Best Ice Breaker Questions for Work
The word ‘icebreaker’, I’m sure, will send shivers down most of our spines. Colleagues and coworkers often find themselves in similar situations, whether it’s during team meetings with newly recruited staff members, group interviews, or team-building events related to training and management.
In the world of business, effective communication and teamwork are paramount. Whether you’re welcoming new employees, fostering camaraderie among colleagues, or seeking to enhance collaboration within your team, icebreaker questions can play a crucial role in breaking down barriers and creating a more cohesive work environment.
If you’re in search of innovative icebreaker questions to break the ice with your team, look no further than this blog for out-of-the-box ideas. We’ve put together our best list of fun icebreaker questions for businesses that are perfect for getting just the right balance of entertainment into your meetings or as perfect icebreakers for new employees.
If you are after easy one-to-one meeting questions to ask, then we also have a blog for that too!
Icebreaker Questions for Work
The first piece of advice you need to know, we have split our list of icebreaker questions for work into 5 different categories that we think will help people get the right icebreaker questions for their specific employee session;
- Icebreaker questions for meetings
- Icebreaker questions for small groups
- Funny icebreaker questions
- Icebreaker questions for interviews
- Icebreakers for new employees
- Best icebreaker questions for work
All are relaxed, fun and simple yet can be effective in getting to know your team better and finding out their skill. So, it’s time to get the advice you are looking for and try using some of our fantastic icebreaker questions for work.
Icebreaker Questions For Meetings
Meetings can be drab and unproductive. In fact, executives view more than 67% of meetings as failures and a waste of time, so it’s important you are only attending meetings if it is beneficial for your company and not something that can be done over an email! Start your team meeting on a high note with an engaging icebreaker question. To avoid mundane conversations, here are some of our favourite questions:
- What was the worst job you ever had?
- What was your first job?
- Coffee or tea? Milk in first or last?
- What book or movie have you recently read/seen and why would you recommend it?
- What fictional place would you like to visit?
- What’s something you’re planning on doing in the next year that you’ve never done?
- What’s something that recently made you smile?
- What is your 15 minutes of fame?
- What’s the best advice you’ve ever heard?
- What’s your dream job?
These first 10 icebreaker questions are great questions for work and can create a relaxed environment. You should consider the age of your employees and tailor topics around this. This will keep them engaged for longer and they will be more willing to open up and talk if the topic is relatable.
We love the ‘15 minutes of fame’ question for younger employees. With the likes of Instagram and Tik Tok, becoming an internet sensation can be an aspiration for a lot of people and asking if they have a claim to fame can trigger conversations on their favourite memes and internet jokes, which will be sure to get the room chuckling!
Icebreaker Questions For Small Groups
If you are in a small group or remote team, then you will probably start to feel more comfortable around each other a bit quicker than if you’re in a room talking in front of hundreds of people. Icebreaker questions for small remote working groups can be a bit more whacky and weird for this reason. You can incorporate small games into the session which will be a laugh and leave everyone in high spirits.
- Tell us two truths and a lie
- What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever done?
- If you could have an unlimited supply of one thing, what would it be?
- What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever eaten?
- What’s your favourite TV show?
- Would you rather be the funniest or smartest person in the room?
- Would you rather meet your ancestors or descendants?
- If you could meet any historical figure, who would they be?
- What three items would you bring on a desert island?
- Who is your hero?
- What would you do if you won a million dollars?
- If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you live?
These icebreaker questions for small groups are a great way for your staff to get to know each other and have a bit of a laugh at the same time. Our favourite is the ‘What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever done’ question. If people are willing to open up about the adventures, they’ve been on then it’s great for bonding.
You can also turn this into a ‘Whodunit’ game if you have the time. Get each team member to write down the strangest thing they’ve done on a notecard and get someone to read them out. The aim is to guess who did what! This is great fun because usually the strangest thing people have done will be slightly out of character and we’re sure the team will be in for some hysterical surprises by the end of the day.
Funny Icebreaker Questions for Business Meetings
Everyone enjoys a good chuckle, making funny icebreaker questions a fantastic addition to your team building events to loosen up the atmosphere. Whether they’re unusual, silly, or utterly absurd, here are some of our favorite funny icebreaker questions:
- Who are 3 people you want on your zombie apocalypse team and why?
- What fashion trend do you regret?
- Who is your favourite fictional character?
- What’s the weirdest food you have eaten?
- Who is your favourite famous person?
- What is your favourite amusement park ride?
- What is your favourite reality TV programme?
- Who would you invite onto your talk show?
- What’s the most embarrassing thing to ever happen to you?
- What artist/band is your guilty pleasure?
- What’s the funniest pick up line you have either heard or used?
- What’s your favourite dad joke?
