To run any successful company, colleagues need to connect. This long period of the pandemic has somewhere ruined people’s social and work life. We are restricted to outings and meeting new people.
With remote work becoming the norm, colleagues are unable to physically connect with their teams and collaborate together in the same office. In this digitised world, it is only possible through online meeting sites and activities.
One can use different video calling platforms through which one can connect with their team. The most common platforms using which one can join a virtual world are:
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- Zoom
- Skype
- Google Meet
- House Party
- Microsoft Teams
There are several other apps that let you connect with your team. However, virtual team building needs to go beyond these typical applications. Move on from Zoom happy hours as we present to you some new ideas to try to amp up the energy of your remote teams.
Virtual Team Building Activities
When you connect with your colleagues through engaging activities, it will increase their comfort and improve their productivity. It will break down barriers that seem to have organically build up over time due to the lack of clarity and connection that usually accompanies physical meetings.
You can add the following fun activities to boost employee engagement and teach your organisation a healthy mindset.
1. Truth & Lie
A classic, this game requires a player to reveal two truths and one lie about herself. Your companions must guess the truths and the lie about the player. This game will help all the team members to know each other’s secrets and lighten the mood.
2. Zoom Dance Party
Everybody loves a party. It is a fantastic way to raise energy levels, improve mood and foster connections. Host a party on Zoom call or any other online meeting platform, play the most popular playlists of dance songs and encourage your colleagues to show their fun side.
3. Coffee & Conversations
Take a short break from work and organise a virtual coffee break where employees can participate in a casual conversation with one another. Coffee can be a rejuvenating beverage and can help unwind in the evening after a long work day.
4. Book Club
There is a great chance to have some book readers in your team. You can host book sessions monthly or quarterly and ask your teammates to read a couple of pages from their favourite stories. There’s learning, fun and interaction, which makes it a win-win for all.
5. Musical Jam Night
Chances are there are music lovers in your teams. Encourage them to show their talent to the rest of the team with a virtual jam night session. Ask them to bring their instruments and start playing their favourite tracks.
6. 20 Questions
This one is fun. The player has to think about an object, a celebrity, an animal, a vegetable (or any category you decide). The other team members can ask 20 questions to which answers can only be in yes or no. If the other group cannot figure it out even after 20 questions, the player’s team wins.
7. Movie Watch Party
A good movie is the best stress buster. Hosting a Netflix party with some exciting web series or watching a great movie together can be a monthly stress buster for employees.
8. Bring your Family to Work Day
When you are working from home and busy in your meeting, then the family is involved somehow. You can host a session in which your colleagues can introduce their families to you. This introduction session can bring some more understanding of each other’s lives and develop empathy.
9. Online Workout Session
You can host regular workout sessions every month where fitness enthusiasts take up the challenge to lead everybody towards fitness. You can also challenge your teammates for the highest number of push-ups or squats.
10. It’s Hobby Time
Ask your team members if they have any hobbies [for example, you wanted to learn violin], then ask your teammates if there is any violin player and host a weekly session for the violin class. Also, you ask your other members if they are also interested in violin.
11. Talent Hunt
The world is full of people yearning for an opportunity to showcase their talent; your team will also have a couple of talented people. Prepare a special meeting for them and give them a chance to swoon you by their voice, moves, art or poetry.
12. Quiz Master
The quiz game can be the most exciting game that will be great to introduce you and your teammates to some interesting facts about this vast world. Make 4 to 5 teams of 2 or 3 members and host a quiz game related to the general topic known to all. After the game, grant a reward to the winning team.
13. Who’s the Chef?
If you have a food lover teammate, this is the perfect way to connect with different recipes worldwide. Host a party or workshop where you ask your team member to make their favourite dish with their recipe and dine together virtually.
14. I Know What You Did Last Summer
This game can be a great option to release stress as it is filled with suspense and excitement. Host a session of who did this. Assign secret characters to everyone, give situations, and let the fun unfurl.
15. Who’s the Magician?
Put on a good magic show by hiring a smart magician that can play his magic tricks online. Some card illusion tricks can be a unique way to liven things up and have your team buzz with excitement. Most importantly, it can offer a much needed distraction in a rather tumultuous year.
16. Drawing Party
Host a drawing party and ask your teammates to make one of your team members’ portraits or any scenario they could think of. This can also turn out to be funny! It would be more interesting if you ask them to complete it in a given time.
17. Get Together Dinner Party
Like you plan a dinner party on special occasions in your office, you can also try that in online meetings. Remember how Leonard virtually dined with Priya in The Big Bang Theory? Host a dinner party, ask everyone to prepare their food at home, arrange a dinner table, and get together to have some fantastic dinner with your colleagues.
18. Cocktail Party
If your colleagues are affectionate for food and drinks, you can plan some virtual foodie sessions with your teammates. If your teammates enjoy a good drink, ask them to head towards the kitchen and prepare their favourite ones and enjoy while offering it to everyone virtually.
19. Festival Celebration
Your teammates may belong from different states, countries, cultures, and communities. They will relate to their own identities and cultural festivals. Ask them about their famous and most important festivals and host a session to celebrate them from your home.
20. Online Games Party
If your teammates are interested in online games, ask them to make up an online team to compete. Schedule sessions for this and share link to online gaming sites with them.
21. Football Streaming
Football is the most common favourite game of the young generation. Discuss your favourite football match or talk about teams and host a meeting to watch a football game with your teammates.
No matter what you decide to choose from the above list of virtual team building activities, the aim should be to help your remote employees get a chance to unwind and energise in an informal set up. Not all engagement ideas need to cost a fortune, and simple initiatives like this can also help in reducing the pressures of the pandemic. These are some easy ways for employees to feel motivated, recharged and connected to the overall ethos of the company.
Also Read: 7 Simple Ways to Create Authentic Connections Remotely
