You will then enter those facts in a spreadsheet in random order. It is important to tell the team members that those facts should not be related to their current job (and preferably not known to other members of the team) to make it more fun. They should send this information to you a few days before the meeting so you have enough time to consolidate it. Most virtual teams don’t have a lot of time to mingle or chit-chat, so this game is great because your team members can open up and learn about each other’s backgrounds.Īsk each team member to send 3 personal facts about them only to you as the facilitator. The objective of this game is to connect with your team members on a personal level. Here are three fun and easy virtual team building activities and games: #1 “Little Known Facts About Me” Tools such as Skype, WebEx, Zoom, and GoToMeeting all work great for screen sharing and teleconferencing. Ideally, this would be the virtual team manager or project manager of the team
A main facilitator/ leader: who will help moderate the activity. A conferencing tool: for folks to talk and listen in (like a regular phone teleconference or a web-based audio one). A screen-sharing/ collaboration tool: to share your screen where everyone can see what you’re presenting on. Dedicated time: you need to dedicate some time either at the beginning or end of a virtual status meeting, or to set up a completely separate meeting focused on the activity itself. You will need the following before conducting the virtual team building activities: What you need for the virtual team building activities The activities are not very applicable however, to teams that are working on short contractual work, such as a small team you hire through Upwork to design a website for you. Those activities are especially helpful for teams that work closely together and interact multiple times throughout the week by using IM software, teleconferencing, and other virtual team tools. The following activities and games are designed for virtual teams of 4 or more individuals that are either just starting out (i.e., in the forming stage of team development) or have been working together for a while on a collaborative project (i.e., in the storming stage or beyond). Who are those virtual team building activities for? The activities are very simple to implement, yet have a huge return on investment for you and your team. #Virtual team building activities professional#
learn more about your team members on a personal and professional level. increase the level of cohesion and intimacy among your co-workers. The objective of those virtual team building activities and games is to help you: The objective of those team building games So as a team leader, you should put in a concerted effort to create activities that help increase those team bonding factors. They have a tremendous positive effect on overall team morale and happiness. This is one big disadvantage of virtual teams – you lose what’s called the “water cooler” effect in a regular office, where team members bump into each other at the water cooler and talk about things unrelated to work.Īlthough such minor interactions can be trivial, their impact is quite significant on team performance. Meetings in particular can feel very transactional and dry. Remote employees are typically focused on their own silo, and rarely interact informally with their peers and managers like they would in a regular office. I’m donating some of the profits to COVID-19 efforts. Update: I launched a “Fun Virtual Team-Building Activities” book that includes 18 easy games you can play on Zoom or Webex with your team (no special apps needed & includes downloadable templates).