- Who is your favourite cartoon character?
- Where would your dream house be?
- Are you are night person or morning person?
- Do you have any hidden talents?
- A Guilty pleasure TV show?
- What’s on your bucket list?
- Whos is your favourite creature?
- What is your most annoying quality?
- Who is the most famous person you have met?
- An interesting fact about yourself?
- How would your friends describe you?
- Are you a cat person or dog person?
- What do you pretend to hate but actually love?
- What would the title of your autobiography be?
- What’s the weirdest fact you know?
These funny icebreaker questions are great if you are trying to get to know a new colleague. They can stimulate conversation and are more laid-back and relaxed questions you can ask.
Those ‘I want the ground to swallow me up’ moments are horrific but lead to truly memorable and hilarious stories to tell at dinner parties, meetings and events. From asking a customer for the check instead of an employee to calling a teacher Mum when you were a child, we’ve all been there and can relate to those oh-so-embarrassing moments.
Icebreaker Interview Questions
Going to a job interview can be daunting but one of the most important tips to remember is to simply try your best to keep the conversation going! Yes, experience is an essential part of hiring a new employee, however, a lot of employers are also focused on confidence and if they would be a good fit with the rest of the team.
In fact, in a recent survey 40% of interviewers stated that the quality of a candidate’s voice and their overall confidence was a reason for not taking their candidacy further, so getting your personality across is super important. Here are our top 10 icebreaker interview questions that you can expect to be asked when going for a new role.
- Tell me about yourself
- Why should we hire you?
- What is your attitude towards work?
- What do you know about our company and the position?
- Why did you apply for this role?
- What is it about this particular career path you like?
- How did you choose your field of study?
- What do you like about your current job?
- What do you dislike about your current job?
- Do you have any questions?
Hopefully, these icebreaker questions for work will help you feel prepared for your next interview! Remember, when the interviewer asks if you have any questions, you should always have a list of at least 3 questions that you have prepared beforehand.
Icebreakers for New Employees
There are a number of questions in the lists above that are perfect for getting to know new team members whilst breaking the ice to try and help them feel more comfortable. We’ve collated them from the lists above into a specific focus on questions to will start a conversation but also put new employees at ease.
Fun Icebreaker Questions For New Employees:
- Who are 3 people you want on your zombie apocalypse team and why?
- What’s the weirdest food you have eaten?
- What is your favourite reality TV programme?
- Who would you invite onto your talk show?
- What’s your favourite dad joke?
- Do you have a guilty pleasure TV show?
- Are you a cat person or dog person?
- An interesting fact about yourself?
- Would you rather be the funniest or smartest person in the room?
A quick icebreaker game can be the perfect way to help new employees get to know their team and feel more comfortable.
Best Icebreaker Questions For Work
We grouped the above as to make it easier to navigate to for specific questions. However, we have yet to tell you our very best icebreaker questions for work. Below are our favourite out-of-the-box ideas that we think everyone should be asking their coworkers during meetings and team bonding events.
- What’s your dream job you would do for the rest of your life?
- What would be the ultimate scientific discovery?
- If you didn’t have to work, what would you do with your time?
- If you could go back to any moment in time, when would it be?
- If you could give your past self advice, what would it be?
- What do you want for your future?
- What would your superpower be and why?
- Would you like to be able to see into the future?
- Spring, summer, fall or winter?
- What’s your favourite food?
These are our top ten favourite icebreaker questions for work. They are a good mixture of relaxed and fun yet can give you a good insight into what a person is like, what they expect for their future and where their passions lay.
Great Icebreaker Questions for Work
With a great variety of questions to choose from, your team can now look forward to meetings and training sessions without the uncomfortable feeling that icebreakers usually bring. Our list aims to reduce the level of cringiness and make the experience enjoyable for everyone involved. We have used these ourselves to get to know a new employee, kick start a group meeting and in one to one meetings.
Help Remote Teams Break The Ice
If you’re looking for ways to help your team come together, especially for those businesses that have remote employees. Why not consider a team away day or team building event? During your AGM or when team training is planned is a great time to also host team building events. Whether you opt for a simple marshmallow challenge or something larger like a scavenger hunt, the icebreaker activity that you choose to help your remote team members come together will be important.
Yarnfield Park is a venue located in Staffordshire, offering a variety of meeting room sizes for hire, as well as plenty of outdoor space that is perfect for team building activities. We offer excellent packages for meeting room hire and bedroom stays, as well as working with our partner, OffLimits, to supply exciting team building activities.
Find out more about our team building and meeting room options.
For more top tips and ideas for meetings and events, check out these articles:
5 employee engagement strategies that actually work
What makes a good conference venue?
Organising successful meetings
5 reasons for lost motivation at work
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