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Icebreaker question generator

One good question for the start of a meeting. Filter by team meeting, remote call, new team or check-in, hit Next until one fits, and copy ten for the agenda. Every question can be answered in a sentence or passed without fuss.

Team meeting · 1 of 155

What is one thing that went better than expected this week?

Tip: the right and left arrow keys move between questions. Copy 10 pastes a numbered list from the current filter into your agenda or chat.

How to run a five-minute icebreaker

  1. Say why you chose the question. “We have two new people, so a quick one to get names and voices in the room.”
  2. Put it in writing. Share your screen or paste it into chat so nobody has to hold it in their head.
  3. Give everyone thirty seconds to think. The best answers come from the people who do not speak first.
  4. Let people answer in speech, in chat or not at all. Passing is a real option, and you say so.
  5. One sentence each. If a story starts, enjoy it, then move on.
  6. Close by naming anything useful. “Half of us prefer written updates, so I will send the plan before Thursday.”

For a longer guide to choosing questions that reveal how people think and work, read personality icebreaker questions for work.

Icebreaker questions for team meetings

The Team meeting set is what the generator shows a weekly, a stand-up or an all-hands. Short, positive and about the week, so the meeting starts with something that went right.

  1. What is one thing that went better than expected this week?
  2. What is one word for how your week is going?
  3. What is the best thing you ate this week?
  4. What is something small that made your day easier recently?
  5. If this meeting had a theme song, what would it be?
  6. What are you looking forward to after this meeting?
  7. What is one thing you learned recently, work or not?
  8. What is a tiny win from the last few days?
  9. What is the most useful tool or app you used this week?
  10. What is your go-to snack during a long afternoon?
  11. What is one thing you would add to this office or team space?
  12. What was the last thing you recommended to someone?
  13. What are you most curious about on today's agenda?
  14. What is your favourite way to celebrate finishing a big task?
  15. What is a skill you picked up from a colleague?
  16. Which part of your week do you protect the most?
  17. What is your current desk or screen background, and why?
  18. What is one question you wish people asked you more at work?
  19. If you could skip one kind of task forever, which one?
  20. What was the highlight of your last weekend?
  21. What do you usually do in the five minutes before a meeting starts?
  22. What is one thing this team does well that you would not want to lose?
  23. What is the last thing that made you laugh at work?
  24. What is a habit you picked up this year that stuck?
  25. What is the best piece of advice you have been given about meetings?
  26. What would you name this project if you had to give it a codename?
  27. What is one thing you are proud of from this month?
  28. If you could have lunch with anyone in the company, who would it be?
  29. What is your favourite time of the working day, and why?
  30. What is one small thing a teammate did recently that you appreciated?

Remote & virtual icebreaker questions

Work on a video call, in chat, or in a shared document.

  1. What is the view from your window right now?
  2. Show us or describe the most interesting thing on your desk.
  3. What is your home-office soundtrack today?
  4. Which room do you work from most, and why that one?
  5. What is the best thing about where you live?
  6. What is your go-to drink while working from home?
  7. What is one thing that makes video calls better for you?
  8. What does your perfect remote-work morning look like?
  9. Who or what interrupts you most when you work from home?
  10. What is your favourite local walk or outdoor spot?
  11. What is a shortcut or setup that saves you time on calls?
  12. If we could all meet in person tomorrow, where should we go?
  13. What is the weather doing where you are?
  14. What is one thing in your home that always makes you smile?
  15. Drop an emoji in the chat that sums up your morning. Why that one?

New team icebreaker questions

For a first meeting, onboarding week or a reshuffled group.

  1. What is something you are good at that is not on your CV?
  2. What were you doing right before you joined this team?
  3. What is one thing you hope to learn here?
  4. How do you like to receive praise: in public, in private, or in writing?
  5. What is your name's story, or a nickname you have had?
  6. What is a hobby you could talk about for an hour?
  7. What is the first thing people usually get wrong about you?
  8. Which animal would you say matches how you work?
  9. What is one thing that helps you settle into a new group?
  10. What is a question you have been meaning to ask about how we work?
  11. What is something you have done that most people here probably have not?
  12. What is your favourite way to start a working relationship?
  13. If you had a motto for this year, what would it be?
  14. What do you need from the rest of us in your first month?
  15. What is a place you have lived or visited that shaped you?

Check-in icebreaker questions

How people are arriving, without turning it into therapy.

  1. On a scale from one to ten, how is your energy today, and what would nudge it up by one?
  2. What is taking up most of your headspace this week?
  3. What is one thing you want to leave behind before we start?
  4. What colour is your mood right now?
  5. What is one thing that would make today a good day?
  6. What is one thing you are carrying that the team could help with?
  7. What kind of weather describes how you feel today?
  8. What are you most looking forward to this week?
  9. What is one thing you need less of right now?
  10. What would make this meeting worth your time?
  11. If today were a song, which part of it are we in?
  12. What is one thing that went well since we last met?
  13. What is one thing you are unsure about this week?
  14. Which battery level are you at: full, half, or needs charging?
  15. What is the one thing you want to get done before the weekend?

