35 Team Building Questions For Remote Teams

There’s a shift in workplace culture. As more people opt for remote jobs, methods to build communication shift too. Without a common location that brings everyone together, employees aren’t chatting around the coffee pot or going out together for lunch. As a result, coworker communication and collaboration are often a challenge.

In fact, research shows remote employees often feel left out or ganged up on, according to a survey from Harvard Business Review. As you can see from the chart below, remote employees often worry that coworkers aren’t fighting for their priorities or are saying bad things behind their back.

To help alleviate these concerns, it’s important for remote teams to get to know one another. One of the best ways to do that is with team building questions.

Team building questions to try

Get the team together and consider asking them some ice breaker questions. Here’s a series of questions to try with your team:

Working virtually

1. What do you enjoy most about working virtually?
2. What’s the hardest part of working virtually?
3. What’s your favorite item in your at-home office?
4. When you need a change of scenery from your home office, where do you go?
5. How do you get your remote day started?
6. What’s your usual at-home work attire?
7. What keeps you motivated?
8. It’s easy to get distracted while working from home, what strategies do you deploy to stay focused?
9. What communication tools would help our team be more productive?
10. What’s your biggest critique of our current remote work set up?
11. What skills are you interested in learning remotely?
12. Are you interested in joining virtual clubs, like a company book club or virtual happy hours?

Personal questions

1. What do you do on the weekends?
2. What’s your hobby?
3. If you had a week off, what would you do?
4. What are your kids into?
5. When you’re stressed, what do you do?
6. Do you live in the same place as you grew up?
7. If you could travel to anyplace in the world, where would you go?
8. What’s your idea of the perfect day?
9. Would you rather read a book or watch a movie?
10. What shows are you currently binging?
11. What’s the most used app on your phone?
12. What’s your take on social media? Love it or leave it?
13. Do you have pets? Tell us about them.
14. What’s your favorite childhood memory?

Odd questions

1. If you could have a lifetime supply of one grocery item, what would it be?
2. If you were a character from a TV show, who would you be and why?
3. If you could live on another planet, would you?
4. You can have any super power. What would it be and why?
5. Show us your phone’s wallpaper.
6. What’s the last photo you took on your phone?
7. What would you do with a million dollars, besides pay bills?
8. You can live one day as an animal. Which animal would you choose and why?
9. What’s the weirdest food you’ve ever eaten?

When should you ask your team these questions?

Here’s how to weave these questions into your regular routine. Consider asking these questions:

• At the beginning of every virtual meeting
• On a special Facebook group
• During a virtual happy hour
• During a weekly meetup (no work, just chatting)
• As a kick off to a virtual team building event

It might take some time to incorporate Q&A sessions with your remote team, but you’ll likely see immediate benefits. The questions, while simple, will help your team feel comfortable with one another and build trusting relationships.