The world of work is rapidly changing. As technology opens up the prospects of work to global proportions, workplace culture changes with it. The primary change is remote workers.
Namir Anani commented on this in 2015. A new remote workforce is rapidly changing the world of work.
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Are you in charge of managing a team ofremote workers? If so, it’s important to make sure you’re takingsteps to keep your employees engaged and get them collaborating withone another.
When you manage a team in a traditionaloffice setting, there are lots of in-person team building activitiesyou can implement. When it comes to ice breakers for virtual teams,though, you need to get more creative. Your activities need to be funand engaging, without causing your team members to cringe or rolltheir eyes.
Read on to learn about 10 virtual team building activities that will properly engage your remote workers.
Focusing on good team building isn't a priority for many team leaders. Team managers sometimes assume that remote workers don’t care about connecting with their co-workers. They may also not realize the benefits of collaborating with people who work from home.
That being said, there's tons of reasons to prioritize team-building among your remote workers. This list highlights all of the main benefits.
Your team members might not all work inthe same office. That doesn’t mean they can’t have strongrelationships with one another, though.
Your remote workers will have an easier time collaborating on upcoming projects if they feel that they know each other and are comfortable communicating with one another about more than just surface matters.
Remote work can get lonely. If youremployees are all working separately and rarely get a chance tocommunicate with their teammates (or anyone else, for that matter),they may be less engaged at work. They may also experience lowerlevels of job satisfaction, which can lead to you having to replacepeople on your team more often than you’d like.
There’s a good chance that remote workers will be productive and get more done on a daily basis when everyone is engaged with their work. They’ll be able to cheer each other on and will feel more motivated to reach their individual and team-related goals.
Good virtual team building shouldinclude two things. First, it should feature ways to recreate naturalconversations (similar to the ones that take place in traditionalworkplaces). Second, it should include a certain amount ofvisualization. When team members can see and/or talk to each otherand aren’t just typing back and forth, it’s easier for them todevelop connections and feel as though they know one another, even ifthey’ve never spent time together in person.
The right virtual team managementsoftware can help you check both of these boxes. Using these toolshelps team members to have conversations, and it allows team leadersto provide recognition and feedback. They also help everyone to stayin touch without having to toggle back and forth between multipleapps or programs on their computers.
This list of the top virtual team management software options is a great resource to check out if you’re unsure of what platform to use for your team.
Now that you have a betterunderstanding of the value of virtual team building, as well as thedifferent tools you can use to monitor your team’s progress, let’sget into the actual activities.
These 10 fun and effective activitieswill help your team members to work together and start bonding (butdon’t worry, they won’t be bonding over their shared irritationwith the activity).
This simple activity is a great way tobreak the ice and give team members a chance to learn about eachother. It’s also less anxiety-inducing than some other activities,as there’s no way to get a question about a person’s favoritething wrong.
For this activity, assign a favoritething topic, such as “Favorite thing about remote work” or“Favorite part about working for [insert company name here]”.Then, give everyone a chance to answer.
The Birth Map is another fun activitythat lets everyone on the team learn something new about each other.
Share an image of a world map in your group chat. You can use google maps to make a collaborative map Then, invite everyone to place a sticker on or near their place of birth. Ask them to share a story or talk about their favorite thing from their birthplace while they’re at it.
This is more of an on-goingteam-building practice, but it can be great for keeping team membersengaged on a regular basis. Dedicate a talk space in your teammanagement app specifically for random “water cooler”conversation.
Be sure to lead by example by postingthings like memes, funny videos, and quotes in this space often soother team members feel comfortable doing so as well.
A community coffee break is an easy buteffective way to catch up with your team members. Schedule a15-minute period every day or week when folks on your team can join avideo chat held via your team management software.
Use those 15 minutes to enjoy a cup ofcoffee and talk. Your conversations can be work-related or they canbe purely for fun and entertainment, just like they might be if youwere having a coffee break at the office together.
At the beginning of the week, send outan email or message to the team asking them to vote on their favoritevirtual group game.
Online games like Among Us and those created by Jackbox are popular options, especially for remote teams. Get everyone’s input and then block off an hour at some point during the week for everyone who’s interested to get together and play as a group. Our team is a big fan of drawful.
If your team enjoys traditional board-games, there are some virtual options too. Tabletopia lets you play VR versions of your favorite board-games. You can create a private room and simply send a link to your team. Our team recently played Survive: Escape from Atlantis and had a great time attacking each other with sharks!
In a similar vein, you can also host amonthly or quarterly team movie night (or day). Ask everyone tosubmit a vote for a movie and a time to watch it, then stream itthrough a conference call for the entire team to see, no matter wherethey’re located.
Consider opening a chat channel so everyone can share reactions and hot takes during the movie, too. Montage software free download. Tools like Teleparty (formally Netflix Party) can be used to easily to sink the play time of videos as well. Our team now does a trashy-reality show night the last Friday of every month.
Picture sharing is an easy way to getto know your team members and bond over shared interests.
Invite everyone on the team to share apicture from their workspace and ask them to write a little blurbdescribing the picture. You could also make it a guessing game andhave everyone on the team try to guess which image belongs to whichperson on the team.
Another guessing game is the fun factguessing game.
Ask everyone on the team to submit afun fact about themselves to you privately. Then, hold a meeting withthe whole team and read out the facts one by one and let everyoneelse guess which fact matches with which team member.
Completing personality tests like theMyers-BriggsType Indicator helps each team member figure outwhether they’re introverted or extroverted, thinkers or feelers,judgers or perceivers, and whether they take in information throughsensing or intuition.
Getting to know your team members, andgiving them a chance to get to know each other, on a deeper levelwill help everyone bond and learn howto communicate in the most effective way possible.
Another simple personality assessmentto have your team members take is the FourTendencies test.
This test helps people figure out ifthey are Upholders, Obligers, Rebels, or Questioners. It gives you achance as a team leader to see how your team best responds to yourexpectations. It can also help them work with each other in moreeffective ways and avoid some of the frustrations of group work.
There are lots of ways that you canhelp remote employees get to know one another and build strongerconnections.
Whether it’s spending time playinggames together or learning about each other’s personality types,these activities will help your team members get more out of theirjobs and feel more comfortable contributing to and collaborating onyour upcoming projects. They’ll help you get to know your teammembers and feel more comfortable leading them, too.
If you need help staying in touch withyour team members and creating places where they can catch up witheach other or carry out some of the activities listed above, checkout Weekdone.
Weekdone makes it easy for you toconduct one-on-one and group meetings with your team members. It alsoprovides you with a place to set goals and provide feedback andencouragement. Registertoday and try it out for free for teams of three orfewer people.
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