Work style icebreaker questions

How people like to communicate, decide and focus.

  1. Do you think out loud or think it through first?
  2. When do you prefer a written message over a call?
  3. What makes a project update useful to you?
  4. How do you like to be told something is urgent?
  5. What kind of task gives you momentum at the start of a day?
  6. What is the interruption that is hardest for you to recover from?
  7. What does 'ready for review' mean in your work?
  8. What helps you prepare for a difficult decision?
  9. How do you prefer to receive a handoff?
  10. What is one habit that keeps your work organised?
  11. Which part of your work is easiest for teammates to underestimate?
  12. When is a fast decision better than more analysis?
  13. What should teammates avoid assuming when you go quiet?
  14. How much context do you want before a request: the headline, or the full story?
  15. What is your ideal number of meetings in a day?
  16. What is the best way to disagree with you?
  17. How do you like feedback: straight away, or after you have had time to think?
  18. What does a good first hour of the day look like for you?
  19. Which do you trust more: a plan or a prototype?
  20. What is one thing a manager did that helped you do your best work?

Funny icebreaker questions

Light, a little silly, no inside knowledge required.

  1. What is the most useless talent you have?
  2. What would your walk-up music be?
  3. What is a food you refuse to try?
  4. Which fictional character would be your worst colleague?
  5. What is the strangest thing you have Googled this week?
  6. If you were a kitchen utensil, which one would you be?
  7. What is your most irrational fear?
  8. What is the oldest thing in your fridge?
  9. What would the title of your autobiography be?
  10. What is a hill you will die on about sandwiches?
  11. Which emoji do you overuse?
  12. What is the worst haircut you have ever had?
  13. If animals could talk, which would be the rudest?
  14. What is your go-to karaoke song, even if you never sing it?
  15. What is a small thing that makes you unreasonably happy?
  16. What is a word you always misspell?
  17. What is your signature dance move?
  18. If you could add one rule to the office, what would it be?
  19. What is the best bad film you have ever seen?
  20. What is your most-used app that you are slightly embarrassed about?
  21. What would you do with an extra hour every day that nobody else had?
  22. Which superpower would be most annoying to have?
  23. What is your weirdest food combination that actually works?
  24. If you had to replace your handshake with a dance, what would it be?
  25. What is the most dramatic thing a pet has done to you?

Quick fire icebreaker questions

Ten seconds each, good for big groups.

  1. Coffee or tea?
  2. Mountains or beach?
  3. Early bird or night owl?
  4. Pizza or tacos?
  5. Summer or winter?
  6. Call or text?
  7. Books or podcasts?
  8. Cats or dogs?
  9. Sweet or savoury?
  10. City or countryside?
  11. Window seat or aisle seat?
  12. Camera on or camera off?
  13. Plan it or wing it?
  14. Sunrise or sunset?
  15. Board games or video games?
  16. One big holiday or several short trips?
  17. Fresh snow or fresh sand?
  18. Breakfast or dinner?
  19. Spreadsheet or whiteboard?
  20. Silence or background music?

Deeper icebreaker questions

For groups that already trust each other.

  1. What is something you have changed your mind about in the last year?
  2. What is a piece of advice you would give yourself five years ago?
  3. What is a skill you wish you had started learning earlier?
  4. Who taught you something that you still use every week?
  5. What is a risk that paid off for you?
  6. What is something you are working on getting better at?
  7. When do you feel most like yourself at work?
  8. What is a compliment you have never forgotten?
  9. What is one thing you want people to understand about how you work?
  10. What is a small kindness you still remember?
  11. What does a good day look like, from start to finish?
  12. What is one thing that has surprised you about this job?
  13. What would you do if you knew it could not fail?
  14. What is a belief about work that you have let go of?
  15. What do you want to be known for on this team?

The icebreaker that runs itself

A question gets one sentence out of each person. The animal personality quiz gets a whole conversation: everyone takes it in five minutes, the team map shows who landed where, and “which animal are you?” does the rest. Facilitators use it as the opener for workshops and away days because it needs no preparation and nobody has to perform. See how the workshop icebreaker works.

Quick answers

How do I pick a good icebreaker question for a meeting?
Ask whether the answer helps the group work or connect, whether anyone can pass without it being awkward, and whether the newest person can answer as easily as the manager. Every question in this generator was written to pass those three tests, so the filter is the main decision: Team meeting for a weekly, Check-in for a Monday, New team for a first session.
How long should an icebreaker take?
One question, one sentence per person. For a team of eight that is three to five minutes. If the group is larger than twelve, use the Quick fire set or split into pairs.
Do these work for remote and virtual meetings?
Yes. The Remote set is written for video calls, and any question works as a chat prompt posted before the call. Use the same response channel for everyone so people dialling in are not left out.
Can I get a list of ten questions?
Copy 10 puts ten random questions from the current filter on your clipboard as a numbered list. The full bank is printed on this page by category if you prefer to choose by hand.
What is a check-in question?
A check-in question asks how people are arriving at the meeting rather than what they did last week. Energy level, one word for the week, or what would make today a good day. It takes a minute and tells a manager more than a round of status updates.

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