How it works
Good work icebreaker questions take ten seconds to answer and ask for nothing a coworker would rather keep private. This deck holds 150, screened for the workplace, in seven topics from team meetings and new hires to quick polls.
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Open a meeting from one screen
Press the topic that matches the room, share your screen and read the card out. Good icebreaker questions for team meetings stay close to the work: "What is one task you would love to cross off by Friday?" Over ten people, press Quick polls and have everyone type a pick in the chat at once.
What the seven topics are for
Team meetings (27 cards) is about this week's work. New hires gives the newcomer an easy turn and makes the team share what it knows: the acronym that took longest to decode, who to ask about what. A weekly meeting can meet a card again, so press Next card past any the team has heard.
- For fun work icebreaker questions at a Friday wrap-up, press Just for fun: naming the office plant takes a minute.
- With outside guests, Clients and workshops holds 14 business icebreaker questions, starting with name, company and one hope for the day.
- Ask the most senior person in the room to answer last. Answers from the top of the org chart get echoed.
Questions and answers
What makes these work appropriate icebreaker questions?
Each card was checked against the characteristics the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission lists as protected: race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability and genetic information. None touches them, or family plans, health, politics or pay. That rules out hometown and first-concert questions.
How do virtual icebreaker questions work with cameras off?
Of the 23 Virtual calls cards, 21 work with cameras off, and the other two open with the words Cameras on. Four ask everyone to type in the chat or post a reaction, so the whole call answers at once. The deck collects no answers.
Are the leadership icebreaker questions only for managers?
They suit a room of people who lead others: a managers' meeting, an offsite, a training course. The 23 Leadership cards ask about one decision, one habit or one piece of feedback, such as "What did you stop doing as a manager that nobody missed?"