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Workplace Icebreakers: 15 Questions to Get to Know Your Team

Tense silences, awkward meetings, and a tense atmosphere in a team. The icebreaker questions for work can help with all these problems. From the beginning, they have been developed for team-building activities to help employees get to know each other better. Icebreaker questions do not have to be boring, complicated or scary. A well-constructed list of questions will ease anxiety and help to get team members to talk to each other.
The questions presented are great for everyone. They’re even used by remote teams during team-building activities. In this article, we’ll look at what icebreaker questions are, what they’re good for, and practical examples of what kinds of questions you can ask your colleagues.

Table of Contents

Why You Should Have an Icebreaker in the Workplace

Team building is essential for creating an optimum team atmosphere. In this situation, icebreaker questions are one of the most effective ways of getting acquainted. Icebreaker is a special game or discussion between the participants to reduce employee tension and nervousness. Many professionals actively use ice breaker questions to establish communication between work team members. They allow you to start a conversation, get to know each other better, and find common ground as well as are great for small, medium and large groups.

Benefits of Icebreakers

Company culture means creating a positive atmosphere among employees. In this situation, HR managers can use team-building icebreaker questions to facilitate communication and help employees feel more comfortable in the team. This game is particularly useful when working with new people. Icebreaker questions are often the starting point of group meetings and are effective during team-building events. Icebreaker questions have several positive qualities:

help employees learn the names of their teammates and their personalities;
developing team communication skills;
creating a relaxed atmosphere enhances the effectiveness of team meetings and training activities;
develop empathy which promotes close cooperation;
promote productive and cohesive teamwork.

Team building with icebreaker questions does not require any special skills. All you need to do to establish communication is to ask the questions on the list.

Tips for Creating a Icebreaker Questions for Work

When creating icebreaker questions for work, you need to think about what kind of icebreaker you want to break during the presented communication. If you are gathering like-minded people in one place, the “ice” between team members may lie in the fact that these people have not met before. In the case of gathering people of different ranks and levels in a company, it is worth bearing in mind that the difference in status causes the “ice”. When developing your icebreaker questions, it is worth asking yourself a few questions about how exactly you will achieve the goal you have set:

What kind of people will feel comfortable talking to and contributing to a pleasant atmosphere?
How will you ensure that employees with different statuses in the company or different professions communicate pleasantly?
How will you create a sense of working towards a common goal?

During the development of them, you must ensure that the questions will not put employees at a disadvantage. They should feel comfortable, on an equal footing with the rest of the team. At the end of the session, they should feel that this kind of teamwork has been useful to them. So be sure to avoid weird icebreaker questions.

15 Questions to Get to Know Your Team Better

So that you don’t have to make up all the icebreaker questions for meetings
on your own, here are 15 ready-made sets of questions that you can use in practice:

Fun icebreaker questions for virtual meetings in Zoom

Do you like to work from home or the office?
Do you have your own office at home or a dedicated workspace?
Admit it, can you work from the comfort of your bed?
What did you have for breakfast this morning?
What does your morning bucket list look like if you work from home?
Would you rather: have your best friend or your worst enemy be your competition at work?
How do you keep yourself productive during the working day if you work from home?
Would you rather have tea or coffee before you start your working day?
Are you a morning person or a night owl?
What was the last reality TV you watched recently?
If you could learn a new professional skill for effective work, what would it be?
If you could write a book, what would you rather create: a thriller, a detective or something else?
Do you like to play sports?

Simple and funny icebreaker questions to lighten the mood

Would you rather: go on a date with the funniest or smartest person?
If a zombie apocalypse were to strike, which 3 people would you invite to join your survival team?
What emoticon do you use most often?
Which item from your wardrobe would you wear for the rest of your life?
Have you ever had a worst haircut, and what did it look like?
If you were to step into a boxing ring, what would be your entrance theme song?
Have you ever been told that you look like a famous one? If so, who exactly?
What is the fashion trend of yesteryear that you would like to bring back into modern life?
What is the most embarrassing thing among the fashion trends you have used?
What was the name of your first car, and what is your current car?
Which would you choose if you were to go to a karaoke song?
What was your favourite food as a child? Do you still love it?
Would you rather eat it for the rest of your life?
If stranded on a desert island, would you rather be alone or with an worst enemy?
What is your favourite modern fashion trend?
If you were a famous person, what would make you popular?
Would you go if an alien ship came to our planet tomorrow and wanted to take you with it?
What is your favourite sandwich?

Great icebreaker questions

Who is the smartest person in the world?
What’s the best life advice you’ve ever received?
What is the most interesting fact you have ever heard in your life?
How do you want to be remembered when you die?
What is one thing you’ve bought this year that excites you?
What is the most surprising scientific discovery imaginable to you?
What is your dream job that you aspire to?
What hidden talents would you demonstrate during a Miss or Mr World pageant?
Imagine you have an immeasurable amount of money that no longer needs to work; what would you do with your free time?
If you could only install 2 apps on your smartphone, what would they be?
Are you going to go around the world in a boat? What would it be called?

