8 Virtual Teambuilding Ideas That Your Team Will Love
8 Virtual Teambuilding Ideas That Your Team Will Love
While the pandemic has negatively impacted so many aspects of our lives, both personally and professionally, in this blog, we’ll focus on how to improve matters on the professional side, namely, remote team building.
So, how do you build up the spirit and motivation of your team after the Holiday Season? We have some activities that will add some flavor to your communications and the team’s enthusiasm.
Before we delve deeper into the topic, let’s check out a brief outline of what is virtual teambuilding. To put briefly, it’s an ongoing process of bringing your team closer, which helps you and your team achieve stronger bonds that uplift your team and encourages them to outperform by working more cohesively with each other.
Welcoming your remote workforce back is a start, but look to include fun activities that make them feel more involved. Here are 10 top team building ideas that have worked for us, and we believe they will work for you too.
#1: Trivia
Who doesn’t love to indulge in trivia on their favorite topics? With free video conferencing, you can easily conduct remote trivia. This will boost the team’s mental health during remote work, insert some fun and get to know each other a little better.
You can either choose a topic of your own or ask for input from different team members. It all depends on how involved you want your remote workers to be. You can make someone the quiz master based on his/her expertise and participate in the quiz yourself.
#2: Online Bingo
This is a twist on the regular bingo game that kids play. Instead of the letters of the word ‘BINGO,’ create accomplishments that the team has completed. Another option would be to use a virtual whiteboard with a list of unique things that occur when working from home. It can be something like ‘speaking with mute on,’ ‘wearing a PJ to the meeting,’ or ‘someone is at the front door.’ Each time a member says it, you strike that off of the board. Once you have five consecutive blocks struck off horizontally, vertically, or even diagonally, you have a BINGO.
#3: Cute Pet Channels
Slack is one of the most used team communication apps. Remote communication can become monotonous after some time. That is why creating a dedicated channel for pets or house plants helps everyone to relax. Who doesn’t love a cuddly dog with innocent eyes or a hamster hanging on to his/her human?
#4: Typing Speed Race
Healthy competitiveness is a great way to boost team spirit. Who doesn’t like to win a harmless race, especially if the stakes are high! When you’re conducting remote teambuilding events, add in a typing speed race to the game. The concept is simple. Just take a typing test using a popular online typing platform. Then post the results of the test with screenshots on the company Slack channel or through email.
Before starting, make sure that everyone uses the same text for typing, or the test will be biased. Depending on the number of team members participating, you can also do a typing test relay that boosts coordination and team interaction.
#5: Perfect Vacation
In this activity, each person is paired with a partner, and then both of them talk over the phone or video conference (one-on-one) and discuss the perfect vacation if they had no worries or restrictions.
After all the teams are done, all members get on a call, and each tries to explain his/her partner’s idea of perfect vacation as accurately as possible. The one who hits the nail correctly is the winner.
The ‘Perfect Vacation’ game boosts the team’s listening skills and makes sure that each member values the other person. Since you can’t reiterate what you ignore, the game also tests the members’ attention span.
#6: Virtual Book Club
Nerds can be found everywhere, and it’s a good thing that people love to read. Another way of exchanging information and encouraging discussion is to start a virtual book club. However, to make things run smoothly, make sure that:
Team members do their assigned reading.
Team members start with shorter reading material and expand from there.
If the participants don’t read the book or the story, they won’t discuss or participate. However, don’t choose a book that’s too long, especially during the starting out phase.
#7: Icebreaker Questions
Well, this is a different version of 20 Questions, and you play it with your peers. These are simple questions, which allow you to get to know your peers better. For starters, have a remote team meeting through any free video conferencing app and ask the attendees to share basic information about them, like their favorite vacation spot, breakfast food they like, or what pets they like.
Remember to keep the questions comfortable and innocent as the shy team members might be averse to sharing their personal information. You can categorize the questions into several categories like funny, weird, virtual, or would you rather, depending on the questions.
#8: Joint Calendar
While remote employees have their own calendars and deadlines, what if they could actually see what other employees’ plates are like? A joint calendar for teams helps them understand the timeline for projects and makes everyone feel connected.
Of course, you need to make sure that the calendar is updated and some part is view only. This way, a user can check what’s on someone’s calendar but cannot edit without permission from the other person.
Final Thoughts
When it comes to remote work, communication and comprehension is the key. Your team will stay focused if they comprehend the situation and work towards a solution. On the other hand, you will be able to better support your team if you know what’s going on, and communication is the key to that. Whatever might be the case, with web based whiteboard, you can get your point across. Did you find something more useful while managing remote teams during the pandemic? Let us know by sending us an email.