Terri Ramsey Beavers When your team is remote, you need to put in a little extra effort to make sure that team-building activities are successful. This article will discuss the things you need to do in order to successfully build a remote team.
Make It Fun
Since there’s no direct interaction between coworkers, you need to find a way to make the whole thing entertaining. Luckily, you can easily find some online team building games that will ensure everyone will have a good time during the events. Make sure to run a survey to see which one is the most preferred by your team.
Some examples of games you can try are online scavenger hunts, murder mystery games, and virtual escape rooms. You can also host a virtual happy hour or coffee break where everyone can relax and chat with each other. The important thing is to make sure everyone is enjoying themselves while they’re working together.
If you put in the effort to make it fun, you’ll be surprised at how much your team will bond with each other through the process.
Hold Virtual Events
You should create a virtual office where you’ll hold conferences when the team cannot get together physically. This should be done using a video conferencing tool like Zoom, which has a feature that lets everyone see each other at the same time. You can also use this opportunity to have some fun by holding virtual events and competitions.
Make sure to set some ground rules before starting the event so that everyone is on the same page. For example, you can decide that everyone has to dress up in a costume or make sure that they’re available for the entire duration of the event.
Holding virtual events is a great way to conduct successful remote team building because it allows everyone to interact with each other without having to be in the same physical space. Plus, it’s a great opportunity to have some fun and bond with your team members.
Host Remote Workshops
It’s also possible to create various workshops that don’t require people to sit together. These may be the following:
- Communication workshops
- Collaboration workshops
- Brainstorming sessions
- Training sessions
You can use various tools to help with this, such as:
- Zoom
- Google Hangouts
- Slack
Make sure to send out a clear agenda beforehand and keep the meeting focused. If you have team members in different time zones, make sure to include that in the planning. You can also use video recordings of these meetings so everyone can watch them at their convenience. These don’t have to be long or formal, but rather 15 minutes long and more relaxed. The key is to keep everyone included and engaged.
Create Separate Chatrooms
Allow employees to speak privately during remote team building by creating separate chatrooms. This will help with any trust issues and keep everyone on the same page. You can also use this time to get to know your team members better by asking icebreaker questions.
This is a great way to build team morale and keep everyone connected, even when you’re not in the same physical space. So go ahead and give it a try! You might be surprised at how well it works.
For example, you can create a chatroom for each department, or even for each project. This way, everyone knows where to go to find the information they need, and they can easily communicate with other team members who are working on the same thing.
Hire A Moderator
It’s important to have team-building activities and a good moderator will make the most out of any game you think of, so having him lead the way is the best method to get everyone on board and participating. You can find a moderator by searching online or hiring someone from within your company. If you’re looking for an objective third party, try posting in relevant forums or online communities.
Be sure to give the moderator a set of guidelines before the team-building activity so that he knows what is expected of him and can lead accordingly. This will ensure that everyone gets the most out of the experience and enjoys it as well. With a little planning and some help from a professional, you can successfully conduct team-building activities with your remote team!
Eat Lunch Together
A simple lunch can go a long way in team building for remote teams. It can help with bonding and give everyone a chance to relax and enjoy each other’s company outside of work. Eating lunch together can also be a great opportunity to brainstorm ideas or just catch up on what’s going on in each other’s lives.
If you’re looking for ways to build your remote team, consider eating lunch together once a week or even once a month. It’s an easy way to stay connected and build relationships that will last long after the work day is done.
Make The Event Shorter
Your employees are sitting at their computers the whole workday anyway, so your virtual event shouldn’t be too long. An hour is probably the maximum length of time you should aim for, and even that might be pushing it. You can also try making the event shorter by breaking it into smaller chunks spread out over a few days.
This way, employees won’t feel like they’re being bombarded with too much information at once, and they’ll have time to process and digest what they’ve learned. Plus, they can easily fit the event into their already busy schedules.
Keep It Simple
Don’t go overboard with the team-building activities. You don’t need to spend a lot of money or do something overly complicated. Sometimes the simplest things can be the most effective.
For example, you could have a virtual happy hour where everyone gets together and has a drink (or non-alcoholic beverage) of their choice. This is a great way to relax and bond with your team members.
You could also do something like has a virtual game night. There are lots of fun games that can be played online, such as Jackbox Games. This is a great way to get everyone interacting and laughing together.
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Team building is essential for productivity and employee satisfaction, and it should be done with remote workers as well. Try making it fun with some games and hold virtual events and workshops to make it more interesting. Create separate chatrooms, so people can talk privately and hire a moderator to make things go over smoothly. Try eating lunch with the employees through live chats and make the event shorter than it would’ve been if it was live. Finally, it’s important to keep it simple instead of exhausting!