Remote working is now becoming even more common and prevalent than in many years in the past. This fact isn’t at all surprising. If there’s anything the global pandemic has shown in recent years, it’s that having remote and virtual teams can actually work very well for businesses. It has been proven that reporting to a physical office isn’t the only way to get some work done.
However, even with its effectiveness, this isn’t to downplay the tedious process of maintaining a virtual workplace. Without effort, the team may lack engagement and collaboration. Technology must be maximized to its advantage, and it’s for the employees to use it to their utmost ability to work remotely and also come up with fun and exciting virtual team-building activities.
That said, get ready to level up your business’ virtual corporate experiences with this list of five virtual team-building ideas to try out in 2022.
- Introduce Your Pets
One of the hardest things about virtual work and virtual team building is the fact that not many remote employees might actually feel comfortable facing the camera. No matter how fun the virtual team building day would be, it’s always the start that’s the most crucial. You need to be creative with your ice breakers to encourage participation among your team members.
A good ice breaker for your team building is to start by introducing each other’s pets. You’ll be surprised by how many individuals now actually have pets at home. For those that don’t, they can still participate by talking about pets they’ve had in the past or pets they would’ve wanted to have if their present circumstances permit it.
There’s nothing more relaxing than talking about one’s pets. This is a very comfortable way to get to know each other and to avoid some sensitive introductory ice breaker topics, such as religion, politics, beliefs, and cultures.
- Encourage Recognition
The day allocated for virtual team building is also the best opportunity to recognize employees who have done excellent work in the past business period, even for the remote workers. This can either be monthly, quarterly, or semi-annually.
To keep up the hype and make things more exciting, you can take it up a notch higher by surprising your employees with small rewards and gifts! It doesn’t have to be anything grand and expensive. Even a simple grocery coupon or gift card would be more than enough to make employees happy.
The positive news and congratulatory cheer during that virtual team-building session set the mood for a good day, even if all the attendees are separated by the screen. This strategy can also encourage more attendees to join the virtual team-building activity next time.
- Host A Remote Trivia
Hosting remote trivia is something that’ll also encourage participation and engagement during the virtual team-building session. Whoever gets the most answers wins a prize.
This game is a good way for everyone to get to know more about each other, as well. It’s a good game to try out, particularly if you have quite an expanse of employees from various geographical locations.
- Plan A Remote Scavenger Hunt
One of the disadvantages of remote and virtual work is the fact that employees are sitting for a long time behind the screen. Now that the day is more relaxed with only your virtual team-building activity planned out, it’s a perfect opportunity to encourage movement.
With that said, one of the best ways to do this is through having a remote scavenger hunt. The rules can be very simple. As the host, all you need to do is pre-plan a list of house items you want the attendees to look for. On top of the easier items, you can also include unusual and common ones like:
- Board games
- Children toys
- Garden tools
- Books
- Watches
- Baking items
- Play Bingo!
Bingo is always a classic game to play, be it physically or in a virtual setting. Surely, everyone knows how to play bingo. Plus, it’s an interactive game that builds excitement and friendly competition during your virtual team-building.
However, when it comes to playing bingo be very careful not to make it too long. Remember that while you’re all enjoying yourself on screen, the participants are still sitting physically alone and might get bored. This fact still makes it quite different from the noise and hype, had the participants been physically together. So, keep it short, then move on to another game.
Conclusion
With the virtual team-building ideas mentioned above, your company can effectively give your team a break. Keep in mind that meeting online virtually must not always be about working. If physical teams are able to take breaks once in a while for team building and family day activities, then you should give yourself that opportunity too as a virtual team. You can start with the ideas listed above, so your remote team can feel just as connected with each other as they would have in a physical office setting.
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