The daily grind in a contact centre can use a boost from time to time, whether you’re making sales, handling tech support, or in charge of network management or unified communications. Here are a few ice breakers and games that can not only help you get to know your colleagues, but also jump start motivation.

A game of Bingo Lingo is a great way to improve both language and lingo in the office. Each person is given a card with words they must cleverly work into a call throughout the day. They can be as positive, technical or creative as they like. Liven up a dreary contact centre on a Monday morning by offering a small prize to the winner.

It may sound a little cheesy, but a game of the Weakest Link is a lively way to motivate through a little colourful competition. Each team made up of however many people according to the size of your centre is given 5-10 balloons. Each time a team makes a sale they pop one of the other team’s balloons.

New employees can be trained with role play, and it can also improve communication skills for existing workers. Having someone impersonate a character or over-the-top customer can give their partner a laugh while also teaching them to be able to handle anything that comes their way. As long as the topic of conversation stays relevant to the company’s services, it’s a good warm up for the real thing.

Your contact centre could even get together outside of work in order to do something good for the community and it is also another way to team build and promote a positive work environment. You could lend out the phone lines for an evening to a charity such as Comic Relief. Colleagues would not only be helping others but also laughing alongside each other.