If there is one thing that causes embarrassment and red hot cheeks, it’s having to stand up in front of a room of strangers and introduce yourself. Even if you are the most confident person in the world, you’re going to find the spotlight a sweat-inducing activity when you are a newbie in your workplace or educational setting.
When the car is cold in the morning, you rev it up to warm it before you get going. Well, when you start a new job, team building activities can be the warm up you need to be comfortable and happy in your new office. The problem is that most ice breakers can make you feel as if you want the ground to swallow you whole. They’re cringeworthy and everyone grumbles about team building activities, but they’re effective – and not just because you can collectively suffer! Here are all of the reasons that you should suck it up and get on with it.
- You’ll get to know people. It’s difficult to do this but icebreakers and sharing things about yourself can make you feel like you are getting to know people and you get to give a little of yourself to them, too. There are so many ways that you can incorporate ‘getting to know you’ moments into new settings, and when you do it you’ll feel so good for it when it’s done.
- People get to know you. It’s not just about you learning about others. Ice Breaking activities will help you to identify who your people will be in the new workplace. You can learn who loves Death Wish coffee and who loves video games outside work. You’ll even learn who loves the gym and find a buddy to go with if it’s what you want!
- It’ll wake you up. As a team, you need to be enthusiastic and fit together well. You can only do that if you get reminded from time to time who’s working well together. As you mingle, you’ll remember why you all worked so well together and it will wake you up as a team.
- It’ll help to review who doesn’t fit. Team building activities and icebreakers can make the people in the team stand out and you’ll see who does and doesn’t fit anymore. It’s a good way to review people and reinforce who works well in your business – which is needed sometimes! Icebreakers also give you the chance to test whether newbies are going to be a good fit with the team you have already.
- To relax. Who wouldn’t want to take a day away from work to play games and have fun? Well, everyone because the work will still be there – but still! You can go paintballing and ping your boss. You can go out for a meal on the company cash and you will feel so good for it because it’s a chance to decompress. You need icebreakers from time to time to make it work for your whole company.
