What is a Warm-up Question?

A warm-up question is asked at the beginning of a meeting and is an opportunity to set the tone for an engaging meeting.

Why not just dive in? Why take the time to have everyone respond to a warm-up question?

Having a low-stakes opportunity for everyone’s voice to be heard early in the meeting paves the way for more participation during the rest of the meeting
By requiring everyone participate, it helps focus people on the present—it is difficult to keep thinking about the last meeting you had or multi-task if you know you’re going to be called on soon
Depending on the question, this part of the agenda can serve to:
- build personal connection
- reinforce organizational values
- get people thinking about a topic or using a skill they will need later in the conversation
- generate accountability for leadership and/or professional development goals
- as the leader - this can also give you valuable data about how folks are doing

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Examples

What’s your smallest problem today?	This is one of my favorites - it works with people who are new to each other and teams that work together a lot. Disarming and grounding - puts our problems into perspective and can get silly.
If you were going to form a dynamic duo with a fictional character, who would you choose?	I use this one a lot early in a relationship to elicit reflection on strong partnerships and qualities we look for in partners.
How would you explain your job to a 10 year old?	This one is good for people getting to know one another OR in organizations that are scaling and bringing on new folks

AI can be helpful for coming up with questions based on your objectives, agenda, and how you want the warm-up question to serve the group. Try this prompt: I am a X and am leading a meeting with X people who are in X roles. The objective of the meeting is X. What are 10 warm-up questions I could use to start the meeting that would achieve X?

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https://www.jessbritt.com/lead-through-meetings