Icebreaker questions for work.

How to run an icebreaker in a remote meeting

1. 1.

   Keep it to a minute or two

   Before the agenda

   One question, everyone answers in a sentence, then the meeting starts. Any longer and it stops being a warm-up and becomes the meeting.

2. 2.

   Go round in a fixed order

   Nobody put on the spot

   Use the order on screen, or alphabetical, so people know when their turn is coming. Let anyone pass without a reason.

3. 3.

   Answer first yourself

   Set the length

   Whoever runs the meeting answers first, briefly. It shows how long an answer should be, and that a light answer is fine.

4. 4.

   Match the question to the meeting

   Quick, personal or reflective

   A daily standup needs a quick question; a new teammate's first week, a getting-to-know-you one; a retro, a question about the work itself.

Quick questions for a standup

Answered in a word or a sentence, so the whole team can go round in a minute before the updates.

1. 1What's one thing you're looking forward to this week?
2. 2What's the best thing you ate this week?
3. 3Coffee, tea, or something else to start the day?
4. 4What can you see from your desk right now?
5. 5What did you do last weekend that you'd do again?
6. 6What song have you had on repeat lately?
7. 7What's one small win from yesterday?
8. 8Morning person or night person?
9. 9What's the last thing you learned that surprised you?
10. 10If today had a theme song, what would it be?
11. 11What's one app you couldn't work without?
12. 12What's on your desk that has nothing to do with work?
13. 13What's the weather like where you are?
14. 14What's a show or book you'd recommend right now?
15. 15What's your go-to snack while working?
16. 16Sunrise or sunset?
17. 17What's one thing that made you smile this morning?
18. 18What are you having for lunch today?
19. 19Which emoji do you use most at work?
20. 20What's the next trip you're planning, even a short one?
21. 21Cats, dogs, or neither?
22. 22What's one word for how your week is going?
23. 23What's a habit you're trying to build?
24. 24What's the tab you always have open in your browser?
25. 25What's something you bought recently that you love?
26. 26What's your favourite way to take a short break?
27. 27What's the best piece of advice you've had this year?
28. 28If you could add one day to the week, what would you do with it?
29. 29What's a hobby you'd like to pick up?
30. 30What's the first thing you do when you log off?

Questions for getting to know a new teammate

For someone's first week, or a team that has just come together. A little more to say, still nothing private.

1. 1Where did you grow up, and what's one thing people should know about it?
2. 2What was your first job?
3. 3What's something you're good at that has nothing to do with work?
4. 4What's a skill you'd love to learn in the next year?
5. 5What did you want to be when you were a kid?
6. 6What's a place you've lived that shaped you?
7. 7What's the best concert, game or show you've been to?
8. 8What's a book that changed how you think?
9. 9What's a dish from where you grew up that everyone should try?
10. 10What's something on your bucket list?
11. 11What's a small thing that makes a day good for you?
12. 12Which languages do you speak, or wish you did?
13. 13What's the most interesting place you've been to?
14. 14What's a tradition you love?
15. 15What's something people are surprised to learn about you?
16. 16What's your favourite way to spend a free afternoon?
17. 17If you could have dinner with anyone, past or present, who would it be?
18. 18What's a podcast or channel you'd recommend?
19. 19What's a project outside work you're proud of?
20. 20What's your favourite season, and why?
21. 21What's a game you're secretly very good at?
22. 22What's a film you can watch again and again?
23. 23What's the best gift you've ever given?
24. 24What's something you've changed your mind about?
25. 25What would your perfect weekend look like?

Questions about remote work

For distributed teams: everyone has an answer, and the answers often turn into tips worth sharing.

1. 1What does your workspace look like today?
2. 2What's the best thing about working remotely for you?
3. 3What's one thing you miss about working in an office, if anything?
4. 4What's your best tip for ending the workday on time?
5. 5Where's the most unusual place you've worked from?
6. 6What helps you focus when you work from home?
7. 7Who keeps you company while you work: a pet, a plant, the kettle?
8. 8What's one tool that made remote work easier for you?
9. 9How do you take a proper break when you work from home?
10. 10What does your morning look like before you start work?
11. 11What's your best time-zone mix-up story?
12. 12What's your favourite background sound for working?
13. 13If you could work from anywhere for a month, where would it be?
14. 14What's one remote work habit you'd recommend to a new teammate?
15. 15What's the best thing in your workspace that you didn't plan?
16. 16How do you know it's time to step away from the screen?
17. 17What's a meeting habit you wish everyone had?
18. 18What do you like to do at lunch when you work from home?
19. 19Camera on or camera off, and why?
20. 20What's one thing that would make our online meetings better?

Questions about work and growth

For retros, one-to-ones and the end of a project, when a team has time to look back.

1. 1What's something you learned at work this month?
2. 2What's a piece of work you're proud of from this quarter?
3. 3Who on the team helped you recently, and how?
4. 4What's a skill you're working on right now?
5. 5What part of your job gives you the most energy?
6. 6What's a mistake you learned the most from?
7. 7What would make next week go well for you?
8. 8What's one thing we should stop doing as a team?
9. 9What's a small change that would make your work easier?
10. 10What's the most useful feedback you've received?
11. 11What's something you'd like to teach the team?
12. 12What did you do this week that nobody saw but mattered?
13. 13What's a question you wish people asked you more at work?
14. 14What does a great day at work look like for you?
15. 15What's one thing you'd like to try that you haven't yet?
16. 16What's a decision you made recently that you're glad about?
17. 17Who outside the team do you learn from?
18. 18What would you tell yourself on your first day here?
19. 19What's a goal you have for the next three months?
20. 20What's one thing the team did well this week?

This or that

The fastest of all: pick one, no explanation needed, though there usually is one.

1. 1Beach or mountains?
2. 2Early start or late finish?
3. 3Text or call?
4. 4Books or podcasts?
5. 5Sweet or savoury breakfast?
6. 6Summer or winter?
7. 7City break or nature trip?
8. 8Plan everything or go with the flow?
9. 9Mac, Windows or Linux?
10. 10Dark mode or light mode?
11. 11To-do list on paper or in an app?
12. 12Pizza or tacos?
13. 13Headphones or speakers?
14. 14Film at home or at the cinema?
15. 15Tabs or spaces?
16. 16Board games or video games?
17. 17Stairs or lift?
18. 18Cook at home or eat out?
19. 19Window seat or aisle seat?
20. 20Read the book or watch the film?
21. 21Hot drink or cold drink?
22. 22Puzzles or sport?
23. 23Inbox zero or inbox chaos?
24. 24Walk or bike?
25. 25Sunrise walk or late-night walk?

What makes a good work icebreaker

• Answerable in a sentence. If it needs a story, it belongs in a social, not at the start of a meeting.
• Nothing private. Leave out family, relationships, health, money, politics and religion. People share those when they want to, not because a meeting asked.
• Everyone can answer. "Where did you go on holiday?" leaves out whoever didn't go anywhere. "Where would you go for a month?" doesn't.
• Passing is always fine. An icebreaker that someone dreads has the opposite effect. Make it easy to say "pass".

How we picked these

We wrote these for remote teams, with the rules above: every question can be answered in a sentence, none asks about family, health, money, politics or religion, and none assumes someone travels, drinks or lives a particular way. They're grouped by how much time a meeting has, from a one-word "this or that" to questions for a retro. We add to the list as we find good ones.