Announcing Speed Friending by Gatheround, a getting-to-know-you game

Why does friendship matter at work? The answer is simple: all great collaboration starts with connection. 

Research from Gallup finds that close workplace friendships are at the heart of teamwork — they predict everything from higher productivity and increased profitability to fewer workplace accidents. 

But only 2 in 10 American workers report having a best friend at work, even though people today are more likely to make friends at work than anywhere else. The youngest members of the workforce are feeling it the most: 81% say they would be happier with stronger work friendships. 

We want to see more work friends thriving, innovating, and producing great work in the world. That’s why we’re so proud to announce Speed Friending by Gatheround, a getting-to-know-you card game. 

Designed to skip the small talk and build real relationships between teammates, Speed Friending is a physical card deck of prompts that brings the magic of Gatheround into your real-world interactions. 

Use it on hybrid work days, at offsites, or any other time you want to laugh, learn, and build a strong foundation of mutual trust as a team. Here’s how it works: 

• Strengthen Psychological Safety: Psychological safety is the single greatest predictor of high performance. Our prompts are designed to build deep trust and empathy, giving your team the safety to take risks and think big together.
• Encourage Problem Solving: Empathy and critical thinking are closely linked skills. Speed Friending asks participants to put both into practice, aligning your team to confront challenges with the full force of their collective brilliance.
• Boost Morale: When work feels like play, motivation is stronger and burnout takes a backseat. Speed Friending not only makes work fun but also improves satisfaction and performance across the board.

At Gatheround, we believe that the next wave of innovative, groundbreaking teams will come from companies that make an intentional investment in relationships and social fabric. 

That’s why every detail of our platform, from our library of agenda templates to the number of people we support on camera, is oriented around connection and play. Now we want to empower teams to bring that same intentionality into their real-world interactions. 

When we treat workplace friendship like it really matters, great things follow. 

Order Speed Friending to get started today!