Teamwork , Team Games - Icebreakers and Energisers

IceBreakers and Energisers

Games are an excellent way to understand peoples thinking and feelings. They provide an insight into the personality and even sometime the soul of a person.

The way that the games would draw out these integral facets of the person's being, would be to instigate basic strategies and theories into the mind of the participant.

Consider two people. One who is relaxed and pliable to ways of meeting new people, and flexible enough to accept new ways of learning , as compared to the person with only one line of sight, and socially unaccepting of other people's ideas.

Whom do you think may be the better team player ? Whom do you think would be more able to have their own personal space invaded. Personal space is an issue in everyday life, but when aiding in teamwork, honesty, trust, respect (all important building stones to a great team environment),... personal space issues can be eliminated to form the basis of a successful team.

So in the first of the series, we examine some of the energisers and icebreakers that will be used in the programme.

Icebreaker games have the role of getting people to meet each other for the first time, and also to get each participant to be more relaxed in the company of the others. The target is to enable each participant to provide their own input and personal experiences into the strategies of the team and the task at hand.


Some of the Games that S-Teem can use to get this task underway are :

Toss a Name : The simplist form of learning names of people in the group. Task 1 is where people are to assemble in a large group, and toss a ball to a person across the other side of the group. When the person catches the ball, they say their name and then toss the ball to someone else. A variation to this would be that when catching the ball, the person can indicate something about themself to enable the group to link what they indicate to their name. (eg. the theme may be what country they would like to visit and why).

Task 2 could be an addition to enhance the memory by calling the persons's name, and the n throwing them the ball.

Gotcha : where people are grouped into a large circle and position their left hand palm up and open, and their right index finger pointing and resting in the left palm of the person to their right. On a command each person has to try and grab the finger of the person to their left whilst not trying to get their own finger caught from the person on their right. This shows reactionary cognitive thinking and adds fun as an energiser.

Killer : This game can be played for the entire duration of a required task. At the start of the task (for example hiking the Pyramid), the group forms a circle and each person closes their eyes. The leader then explains rules to them whilst walking around and around the group. The leader then selects the "Killer" by tapping them onto the shoulder. Once all rules are explained and the killer is selected, the group undertakes whatever task that they may be doing.
The rules for this game is that the killer has to try and secretly "kill" all of the group whilst remaining undiscovered. He/She does this in the way that they indicate a sign to the intended victim (such as the fingers forming a circle on the knee). Once the victim receives that sign and no other person sees that happening, they are then "killed" and encouraged to die a rather noisy and dramatic death by acting at a later stage. But they must not give the identity of the killer away.
The surviving group members have to try and solve who is the killer before the group task is completed. The killer is the winner if he/she is able to "kill" all members of the group. The surviving person who solves the case and correctly identifies the killer is the winner.
This games adds the element of intrigue and fun to such outdoor tasks of hiking and bushwalking in groups. It also adds dramatic tales of assination attempts at the feedback sessions after the group task is completed.



Game : Mirror Knock Over













Game : People to People

Other Icebreakers and Energisers that S-Teem staff like to use are :

"HandShake Knockover"

"Mirror Knockover"

"People to People"

"Boffer Name Game"

"Walk this Way"

Ask about these games through the comments.

Remember : When considering organising games of a nature where there is body contact or an injury can occur, please ensure all safety precautions are in place before you start.