This Simple Icebreaker Will Improve Your Company's Culture

Amy Errett, the CEO of in-home hair color provider Madison Reed, says her company has a cocktail hour every Thursday.

At the cocktail hour, the team regularly plays an ice-breaking game, Errett tells the New York Times. They take a deck of cards, place the cards - which feature images and words like "love," "forgiveness," and "anger" - face down on the table, and ask everyone to draw three cards.

"Then we'll go in a circle, and say what the words on those cards mean to you," Errett explains. "And if it doesn't work for you, just pass. That's cool."

The exercise might sound simple, but Errett refers to it as "the biggest breakthrough thing we've done in terms of culture." She says that people were initially hesitant to respond to their card and would ask to pick a different one, but now everyone participates.

It's a simple routine that any company could try as a way of building stronger teams and company culture. "I've had so many people come up and say, 'Thank you,'" Errett says.

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