A strong bond among virtual team members is essential for team productivity, morale, and remote work efficiency. And while there are several ways to encourage employee engagement, asking virtual team building questions is one of the easiest.
A bunch of creative questions can help your remote team quickly indulge in meaningful conversations.
In this article, we’ll cover 150 virtual team building questions that have been categorized to help you easily pick questions for any virtual event.
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150 fun virtual team building questions
Regardless of the setting, team-building questions can be an excellent way for a virtual team to build a good rapport. Moreover, these questions can help new employees familiarize themselves with the team in a remote work environment.
Is managing remote employees challenging? Check out this article on how to avoid common pitfalls.
Managers can introduce virtual team building questions casually, like a topic of discussion during virtual happy hour or team building exercise sessions.
You can also ask your remote team members some questions to debate over and defend their answers while waiting for a remote meeting to start.
Let’s check out various categories of virtual team building questions:
1. Virtual icebreaker questions
Virtual ice breaker questions can be fun, deep, or meaningful.
An individual’s answers to these questions can be indirect indicators of their values and personality. It can also show the working style of a remote worker or how they collaborate with their teammates.
Here’s the list of some fun icebreaker questions:
- Best book you’ve ever read?
- What did you eat for breakfast?
- Do you love working from home, or would you rather be in an office workspace?
- If you could learn one new professional skill, what would it be?
- What’s the most challenging part about working virtually for you?
- How many cups of tea or coffee do you have each morning?
- An early bird or a night owl?
- What’s one thing we could do to improve our virtual meeting?
- What’s your favorite flower or plant?
- Describe your office space at home.
- You’re next up for karaoke. What song do you pick?
- How do you stay productive and motivated working virtually?
- What does your typical work from home uniform look like?
- What’s the last great TV show you watched?
- What’s your preferred way to get some exercise?
2. Awkward and weird icebreaker questions
When employees hear the word team building game, they think of it as dull or silly.
And that’s why awkward and weird ice breaker questions are the best way to make this virtual team building activity unpredictable and exciting.
Check out other virtual team building activities that you’ll love.
Here’s a list of ice breaker questions:
- What’s the weirdest food you’ve ever eaten?
- What’s the most out-of-character thing you’ve ever done?
- You’re given an unlimited supply of one thing for the rest of your life. What would it be?
- Which fruit or vegetable best describes your personality and why?
- Share an odd rumor that went around your high school.
- What’s the strangest gift you’ve ever received?
- If you were given the option to add a word to the dictionary, what would you add??
- If you were to lose all your memories, which memory would you want to lose last?
- You were left on a deserted island. Which would you choose, your worst enemy or no one, and why?
- What’s one commonly used word that you can’t stand?
- Have you ever pretended not to see a person to avoid talking to them?
- If you were to participate in a flash dance, what song would you perform to?
- If you could get rid of a current trend, what would it be and why?
- What’s the silliest thing you ever accidentally messaged to someone?
- What’s your favorite Slack emoji?
Does your team communicate through Slack?
Here are 12+ Slack games and apps for your team to have a bit of fun.
3. If you could questions
‘If you could’ questions allow your remote employees to think creatively and to dream big.
These questions remove the barriers of reality and encourage individuals to think outside the box.
Imagining impossible or unlikely scenarios can also be a fun icebreaker activity during a training or orientation video chat.
Here are a few examples from this category of team building questions:
- If you could live the last five years of your life again, would you?
- If you could be of the same age forever, what age would you choose?
- If you could become fluent in any language, what would it be?
- If you could be on a reality TV show, which one would you choose and why?
- If you could make a celebrity your imaginary friend, who would it be and why?
- If you could have any superpower, what would it be?
- If you could switch with anyone in the world, who would it be and why?
- If you could remove one chore from your daily routine, what would it be?
- If you could transform yourself into one household item, what would it be and why?
- If you could hang out with an anime character, who would you choose and why?
- If you could live in any city, where would it be?
- If you could get away with any crime, what would it be?
- If you could see one movie or TV show again for the first time, what would it be?
- If you could be a supernatural creature, what would you choose and why?
- If you could rename yourself, what name would you pick?
4. Would you rather questions
Similar to the previous category, would you rather questions also help poke the creative side of your team’s brains.
Let’s check out some would you rather questions:
- Be trapped in an elevator or stuck on a suspension bridge?
- Watch a movie at home or in theaters?
- Have the power of telekinesis or telepathy?
- Have the ability to see 50 years or 10 minutes into the future?
- Be able to swim underwater or fly limitlessly?
- Know the lyrics to every song or the answer to every trivia question?
- Be in jail for six years or be in a coma for a decade?
- Be chronically under-dressed or overdressed?
- Let everyone have access to your internet history or let them be able to read your thoughts?
- Spend a night in a real haunted house or a week in the forest?
- Lose the ability to read or the ability to speak?
- Have the ability to rewind or pause moments in your life?
- Bite your tongue every time you eat or get a paper cut every time you turn a page?
- Be able to hear any conversation that is about you or take back anything you say?
- Don’t listen to any music at all for a year or listen to your least favorite song on a loop for a year?
5. Personal icebreaker questions
Personal ice breaker questions help you learn more about the history, personal habits, pastimes of your virtual team. These questions often involve childhood memories, unusual experiences, and personal accomplishments.
Some examples of personal ice breaker questions include:
- If you weren’t in this career, what would you be doing now?
- What’s the first thing on your bucket list?
- What is your guilty pleasure?
- If you could change a thing about the way you were raised, what would it be?
- What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done?
- What’s your biggest fear?
- Is there a story about your name?
