Don’t let your culture suffer or be the leader that doesn’t know team-building activities to keep your virtual team working well together. Knowing how virtual activities can build your team’s relationships and strengthen their performance will help your department stay on task at peak performance.
webcastingandvirtualevents.com gathered the following information and tips on virtual team-building activities intended to strengthen your team’s sense of camaraderie.
What are Virtual Team-Building Activities?
Virtual team-building activities are interactive games, challenges, and exercises you can do with remote employees to help build stronger bonds and greater trust among team members. Consider the following icebreakers, activities, and games:
1. Snapshot Virtual Icebreaker
Time – 5 to 10 minutes
How-to – Ask everyone to use their cell phone cameras to take a picture of “something.” The something may include any of the following:
- Children
- Desk space
- Refrigerator
- Favorite plant
- Pets
- Outfit
Activity – Have everyone upload their pictures to a shared online whiteboard or doc to create a digital collage of everyone’s snapshot. Spend time (1 minute each) complimenting the images or asking questions about them.
2. Open Mic Virtual Icebreaker
Time – 5 to 10 minutes
How-to – Give everyone a heads up that they will have one minute at the beginning of the meeting to perform.
Activity – Ask team members to find or write an icebreaker joke, read a poem, sing a song, play the guitar, or do anything they want. Start your meeting with these glorious performances, and then allow 5 to 10 seconds between each for applause.
3. How Well Do You Know Your Teammates?
Time – 10 minutes
How-to – 24 to 48 hours before your next virtual meeting, ask your teammates to answer any three of the following questions:
- If you were an animal, which one would you be?
- What would it be if you could eat only one food for the rest of your life?
- What’s your favorite (or dream) vacation spot?
- What’s your favorite song?
- Who is your favorite celebrity couple?
- Who is your favorite actor?
Activity – At the meeting, share only the answers and see if your teammates can pair the answers with the right person. Once everyone has guessed, reveal who gave what answer.
Have your teammates explain if the answers are interesting, surprising, or curious. This activity has the potential to get everyone laughing and learning a bit more about each other.
4. Roses and Thorns
Time – 1 minute per person
How-to – Start your virtual meeting by having everyone share a rose (any positive that makes them feel grateful, happy, etc.) and also one thorn (a challenge or an obstacle). A rose and thorn can be work or non-work related. Consider the following:
Work Related
Rose – I optimized an event procedure, saving time!
Thorn – A different procedure keeps delaying my completion times.
Non-Work Related
Rose – I made time to work out today.
Thorn – There was no time to work out today.
Activity – Have your team brainstorm solutions for the “thorns,” turning them into roses when possible.
5. Virtual Scavenger Hunt
Time – 5 to 10 minutes (This is a really fun activity that you can organize fairly quickly)
How-to – When everyone logs on to your virtual meeting, issue the challenge of collecting a list of different (totally randomized) items from around each participant’s house.
Activity – The first teammate back to the webcam proving that they’ve collected all the items wins!
Tip: Make progressively more difficult lists for your challenges and offer rewards (gift cards, cash prizes, or time off) for the winners.
6. Who’s Desk is This?
Time – 5 to 10 minutes
How-to – This game’s objective is to get everyone to know each other better and should include all of your team members. Ask each team member to take a picture of their office or desk and have them upload it to a shareable file (it will help the mystery and challenge if they first remove any identifiable pictures or objects). Other than that, encourage participants to leave their desks and working space as it is. This gives an accurate representation of them.
Activity – Get everyone to try and guess who’s desk is who’s. Whoever gets the most correct guesses wins the game.
Remote Team-Building
Virtual team-building can significantly reduce feelings of isolation and loneliness, commonplace in remote teams. While some may question the value of team-building exercises, these activities have shown that they improve teams’ effectiveness while helping build trust.
Fun Activities for Your Remote Team
In this article, you discovered information and tips on some fun and hilarious virtual team-building exercises that break the ice and foster their teamwork.
Knowing how to present and run team-building activities will significantly increase your team’s productivity while aiding in keeping everyone on the same page.
Ignoring the need for engaging virtual team-building activities can lead to a disconnected team and less than desirable employee relationships.
Sources:
onlinemba.wsu.edu/blog/team-building-activities-for-remote-teams/
degree.pittstate.edu/online-programs/mba/general/team-building-tips-remote-managers/
utrgv.edu/hr/_files/documents/forms/team-building-activities.pdf