The best ones for face-to-face meetings

If you were to go to the Olympics, which sport would you compete in?
What’s your worst job in a lifetime?
Imagine you had an imaginary friend. Which fictional character would you choose as your friend?
If you had a superpower, what would it be?
What did you want to be as a child?
What fictional world would you like to visit in real life?
What do you eat in the morning, and what is your favourite breakfast food?
What is your favourite amusement park ride?
What is your favourite tech toy?
What is the most annoying quality you dislike about people?
Are you a night person or a day person?
Which animal do you prefer: are you a cat person or a dog person?
What’s your morning routine, and what’s your least favourite thing about it?
Would you rather have tea or coffee?
What is your favourite ice cream flavour?
What is your favourite movie, and why would you recommend watching it?
What is the most interesting fact you think others should know about your life?
If you had to become a dog, what breed?
Could you live 24 hours without your smartphone?
What was your favourite game as a kid?
Are you a homebody or a traveller?
The career of your dreams?
What’s your favourite place to travel to?
What’s your favourite plant?
Which country have you recently visited?
What is your favourite dish to cook?
Can you play a musical instrument, and which one? Why do you like it?
What foreign languages do you know?

Weirdest icebreaker questions

What’s the weirdest food you’ve ever tasted?
What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever done?
What screensaver is on your smartphone?
You can have an unlimited supply of only one thing for the rest of your life. What will you choose?
Your greatest guilty pleasure?
What would your fictional family be?
What time of day do you prefer: dawn, day, dusk or night?
What is your favourite season of the year?
Are you a good dancer?
What kind of fruit or vegetable would you like to be?

Icebreaker questions ‘if only’

If you could talk to a cartoon character in real life, who would it be?
Where would you settle if you could live in any place in the world for one year?
If you could choose any imaginary friend as your historical figure, who would it be?
If you had only one night to spare, what kind of one food would you serve for dinner?
If you could live in any country in the world, where would it be?
If you could have dinner with a famous person, who would it be?
If you could build absolutely any career, what career would it be?
If you could turn into a supernatural creature, what would you be, and why would you choose it?
If you wanted to change your name, what name would it be?
If you could become a professional in something/anything, what would it be?
If you could magically master any foreign language in a second, what kind of language would it be?
If you could become immortal, at what age would you stop your ageing?
If you could have your best friend in the form of any historical figure, who would it be and for what reason?
What would it be if you had to change your daily routine and eliminate one thing from it?
If you could go into space, which planet would you go to?

Would you rather icebreaker questions

Would you rather: live on the moon or in the Pacific Ocean?
If you had a time machine, would you travel to the past or the future?
Would you rather: lose all your photos or money?
Would you rather: Teleport or fly?
Would you rather: always arrive late or too early?
Would you rather: give up your smartphone or computer?
Would you rather be the world’s greatest chef or a superhero?

Icebreaker questions for high school graduates

Which fictional character is closest to you?
What is your favourite sport?
What would you give it to if you had a lot of money and had to donate a million to charity?
What are your most unusual talents that no one else knows about?
What is your favourite subject at school?
What is NOT your favourite science subject?
Can you cook? What is your favourite dish?
What was the funniest moment in your life that you still can’t stop laughing at?
If you had a personal TV show, what would it be about?
What song or music album is constantly on repeat?
What bothers you most about the school year?

Icebreaker questions for students

What is your chosen major?
If not your chosen major, who would you study for?
What surprised you the most when you arrived on campus?
What is your favourite subject?
What is your favourite teacher at university? Why?
What is your main goal at university besides getting a university degree?
Why did you choose this particular major?
Name an additional imaginary college course that you would add to your schedule.
The most unusual fact about you that few people know?
Best piece of advice during college?
What’s your weirdest habit?
Do you eat at night? If so, what do you snack on?
What TV series did you watch on a binge?
What movie does everyone have to watch in their life?
What would be your motivation if you had to drop out of college?
If you had to replace a teacher at university for one day, which one would it be?
What do you dislike most about academic life?

Childbreaker questions

What kind of pet would you get if you could choose any pet?
If your pet could talk, what would it say to you?
Would you go to a volcano or a rainforest?
If you had a million dollars, what would be the first thing you’d spend it on?
What is your favourite Disney cartoon character?
What is your favourite colour?
Who would you trade lives with?
What cartoon character would you want to exist in real life?
What would you do if you could turn invisible for one day?

Christmas icebreaker questions

What is your earliest memory of the winter holidays?
At what age did you learn that Santa doesn’t exist?
Which do you like best: the gingerbread house or the gingerbread man?
What is your favourite Christmas song?
Where would you go on holiday for Christmas?
What’s your favourite festive tradition?
What would you eat: a turkey-flavoured lollipop or a turkey-flavoured lollipop?

Interesting icebreaker questions

What is your favourite song?
What annoys you the most?
What most favourite Halloween costume?
What’s your favourite cartoon as a kid?
What food did you hate as a kid but love now?
Make a funny friend describe?

Funny icebreaker questions to get to know each other better

Which slice of brownie do you take: the middle, corner, or edge?
What do you draw in the margins of your notebook when you are bored?
Would you battle 40 horses the size of a chicken or 1 chicken but the size of a big horse?
What’s the funniest joke you’ve ever come up with?
What is your favourite grocery shop section?
Would you be a frying pan or a grater?
What is your favourite song to sing in karaoke?
How many times in a row do you often sneeze?

Icebreaker questions for a closer personal acquaintance

What kind of bagel do you like?
What vegetables do you often add to your salad?
What one word do you always misspell?
What do you love eating but are embarrassed to do so publicly?
Do you sing in the shower? If so, what song do you sing?
What position do you sleep in?
How many spoonfuls of sugar do you put in your coffee/tea?

Icebreaker questions about your favourite things

What’s your favourite T-shirt?
What is your favourite/happiest number?
What’s your favourite fruit?
What is your favourite biscuit/dessert?
What’s your favourite quote?
What is your favourite strangest thing that foreigners would need help understanding?
What’s your favourite cheese?
Would you rather: salty or dessert?