The coronavirus outbreak has made many companies go remote. Though remote working offers multiple benefits, not all remote employees perform equally. The reason is that remote workers sometimes can feel lonely and left out.

To maximize the productivity of your remote team, you need to go the extra mile to make them feel connected.

Virtual team building activities, therefore, are necessary as virtual group activities can make the bond stronger.

In this article, I am sharing 5 engaging activities for virtual team building.

1- Organize a virtual orientation

Team communication should go beyond work. So, in the next meeting, don’t just talk about the work only.

Simple ice breaker questions can reduce work-related stress and get them talking.

Try asking your remote team members about their favourite part of the day or talk about the book they’re reading or TV series they’re watching. Your team members can also recommend each other books or TV shows during a virtual meeting.

You can schedule a virtual workspace orientation too. Weekly, one (or a few) of the team members will record and share a short video of their remote workstation, their room and pets.

Such virtual orientations will make people feel inclusive and keep their morale high.

2- Communicate over coffee

As the daily chats by the coffee machines are no longer possible, you should start working on the alternatives.

Organize your virtual meetings while everyone is enjoying their cup of coffee (or tea). In these online meetings, you can delegate the daily/weekly targets and informally talk about the ongoing tasks.  

Apart from that, you can initiate conversations about their daily work-from-home struggles too. Allow the team to come together and feel connected.

Short and light conversations, instead of heavy work-related discussions, will refresh them and keep them motivated towards work.

3- Reciprocate with recipes

To follow the social distancing protocol, people are cooking and eating with family more often.

So, weekly, your team can gather over a video call to discuss and share photos of the new recipes they’ve tried. The participants can also talk about traditional desserts they’re good at.

Your virtual team members can then challenge each other to recreate the recipes in their style and post the photos.

Such recipe roundup activities will foster team bonding while inducing fun in an otherwise lonely remote work environment.

4- Build a bucket list

While people are stuck at home, their bucket list is growing too.

So, every week you can have a fun activity where you ask one team member to share the list of things he/she wants to do.

A bucket list tells a lot about that person, and such group activities will allow your team members to know each other better.

Some team members might even connect over one of their shared interests/hobbies.

5- Mingle on movie nights

Another interesting way to bring your team together is to plan movie nights. This team building activity will keep boredom away while sharing the joy of watching a movie together virtually.

So, fix a movie night after consulting with your remote team members. And encourage them to talk about the movie and share visual moments of laugh through group chat during the movie show.  

Such activities relax your remote employees and allow them to open to others. And they will feel more connected.

Conclusion

Team building is essential, and even more while the members are slogging in their virtual cubicles at different locations.

And the right virtual team building activities help them bond as a team and keep their morale high. The above exercises are easy to execute, and they can be integrated into an online meeting easily. So what are you waiting for? pick one up and set the wheels in motion.

Do you want to share any other tips to keep morale high with virtual teams? Please share it in the comment section. I’d love to know about it.

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