ice breaker questions are a great way to get people talking, alleviate awkwardness in the room and build trust within your team. They can be used in a variety of situations — new hires, quarterly meetings or simply as an icebreaker for virtual teams.
Whether you’re looking for a question that is fun, light-hearted or a little more sincere, these questions will have your colleagues bonding and sharing in no time. Ask them about their favorite game show, if they could be any animal, or what their ideal vacation would look like. Or, you can try a more in-depth approach to icebreaker questions by asking them where they grew up, what kind of food they prefer or the worst advice they’ve ever received.
Some of these questions can be polarizing or bring up a lot of emotion, which is an effective way to encourage discussion and get people thinking differently about each other. Some of these icebreaker questions can also be used as a pulse check during a meeting, helping you detect any emotional downturns (especially in a virtual setting) and address them accordingly.
If you want to get creative, you can use these icebreaker questions in a Jenga tower-toppling contest. You can write different questions on each block, or have your teammates share their answers in pairs or small groups, before letting them compete to see who can stack the tower highest. It’s a great way to build comradery and help your team become their best work-from-home selves.