- What is something you’ve always wanted to experience but haven’t had the chance yet?
- Would you like to be famous? In what way?
- What is your biggest pet peeve?
- What sport would you like to compete in if you were in the Olympics?
- What’s your favorite quote?
- What’s your secret talent?
- Did you ever have an imaginary friend? If yes, what was its name?
- What’s the silliest or embarrassing thing you got in trouble for?
6. Travel themed questions
Most of us are eagerly waiting for this pandemic to be over and post pictures with the caption ‘Wanderlust’.
While that’s at least a few months away, we sure can enjoy it virtually.
Let’s take a look at a few travel-related questions for remote team building:
- What’s the best trip you ever had?
- If you could live anywhere, where would it be?
- What’s the worst and best piece of travel advice you’ve received?
- Where is your favorite place for vacation?
- Where would you go if you had the power of teleportation?
- What’s your favorite seat on an airplane?
- Do you enjoy the outdoors? What’s your favorite outdoor activity?
- What was your favorite trip?
- How many countries have you visited?
- If you’re going to sail around the world. What would you name your boat?
- Would you prefer traveling in a small group or a large team size?
- Beach, safari, or forest vacation?
- If you were handed a plane ticket right now to travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?
- What’s your favorite local hangout spot?
- What would you choose? A place where the temperature never falls below 100 degrees or it only snows.
7. Food-related questions
Food and drink are often great conversation starters. And that’s why this category of questions is a must-have for your remote team building activity.
However, we do recommend you to ask these questions post-lunch!
Let’s take a look at some food-related questions:
- What is something you love cooking?
- Sweet, salty, or sour?
- Weird food combinations you enjoy.
- What’s the weirdest food you’ve ever eaten?
- How do you like your eggs?
- What is your favorite dessert?
- If you had to give up one food item forever, what would it be?
- Favorite grocery item while shopping locally?
- What’s something you simply could never eat?
- What is your favorite restaurant?
- What is your favorite candy or treat?
- What is something you can’t cook?
- If you were given the option to eliminate one food item, what would you destroy?
- What weird food did you love as a kid?
- What is your favorite food or type of cuisine?
8. Pop culture and entertainment themed questions
“What are you currently bingeing on Netflix?” is probably one of the most frequently asked questions during virtual team meetings.
But why stick to only one question?
Here’s a list of various entertainment-related questions:
- If you could only watch four movies for the rest of your life, what would they be?
- What’s the most binge-able show you’ve ever watched?
- What genre of book do you bring along on flights?
- What’s your favorite animated movie?
- What’s the most recent movie you’ve seen that you would recommend?
- What music album could you listen to over and over again and not get sick of?
- Which musician do you wish you could see perform?
- Who’s your favorite superhero?
- What’s your favorite podcast right now?
- Who was your first celebrity crush?
- What’s the scariest, funniest, or saddest movie you’ve ever seen?
- Which recent social media trend makes you cringe?
- Who was the best batman?
- What was your favorite movie growing up?
- In the film Titanic, could Jack have fit on the door with Rose?
9. Hobby related questions
Similar to an ice breaker question, questions about hobbies, pastimes, or personal tastes can reveal a lot about your virtual team members.
However, virtual or distributed team leaders should usually avoid using this category of questions for first time groups, as this aims to help people build upon existing conversations and relationships.
Here are a few team building questions about an individual’s hobby:
- What is something you love doing and why?
- If you could magically learn a new talent, what would it be?
- What’s your favorite video game?
- What’s a hobby you’ve always wanted to pick up?
- Share one thing you consider yourself to be bad at.
- What is your idea of fun?
- Can you play any musical instruments?
- What is your favorite physical activity?
- Do you have any hidden talents? What can you do?
- What’s your favorite thing to do alone?
- What four things do you consider yourself to be good at?
- What is something you hate doing? Why?
- What crazy activities do you wish to try someday?
- What would you be doing right now if money and time were no objects?
- Share one new experience that was completely unknown or uncomfortable to you at the time you tried it.
10. Debate questions
Debate or either/or questions is a fun way of fostering some friendly debate. These questions allow remote team members to defend their opinions in a friendly, low-risk atmosphere.
It can also help the team leader to get reluctant employees involved. Instead of asking a participant to voice their opinions individually, you can pose these questions in the form of a public poll.
Here are some questions you can use in a virtual team building game:
- Is soap clean or dirty?
- Is a hotdog a sandwich?
- A turtle without a shell. Is it naked or homeless?
- Is water wet?
- Should pineapple go on pizza?
- Is GIF pronounced like a gift with a silent “t” or like Jif, the peanut butter?
- Are noodles pasta?
- Is cheesecake a cake or a pie?
- Is a thumb a finger?
- Is “s” or “c” silent in the word “scent”?
- If a tomato is a fruit, is ketchup a jam?
- Should toilet papers be hung under or over?
- Is a fritter a donut?
- If you mix water and dirt, are you making water dirty or dirt wet?
- Are dogs’ front limbs arms or legs?
Wrapping up
Team building questions help your employees to get to know each other better.
They facilitate creative conversation in the workplace, build trust, and improve team bonding.
But remember, it’s not necessary to ask questions during a specific team meeting. You can use them while waiting on all your team members to join an online meeting over Zoom.
Go through the list of questions mentioned here to conduct a fun virtual team building exercise in no time!
Liam Martin is a serial entrepreneur, co-founder of Time Doctor, Staff.com, and the Running Remote Conference, and author of the Wall Street Journal bestseller, “Running Remote.” He advocates for remote work and helps businesses optimize their remote teams.