Boosting team connection and morale can help our productivity. Asking team building questions is an easy way to accomplish this! But as in all things, the questions you ask matter: some thought-starter questions are great to bring a group together, while others might make team members bristle.
With dozens of years of icebreaking and team building experience, we've curated and written the best team building questions to ask. They're all carefully positive and mindful: good team building questions can help your group find appreciation for the good around them and relate positively with each other. This can help overall team connection (and the bottom line!).
If you want a game that's already got great questions in it, here's a ready-to-play Team Building Questions activity that's fun and interactive, and specifically designed to bring your team together:
Here's How to Play:
Click the deck and press "Copy and Use This Slide Deck." (You'll need a free account to copy the deck into).
In the top right corner, press the button that says "Start Event."
Tell your team to use their mobile devices to scan the QR code (this will let them join the game)
Go through each slide one by one to answer fun team building questions! Players should use their mobile devices to submit responses.
This interactive game includes fun features like live polls, word clouds, ratings, and image sharing. The whole deck is thoughtfully crafted to both be fun and to increase team togetherness and company cohesion.
Now, without further ado, here's a list of 150 great questions that will bring your team together:
Funny Team Building Questions
Why Use Them: There's no better way to connect your team than with funny questions for team building. Getting your team to laugh will lighten the mood and increase engagement so that everyone has a positive experience.
Here are funny questions for team building:
What game show do you think you have the best chance of winning?
What's your most-used emoji?
What's the worst childhood outfit your parents made you wear?
What's your favorite knock-knock joke?
What was the worst hairstyle choice you made?
What's the most ridiculous impulse purchase you've ever made?
When you were a kid, what was the silliest thing you believed?
When I dance, I look like __________.
What is your guilty TV pleasure?
What's the most brainless thing you did while sleep deprived?
What fashion trend do you wish would come back?
What song is guaranteed to make you sing?
Gratitude Team Building Questions
Why Use Them: Gratitude is the best attitude, so why not get your team connected with questions that'll have them feeling grateful for life and each other? By asking these types of team building questions, your employees will feel connected, positive, and eager to work together.
Here are gratitude questions to connect teams:
What are your three simple joys?
What lesson are you most grateful for learning?
What about today has been better than yesterday?
What's one aspect of your personality that you're grateful for?
How do your team's contributions help you do your job more effectively?
What skills are you thankful for gaining on this team?
What's your favorite team memory?
What team project did you enjoy completing the most? Why?
The thing I enjoy most about my job is _________.
Which team member made you laugh last?
What qualities do you appreciate the most in this team?
Virtual Team Building Questions
Why Use Them: When you have a remote team, work-from-home questions will help everyone learn more about each other, discover new productivity hacks, and have fun while talking about all the quirks of working remotely.
Here are virtual questions for remote team building:
What is your favorite work-from-home productivity hack?
When working from home, I typically wear ___________.
Which of your remote team members do you think is the tallest?
What's the most expensive thing in your home office?
What's your favorite workday snack?
How do you minimize distractions while working remotely?
What's the best thing about your home office setup?
What's your go-to Zoom background?
What's your favorite work-from-home playlist?
How often do you work from bed?
If you're living in a new city, how did you end up there?
Serious Team Building Questions
Why Use Them: If you already have a goofy and fun team, you might need questions that'll help people get to know each other on a deeper level. Thought-provoking questions will foster more intimate conversations and stronger bonds.
Here are serious questions to strengthen team camaraderie:
What's your greatest professional achievement?
What's your greatest personal achievement?
What's one of your biggest fears?
Who was your biggest role model as a kid?
Who is your most influential role model right now?
What's the kindest thing someone's done for you?
What's the biggest goal for your career?
How do you handle change?
What book had the biggest impact on your life?
What inspired you to pursue the career you have today?
Creative Team Building Questions
Why Use Them: If you're meeting with your team in the morning or right after lunch, you may notice some lower-than-usual energy levels. But that's a great excuse to liven things up with creative questions that'll get your team thinking, laughing, and connecting!
