The monumental shift to work-from-home has significantly changed the landscape of how businesses operate with their virtual teams. Unfortunately, while several companies embrace this new model with ease, several others are caught up in the transition and find this model extremely complicated.
As teams are physically separated, it becomes a daunting task for the leaders to create a virtual environment that encourages team collaboration and communication. This is where virtual team building activities come into play.
According to McKinsey, remote working is here to stay even if the trend is anticipated to shift to a hybrid model. Therefore, employers must understand the role virtual team building can play to benefit the companies.
Virtual team building activities hold power to transform dispersed remote workers into close-knit groups of committed individuals working towards a common objective.
Below are a few creative ideas on what kinds of virtual team building activities you can plan for employees to become more engaged and open to teamwork.
Five Virtual Team Building Activities Your Employees Will Love
According to the Buffer and AngelList 2020 State of Remote Work Report, 20% of remote employees experience loneliness. Virtual team building activities cannot reduce that 20% to zero; but it can make a significant difference in that figure.
Here are some of the best ones you can adopt:
1. Craft a virtual office environment
The remote work model is changing the dynamics of office friendships, and Zoom calls are not enough to compete with the watercooler sessions.
This new virtual setup jeopardises several meaningful working connections crucial to getting things done.
To recreate these essential connections, you can craft a virtual office with your teams logging on and off casually over video with free-flowing conversations.
If this feels extreme and does not settle well with the team, here’s a moderate version you can try — create a virtual break room just how it works in the office.
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The managers can encourage members to join during tea or lunch breaks to catch up with their teammates. It can also be an excellent way for changing your employee’s mindset from a boring formal virtual meeting to a fun-filled jamming session.
2. Conduct informal virtual meet-ups monthly
It can be overwhelming for employees to be on video calls 24*7 to discuss work. In addition, remote working has blurred the lines between employees’ jobs and their personal lives, making it challenging to shift gears between the two.
In a remote setup, you can encourage participation by organising virtual meetups once a month and hosting exciting team building activities such as games and challenges.
3. Set up healthy and friendly challenges
Friendly competition amongst employees doesn’t hurt anyone and only brings them closer. It can be a great virtual team building activity for your employees to get chatty about the friendly challenges you sign them up for.
Such activity can also be a group goal that your employees can achieve. For example, you can set a challenge of which employee walks the most steps in the month or set a small reward for the most active member of the team. However, be careful not to place any challenges that foster unhealthy competition.
Such exciting and light-hearted challenges are a terrific approach to offer everyone something to strive for while also boosting the team’s morale.
4. Conduct team quiz sessions
Team quizzes are an incredible way to bring people together and keep them engaged. A quiz allows everyone to have a good time, and you can even throw in a question or two on industry knowledge, keeping the employees on their toes.
The primary goal shouldn’t just be ticking the employee engagement box but also giving them some space to breathe and let their hair down. Adding a competitive element to your workplace can help improve employee engagement and enjoy some laughs together.
5. Set corporate traditions
Traditions foster feelings of belongingness and unity since they are practices regularly shared by the team members. Moreover, they’re great opportunities to prove that remote work and social isolation aren’t enough to make you forget about pleasure.
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They are the most effective approach to remind employees of their value as members of the team and an excellent tool for diversifying the company’s culture.
For instance, your iteration of a traditional virtual custom could be as basic and fun as taking a group coffee break every Monday over Skype.
The world is continuously evolving, more so after the pandemic. Just five years back, if someone had told us that there would be a time where the whole team would be sitting at home and coordinating to achieve a common goal, we would have all laughed it out.
Yet, here we are — looking for virtual team building activities to make your remote teams bond stronger!
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