Because being a remote or distributed team doesn't need to lack from the team feeling part.
Have you ever wondered why some react like this when you propose a team activity?
This happens both in person at the office and in remote contexts. It’s understandable that not everybody wants to connect, mingle and get to know their colleagues. In the office it can be potentially excused, because of the “I’m seeing my colleagues in the office anyway” feeling. However, for remote teams arranging online team activities should be high in the priority list.
The latest research shows that lack of relationships among employees is the most commonly named disadvantage of remote teams. That’s why at Skyrocket Your Team we pay extra attention to online engagement and team activities. We’re a distributed team as well, so we practice what we preach.
We have gathered our top 5 virtual team building activities, which can be arranged at any time with very few preparations. We have tested each of them for you and outline the main focus, how long it will take to complete, and what you need to participate. Each activity boosts team spirit and provides an awesome opportunity to connect with your colleagues.
Whether you’re part of a distributed team, temporarily remote team, or just can’t meet your colleagues due to restrictions, keep reading.
Skribbl is a free multiplayer drawing and guessing game. One person gets a word that needs to be drawn and others have to guess it (think Pictionary, but online).
A GIF Challenge is an easy to arrange activity that lightens up every meeting. The host of the activity should prepare some statements/questions to the team. For example, “this morning I feel like…”, “When I see an invite to the finance meeting…”, etc. The focus is up to the organizer — whether just for fun or to highlight organizational challenges. After hearing the statement, the team members find and share a GIF that represents their answer. After each round you can vote to choose the favourite.
(Hint: a good place to find GIFs is giphy.com.)
Team Beading is a great and short warm-up/energizer activity to do at the beginning of a meeting. The goal is to work together to create a bead pattern in 3 minutes. The team can talk, but not about what to create. Tip: do a short team reflection on the process and the outcome the end.
When working remotely getting to know each other has to happen differently. “Snapshot of my life” is a great way to do this, especially when new team members come onboard. This team building activity requires participants to bring an image from their life to the meeting (tip: upload them to a shared workspace). It can be something important, silly, a memory, or a dream (stock image or personal photo — whatever the individual chooses). Everybody in the team is invited to share the story related to the image or why they chose it. This exercise can help people to feel seen and heard. It lets team members get to know more personal stories from their colleagues.
Two Truths and a Lie is a great activity to get to know each other. Everybody writes down facts about themselves out of which 2 are true and one is false (a lie). Each team member presents their “facts”. The rest of the team has to discuss and decide which one is the lie. This is very informative and fun, especially when you find something completely mind blowing about your colleague.
Staying connected with your team doesn’t require a full-day’s effort. Connection can come from small things, like the activities listed above.
If you feel that a short online activity is not enough, or you’ve had so much fun with the above activities and want an even more elaborate insightful experience, check us out.
Skyrocket Your Team’s main team building activity is an “escape room” like virtual experience. We designed it to be fun (seriously, see what our clients say).
However, that fun is just one layer of a powerful tool to: build meaningful connections, practice working collaboratively, communicate effectively, and flex your team’s creative and analytical muscles.
After the activity a debriefing guides your team through analyzing each aspect.
Whether you want an insightful team building experience or just some fun, don’t hesitate to book a demo and take your team to new heights!
Schedule a call with our team to find out how we can take your teams to new heights.
