Getting to know the people you work with helps build connections and form friendly and productive relationships. A good way you can do this is by asking your workmates ‘getting to know you’ questions.
Having friendly working relationships with colleagues is a great way to foster opportunities for collaboration, and do your part to create a positive workplace culture. To help you get the conversation started, we’ve created a list of icebreaker questions for work and provided examples of appropriate times you can ask them.
Whether you’re new to a job or you’re welcoming a new member to the team, it can be helpful to have some ‘get to know you’ questions for work mates. Asking questions shows you’re interested in them – and interested in having good working relationships with them. By learning more about your co-workers, you find out about their strengths, weaknesses, skills and experience – areas you may be able to help them with, and vice versa.
Here are some common ‘get to know you’ questions that you can ask to learn more about the people in your team.
Questions about their role in the workplace
Questions about their professional experience
Questions about their hobbies and interests
When you’re asking co-workers questions, it’s important that your approach is right. Be mindful of your tone, your body language and the setting. The overall mood should be friendly and laidback. Here are a few tips to help you get good responses from ‘get to know you’ questions:
There are a few situations where it’s typical to ask, and be asked, ‘get to know’ you questions. Here are some common instances.
Asking your potential employer questions is a great way to learn more about them and the organisation. Plus, it shows that you’re genuinely interested in the position. Remember to be genuine in your approach and practise active listening when they reply.
What are ‘get to know’ you questions to ask a manager? Here are a few questions you might like to ask as part of your interview:
Asking ‘meet the team’ questions is the perfect way to break the ice and get to know your new colleagues. While it can be daunting to approach a new work team, sometimes the hardest part is simply striking up a conversation. It can often help to brainstorm a few engaging and appropriate questions beforehand. Research ‘What are 5 questions to get to know your team?’ if you’re stuck for some good ‘getting to know’ you questions.
Here are some tips for asking introduction questions at a new job:
If you’re about to start a new job and you don’t know anyone, it can be tempting to try and fast-track work friendships. In your first days, it’s better to take things slowly and just stick to basic, superficial questions. What are some fun questions to ask co-workers? Here’s a list of example questions you can ask on your first day or week at a new workplace.
Asking questions about the company and your co-workers’ roles can give you a good understanding of how you will be working together on a day-to-day basis. This can help you establish which people you’ll work most closely with and who you can reach out to when you have questions.
Example questions can include:
Questions around work style and collaboration can shed insight into the daily workings of your new team. By understanding the processes, you’ll be able to integrate quickly into the team. Some example work style questions can include:
Asking questions about the team can indirectly shed light on the team dynamics, and give you a feel for any internal politics. You’ll naturally learn about team dynamics over time, but it can’t hurt to ask a few culture-related questions as a new joiner.
Some examples of team dynamic questions may be:
Asking questions about your coworker’s role or project provides insight into their skill set and responsibilities.
Some examples of these questions include:
At first, it’s best to steer clear of personal questions. However, that doesn’t mean all your questions should be about work – you can ask general questions to learn more about your colleagues’ interests.
Here are some examples of light questions to ask co-workers:
Asking your co-workers for their opinions about the future of your team can help you prepare for any upcoming changes, while giving you insights into their personalities. Some examples of future-oriented questions can include:
Getting advice and tips from your new colleagues can be a great way to build mutual trust and respect. Here are some examples of asking for advice or tips in the workplace:
Communication is a two-way street. Your new colleagues will likely ask you questions about yourself. Here are a few tips to help you answer get to know me questions:
Hiring managers and potential employers might ask ‘get to know’ you questions during your job interview. This helps them to get a better understanding of whether you’d be a good fit for their organisation.
Here are some things to keep in mind when answering these types of interview questions:
‘Get to know you’ questions play an important role in creating good working relationships with colleagues. They help build familiarity and trust between co-workers and can ease the transition into a new team, whether for you or for a newcomer. When it comes to asking and answering these types of questions, keep your questions professional and show genuine interest in the responses you get.
It can be challenging getting to know new colleagues when you work remotely. However, here are some unique icebreaker ideas and questions that you can use to get to know your new team over a video call:
Using icebreaker questions during team meetings can be a great way to get the conversation flowing. Here are some tips to get you started:
If you work with people from different backgrounds to your own, be mindful of cultural considerations when asking ‘get to know you’ questions. Practising cultural awareness means you don’t assume all your co-workers have the same personal values, beliefs and cultural traditions as you. Good questions include those that allow a person to answer in a generic way if they’re not comfortable sharing: Did you get up to much on the long weekend?, Do you have any pets?, Have you travelled much around the state?, etc.)
If you’re an HR professional or a team leader, here are some engaging icebreakers that you can use for virtual onboarding:
The main difference between icebreaker activities for small teams and those for larger teams is that larger teams need to be broken into smaller groups. It’s hard for people to connect when they’re all in one large group, and it’s not time effective to have a large number of people taking turns to speak. With small teams, everyone has a chance to contribute to incebreaker activities, and can focus on getting to know a manageable number of new people at a time.