Here are creative questions for team building:
What's the strangest gift you've ever received?
What's your favorite decade and why?
Who's your favorite Disney movie character?
What was your favorite class in high school?
What's your most-used app on your phone?
What's your go-to movie?
What's your favorite board game?
What song can you listen to over and over again?
Does your car have a name? If so, what is it?
What movie made you laugh the hardest?
What's the last book you read?
What's your favorite healthy food or snack?
What's your computer wallpaper and why?
Which team member do you think is the most likely to be an undercover secret agent?
What's your favorite scent?
Random Team Building Questions
Why Use Them: Another great way to liven the mood during a team meeting is with random team building questions! Nothing helps keep people on their toes than silly questions.
Here are random questions to build team bonds:
In your opinion, what's the most important invention in history?
What's your go-to strategy for breaking awkward silences?
What's on your nightstand?
What did you eat last night for dinner?
What's your favorite kind of workout?
What musician do you think is underrated?
What's your most embarrassing childhood memory?
What's the most embarrassing thing you've done on a client call?
Where's the last place you drove to?
What's the strangest thing in your fridge?
What’s your go-to playlist on a road trip?
If our team came to your place for dinner, what would you cook?
Reflective Team Building Questions
Why Use Them: How often does your team pause to reflect throughout the workday? If the answer is "rarely" or "never," use your meeting to ask more reflective questions. This tactic will help relax team members who are a little stressed and need to slow down while enticing others to share things they normally wouldn't like how they think, feel, and process things.
Here are reflective questions for team building:
What's something you never thought you would do but did?
What cliche or phrase do you most live by?
How do you unwind after a long day?
When you're feeling down, how can team members cheer you up?
What is the best advice you've ever received?
How do you best learn new information?
How does this team challenge you to be better?
My favorite way to spend the day is ___________.
What image, smell, or sound triggers nostalgia for you?
What team project required you to learn a new skill that you appreciate?
What's the most spontaneous thing you've ever done? How did it make you feel?
Holiday-Themed Team Building Questions
Why Use Them: If it's the holiday season, ask questions to learn how your team members enjoy and celebrate! These themed questions are especially great if it's your team's first holiday season together. Knowing everyone's holiday traditions and festive favorites will help your team get to know each other, and it may even spark ideas for team holiday outings and activities!
What's the best holiday gift you've ever received?
What's your go-to scary movie to watch in October?
What's your favorite childhood Halloween costume (if you celebrated Halloween)?
What's your go-to drink at a holiday party?
Did you believe in Santa Clause as a kid? If so, for how long?
What's your favorite holiday memory?
What's your favorite holiday movie?
If you celebrate Christmas, how early do you start decorating?
What's your favorite fall activity?
Team Building Questions for Small Groups
Why Use Them: Having a small team presents a great opportunity to ask questions that are deeper and require more thought. With a small group, you'll have more time for people to share in-depth answers, which is always great if you want to strengthen and build bonds.
Here are questions to increase camaraderie on small teams:.
How do you get motivated for difficult tasks?
How do you recognize when you're stressed?
What's the last thing you did for the first time?
What feedback from a team member did you appreciate receiving?
What's an album you think has no bad songs on it?
What's an underrated skill everyone on the team can benefit from?
What's the most memorable thing you bought with your first salary?
Team Building Questions for Large Groups
Why Use Them: If you have a large team, you may not be able to give team members an equal amount of time to contemplate and answer thought-provoking questions, especially if you're in a time crunch. So, when you have a big group and don't have much time to break the ice, ask questions that require little to no time for team members to answer.
Here are questions to build deeper bonds on big teams:
What's your favorite ice cream topping?
What color best describes your personality?
What is your favorite part about working at the company?
Where did you grow up?
What's your favorite food?
Where did you go on your last vacation?
Who knows you best?
Where's the last restaurant you went to?
