open · Team Building, Icebreaker · 25–30 min · 4 people per call · medium energy

Team Member Mixer Call

Two colleagues share one video call and each invites someone the other does not know, making four. Each host brings a topic in case the conversation stalls. At the end, one host and the other host's guest set up the next mixer with two new guests, so the chain spreads through the organisation.

When to use Team Member Mixer Call

Use in remote or hybrid organisations where people only know their own team and cross-team connections have dried up.

What it solves

Remote work removes the corridor and coffee-machine encounters where people from different departments used to meet.

How to run Team Member Mixer Call, step by step

  1. Two people agree to co-host and set up a single 25-minute call.
  2. Each host invites one colleague from another team that the other host does not know.
  3. Quick round: name, team, what you are working on this month (5 min).
  4. Open conversation. If it stalls, a host introduces their prepared topic (15 min).
  5. Before closing, one host and the other host's guest agree to set up the next mixer and each pick a new guest (5 min).

Materials needed

  • Video call
  • Shared calendar
  • Optional: a channel or sheet to log the chain

Facilitator tips

  • Bring a topic that anyone can talk about, such as a recent thing you learned, not a work problem.
  • Seed several chains at once from different departments so it does not depend on one pair.
  • Keep it 25 minutes. Short calls are easier to say yes to.

Common pitfalls

  • The chain breaks because nobody owns the hand-off. Make the last step explicit on the call.
  • Hosts invite people they already know, which defeats the purpose.

Variations

  • Random Coffee Pairing: let a bot pair two people at random every other week instead of relying on hosts.

Running it online or hybrid

Designed for video calls. Each participant joins from their own device.

What it produces

A growing chain of cross-team connections and, if tracked, a simple log of who has met whom.

Origin

One of the informal-communication practices GitLab documents in its all-remote handbook, designed to connect people across teams who rarely work together. — source

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