknowledgement of their understandable frustration, you could also have each team provide their agreed upon favorite quote from Office Space. This way you are engaging them in a way that appeals to them (technology), helping them interact as/commit to a team, and validating their experience with some humor.