My go-to karaoke song is _________.
What's your favorite hobby?
What's the last show you've binge-watched?
Bonus — large groups might benefit from a display of their answers, like a live poll or a graph. There are easy ways to do this! See the interactive presentations below.
These are slide decks that are also interactive. They're easy to use, just launch an event (like you would a PowerPoint presentation) and let your larger group join in with a QR code scan (they don't need to download anything). Then they can send in responses easily, and you can display them in agraph automatically, with no extra work on your part.
Team Building Questions for Work
Why Use Them: Tailoring your questions to work is a great way to keep your team focused on work while still having fun and providing an opportunity to learn about each other.
Here are engaging questions for work:
What is your favorite team-building activity?
What's the best compliment you've received from a team member?
What's the best advice you've received from a coworker?
What was your dream job as a kid?
Which team member do you think is most likely to escape a deserted island alive?
Which team member do you think would be the best comedian?
What skill do you admire in one of your team members?
What is your favorite part about working at the company?
What surprised you most about working in this industry?
“This or That” Team Building Questions
Why Use Them: Why not gamify your team building questions by playing "This or That"? Not only is this a fun way for your team to build bonds and discover new things about each other, but it's also great if you're short on time and need quick questions to ask.
Here are fun “this or that” questions for team building:
Dogs or cats?
Summer or winter?
Spring or fall?
Coffee or tea?
Hot or cold?
Ice cream or cake?
Ocean or mountains?
Zoom or Teams?
Morning person or night owl?
Drive or fly?
Dine in or takeout?
Android or iPhone?
Sports game or concert?
Trivia Team Building Questions
Why Use Them: Everyone loves trivia, and playing it to increase your team connection will be an idea all your employees love! Also, these questions are especially fun and relevant when they test your employees' knowledge about the company and each other.
What’s one position we’re hiring for in the department?
What’s the last thing we posted on Instagram?
What’s the title of one blog post on our website?
Which person has been on the team the longest?
Who's been at the company the longest?
Team Building Get-to-Know-You Questions
Why Use Them: Do you have a newer team or, at the very least, a new person on your team? If so, you should definitely ask get-to-know-you questions for work! These questions will ease any tension that comes with being a newer team or the newest person on a team and give everyone a chance to start on a positive, confident note.
Here are unique get-to-know you questions:
Do you have a pet? If so, what kind and what’s their name?
What's a sport or instrument you played as a kid?
What's your favorite family tradition?
Who was your celebrity crush as a kid?
Who's your longest-time friend? How long have you been friends?
What was your least favorite thing to eat as a kid?
Do you have any siblings? If so, how many?
What was your favorite PE activity in gym class?
Who's the funniest person in your family?
How to Implement Questions for Team Building
Regardless of which questions you ask to help your team get to know each other, you need to approach them correctly. Here are step-by-step tips on how to incorporate team building questions into your meetings:
Before the meeting, pick the questions you'll ask.
Prior to the meeting, determine the order of response. If the meeting will be in person, sit at a table and have team members respond one by one around the circle. If you’re doing a virtual or hybrid meeting, answer each question first. Then, pick a team member to answer next. Afterward, that person should pick who goes next and so on.
At the beginning of the meeting, explain that you all will be answering team building questions. Tell everyone the category of questions and the order of responses.
Start asking questions to build camaraderie!
Invest in Your Team's Connection
Team building activities like fun Q&As are one of the best things you can do to increase your team's success! In fact, enhancing your team's camaraderie is the best investment you can make.
Despite its reputation for being, well, lame, team building is the most important investment you can make for your people. It builds trust, mitigates conflict, encourages communication, and increases collaboration. Effective team building means more engaged employees, which is good for company culture and boosting the bottom line. - Brian Scudamore, Why Team Building Is The Most Important Investment You'll Make
If you want your team's success to reach new heights, do them a favor by asking fun questions for team building at the beginning of your staff meetings. By investing in your team's connection, you'll invest in your company's success.
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