Show HN: Icebreaker: 200 team building questions (opens in new tab)

I can imagine some skepticism, so thought I'd share some of the theory behind why we released this free tool.

Hopefully we all know by now that high-performing teams depend on psychological safety: people need to feel safe to take risks in order to do their best work. What we talk about less is how to cultivate psychological safety.

Psychological safety depends on a foundation of trust and belonging, but unfortunately these aren't static. They need to be constantly renewed.

It has been shown that starting group activities with an activity that encourages vulnerability will renew these "belonging cues" and will change the dynamics of the meeting. People will be more likely to speak up and discussions will be less win/lose. This will allow you to get the most out of the rest of the time together.

One of the most rewarding things I've learned in the past few years has been how much better work can be when you really get to know your co-workers. Our team uses a team-question like this to start every day and it's helped us tremendously.

A startup is a rollercoaster. I totally feel it: the ups and downs. The healthiest way to cope with that volatility is to build a bedrock of trust between the founders and the rest of the team.

It might seem silly, but doing the work of asking and answering questions like these are the best way I know to develop trust.