The easiest way to pick an ice breaker question is to match it to the time you have and how well the group knows each other. Use the list below as is, or change the wording to suit your team. Everything here is meant to be light and optional, and anyone should be free to skip.
How to choose a question
| Situation | Best style | Try |
|---|---|---|
| Daily standup, one minute | Quick choice in chat | Questions 1–10 |
| Weekly team meeting | Either/or vote | Questions 11–30 |
| New team or new hire | Easy get-to-know-you | Questions 31–40 |
| Remote or hybrid call | Remote work prompts | Questions 41–50 |
| Small group or team social | Open-ended conversation | Questions 51–60 |
In a large meeting, have people answer in chat or by vote instead of going around the room. In a group of about five people or fewer, spoken answers can work well.
Quick either/or questions
These take seconds and work well as one-word chat replies.
- Coffee or tea?
- Early bird or night owl?
- Window seat or aisle seat?
- Cats or dogs?
- Beach or mountains?
- Call or text?
- Sweet or savory?
- Summer or winter?
- Books or podcasts?
- City or countryside?
Would You Rather questions about work
These give people something to react to without asking for personal details.
- Would you rather always be 10 minutes early or 5 minutes late?
- Would you rather give up your phone or your laptop for a week?
- Would you rather have unlimited coffee or unlimited snacks at work?
- Would you rather work from a beach or a mountain cabin?
- Would you rather have Mondays off or Fridays off?
- Would you rather give a 30-minute presentation or write a 5-page report?
- Would you rather attend every meeting standing up or walking?
- Would you rather have a clean inbox or an empty calendar?
- Would you rather have a personal assistant or a personal chef?
- Would you rather never sit in traffic again or never wait in a line again?
Playful Would You Rather questions
Use these when the group wants something lighter.
- Would you rather read minds or turn invisible?
- Would you rather fight 100 duck-sized horses or one horse-sized duck?
- Would you rather travel to the past or the future?
- Would you rather speak every language or play every instrument?
- Would you rather have a rewind button or a pause button for life?
- Would you rather be able to fly or breathe underwater?
- Would you rather give up pizza or chocolate?
- Would you rather have a personal theme song or a personal narrator?
- Would you rather be the hero or the villain in a movie?
- Would you rather live on Mars for a year or under the ocean for a month?
Get-to-know-you questions for new teams
These suit onboarding and first meetings because the answers can stay short.
- What is your go-to comfort movie or show?
- What is the most unusual food you have tried?
- If you could have any office pet, what would it be?
- Are you more of a planner or more spontaneous?
- What emoji do you use the most?
- If your work life were a TV show, what genre would it be?
- What is a hobby you would like to try?
- What was your first job?
- What is a small thing that improved your week?
- What is the most interesting thing you have read or watched recently?
Questions for remote and hybrid teams
These use the shared experience of working on video calls.
- What is your best home office tip?
- What is on your desk that you could not work without?
- What is your go-to lunch on a busy day?
- Which do you prefer: background music or complete silence?
- What is the most useful keyboard shortcut you know?
- What do you do during the five minutes between meetings?
- Video background: real room, blur, or something silly?
- What is your favorite place to work outside your usual desk?
- What was the funniest thing you have seen on a video call? Leave out anyone's name.
- What is one small habit that makes remote work easier?
Open-ended questions for small groups
Give people a moment to think, and ask for a sentence rather than a story.
- If you could master one skill overnight, what would it be?
- What is the most useless talent you have?
- What is the best advice you have received at work?
- If you were not in your current career, what might you be doing?
- Which fictional world would you most like to visit?
- What is one thing on your bucket list that you might actually do?
- If you had a superpower for one day, what would you pick?
- What is one thing that would make our meetings better?
- What is a skill you have picked up that surprised you?
- If our team had a mascot, what would it be?
How to ask without making it awkward
- Say how long it will take. "One quick question, then we'll start."
- Answer first if the group is unsure. Keep your answer short, and people will often match it.
- Offer a low-effort way to reply. Chat or a vote lets people take part without speaking.
- Follow up lightly. Pick the closest split or a surprising answer and ask for one or two comments.
- Stop on time. Thank the group and move to the agenda.
Questions to avoid
| Avoid | Why | Try instead |
|---|---|---|
| "What is your biggest fear?" | Too personal for a work call | "Would you rather read minds or turn invisible?" |
| "Share an embarrassing moment." | Puts people on the spot | "What is the most useless talent you have?" |
| "Rate your happiness from 1 to 10." | People may not want to share this publicly | "In one word, how is your week going?" |
| "What do you dislike about this team?" | Not a safe warm-up | "What is one thing that would make our meetings better?" |
| "Tell us about your childhood." | Can raise difficult topics | "What was your first job?" |
Also be careful with questions that highlight differences in pay, seniority, travel budgets, family life, or home setup.
When to skip the ice breaker
Skip it when the meeting is about layoffs, an incident, or other difficult news. It may also be unnecessary if the meeting is already short on time, or if a small group is ready to get to work.
Turn the idea into a live round
If you want everyone to answer at once, use a live room with its prepared questions. Would You Rather and This or That work well for quick votes. For a fresh question to paste into chat, shuffle through the icebreaker question generator, which you can filter by category and by how well your team knows each other.