Mundane Superpowers is a fun and funny staff meeting icebreaker based on the superhero auditions from the movie Mystery Men. *** HR Warning!!! If you decide to use this video as the intro to your staff icebreaker, you may want to edit out the Wonder Woman fight and PMS Avenger, lol.) ***
Each person shares one absurdly specific, totally useless skill they actually have. For example, you might be able to tell where someone is from by their accent. Or maybe you can draw a perfect circle freehand. The activity works in orientations, department meetings, virtual meetings, and leadership workshops alike. It needs no props and no setup. As a result, anyone can run it from a boardroom or a kitchen table.
Your team will laugh with each other. But they will also remember these small details about a coworker for months. That is rare for a two-minute activity. After reading this guide, you will have a ready-to-run script and a materials list your facilitator can scan in ten seconds. (If you really want to add more activity to the fun.) We also give you a few debrief questions (optional) that turn a fun moment into a real conversation about how your team pays attention to detail.
How to Set Up the Mundane Superpowers Icebreaker Before Your Staff Meeting
This icebreaker needs almost nothing. First, a facilitator can run it cold, with zero prep time. Additionally, it works equally well over video call or in a physical conference room. Groups of any size can play, though groups over fifteen work best in breakout rooms of four to six. As a result, that format keeps every person talking within the first minute.
- A timer or phone clock, useful for keeping rounds tight
- Index cards or sticky notes, for a written variation
- Pens or markers, for the written variation
- Nothing else is required
In-person staff meeting groups can go around the table one at a time. Virtual staff meeting groups can type their answer into chat instead, which keeps energy high without anyone waiting to unmute. Once everyone understands the format, a single round takes about ninety seconds per person.
For larger meetings, a facilitator can organize the big group into tables of six to eight people. Then, after everyone at the tables tells their superpower, the group votes for the best (or funniest). Finally, the facilitator can have the “winner” at each table tell the entire group their mundane superpower.
Step-by-Step Instructions for Leading the Mundane Superpowers Icebreaker
Step 1: Set the frame.
Tell your staff meeting attendees they each have one “mundane superpower.” Explain that a mundane superpower is a real skill that is oddly specific and completely useless in a job interview. To spark creativity, it’s a good idea to give the group a list of examples such as the following:
- Shuffle a deck of cards like a Las Vegas casino dealer.
- Identify the fastest grocery line almost every time.
- Solve a Rubik’s Cube.
- Easily calculate tips at a restaurant.
- Celebrity impersonations.
- Sinking a basketball free throw at a near-perfect rate.
- Switching between several accents mid-conversation, convincingly.
- Whistling loud enough to be heard across a football field.
- Catching things that are falling because I clumsily knocked them over.
- Always putting the USB in the right way on the first try.
Step 2: Give everyone thirty seconds to think.
Next, ask the group to silently come up with their own superpower. Thirty seconds feels short on purpose. As a result, it stops people from overthinking or picking something too polished.
Step 3: Go around the group.
Then have each person share their superpower in one sentence. No explanations yet. Instead, just the claim, stated with confidence. (Just like the examples above.)
Step 4: Let the group react.
After each share, give your staff ten seconds to respond with a follow-up question or a friendly challenge. This is where the real laughs happen. Specifically, the follow-up questions almost always reveal a short, true story behind the skill.
Step 5: Crown a favorite.
Once everyone has shared, ask the group for a quick, informal vote on the most impressive or most relatable superpower. Therefore, keep it light. The point is participation, not competition.
Debrief Questions to Drive Real Learning After the Mundane Superpowers Icebreaker
For this activity, the question time after the activity can act as a debrief if you like. But if you want to connect the activity back to how the team actually works, here are a few ideas.
Mundane Superpowers works well here because it is really an exercise in noticing detail. Therefore, the debrief should push the group to talk about attention, expertise, and the small skills that rarely show up on a resume but shape daily work anyway.
Five Questions to Ask After Mundane Superpowers
- What does your mundane superpower say about how you pay attention at work?
- Did anyone’s superpower surprise you? Why?
- How often do small, unglamorous skills like these actually save time on this team?
The Takeaway
For instance, one customer service manager ran this activity in her staff meeting and discovered that three people on the team could each spot a frustrated customer from a single word choice in an email. That skill had never come up in a performance review. Once it did, the team built a quick escalation habit around it.