The trend is clear: more and more companies are realizing the benefits of going remote-first. With this realization comes the need to evolve their team building strategies. Challenges for companies as remote work moves forward include keeping employees engaged, battling employee burnout and isolation, and increasing productivity.
In response to the shift to remote work, a growing number of companies are investing in virtual team building and related activities. These activities address the challenges companies face in a number of ways. According to a study by The Harvard Business Review, socializing between team members improves communication by more than 50%. Studies also show that familiarization with your team improves performance over time and that virtual teams can actually surpass in-person teams with the right support and team building.
This information supports the investments companies are making in remote team building and underlines how important these activities are to the longevity and health of a company.
The challenge for managers is to create activities that are engaging to the entire team and generate the excitement needed to receive the full benefits of the team building experience. With that in mind, we have curated a list of our five favorite and unique remote team building activities that we know team members will really enjoy.
These activities offer a wide range of experiences that will draw in team members of differing comfort levels and personality types. They are simple to implement and nothing is needed other than your video conferencing solution.
The Activities
1) THREE Truths and a Lie
Time: 10-15 minutes.
During a video conference, give team members five minutes to create a list containing three truths and a lie about themselves. These lists can also be created by team members prior to the meeting. Encourage team members to make their lie as real as possible so it won’t be easy to guess. When they read their list, the other team members guess which statement is the lie. The employee that guesses correctly gets a point.
This game is fun, quick and easy, and is designed to get rid of any awkwardness among team members. It can also help the team get to know each other better by uncovering interesting facts.
2) Arm’s Reach Show and Tell
Time: 1-minute prep, 1-minute for each participant.
Sometimes the things we learned in kindergarten serve us well as adults. Show and tell is one of those things because it leads to instant engagement. Set a timer for one minute and tell team members to find something within arm’s reach that is meaningful to them. Then each person has one minute to share information about their object. They can share details like where they got it, how long they’ve had it, and why it’s important to them.
3) Donut Conversations
Time: 15-30 minutes. Once every one to four weeks.
Donut is a Slack extension that randomly pairs team members so employees can bond with one-on-one, non-work-related conversations. These conversations get team members talking about a wide variety of topics to build better working relationships. It can also be a lot of fun.
4) Never Have I Ever (Rated E)
Time: Varies.
Many of us have played this game in personal settings where all sorts of crazy past antics may be asked about. But have no fear; there is a version of this game that is safe to play with your work team!
First, ask the meeting host to create a list of general topics like “Never have I ever come to a Zoom meeting in my slippers.” or “Never Have I ever stepped on a Lego.” We recommend at least 10 questions to ensure a good breadth of answers. Once your list is created, each team member holds up their hand and lowers a finger for each activity they’ve done. The person with the last finger raised is the winner.
5) Virtual Pub Trivia
Time: 60-90 minutes.
Virtual trivia events have become an easy and effective way for remote employees to socialize. These games encourage friendly competition, a sense of team, and the ability to learn something new in an environment that is similar to one team members are comfortable with. A great way to increase networking is to randomize your trivia teams as the event starts so everyone gets to play with and meet someone they may not yet know very well.
In Conclusion
As the transition to remote-first workplaces continues to grow, focusing on the exciting and challenging tasks of team building and employee engagement becomes more critical. Equally important is making remote team building activities interesting, fun, and accessible to as many employees as possible. The options are only limited by our imagination, creativity, and open communication between team members.
Have you developed any remote team building activities that have proven to be team favorites? Let us know!