Virtual teams are becoming increasingly popular in this day and age. As organisations chase efficiency and productivity, advancements in technology make it considerably easier for people all over the world to come together and collaborate.
There are many benefits of working remotely for both employers and employees. Remote work enables companies to find hidden talent, whilst simultaneously, giving their employees the freedom to work from anywhere. Therefore, employers need to learn the best practices to keep their remote teams engaged, such as virtual team building activities, virtual coffee breaks and more.
Remote Worker Wellbeing
As an employer, employee wellbeing should be at the forefront of your workplace, whether it’s a digital workplace or a physical one. At times, remote work can become lonely and unproductive. That’s why building effective virtual teams is a must regardless of the company size. Plus, what better way to ensure your employees feel connected than organising online team building events?
In this post, we’ll explore the best team building activities for remote employees to enhance confidence and productivity in your virtual workplace.
Table of Contents
What Is Team Building?
At its core, team building involves developing trust within a group. It’s about bridging gaps and overcoming differences to achieve a common goal and maximise each individual’s strengths in the process. Team buildings are essential in any organisation, whether it’s a small startup with only a handful of employees or a large, multinational company with thousands of employees.
Ultimately, team building means improving your team productivity through group challenges and engaging activities. These activities allow you to address and overcome the struggles associated with remote working with creativity and peer support.
Although there’s nothing better than an outdoor team building event, remote team building activities are a great alternative. They provide your team with a fun challenge, an opportunity to think together and further connect with colleagues through online activities.
How to Manage a Remote Team
Treating virtual teams the same way you would a physical team can be the key to success. But of course, a digital team can require more communication efforts than an onsite team. To help you establish this, we will share three approaches that you can use today to ensure all of your employees are on the right page.
Clearly define roles
Make sure everyone on your team understands their role and responsibilities. One of the biggest mistakes leaders make with virtual teams is assuming that people understand what they need to do without explaining enough. It’s too easy to assume that someone will know how they should behave or what they should do.
Setting goals and expectations from day one is the key to managing effective communication, and that’s why expert managers use productivity and time-tracking software to lead their team to success.
Select the right people
Many people would love the opportunity to work from home, but the reality is it’s not for everyone. For this reason, it’s important to find an employee with the right combination of skills and experience. Remote workers should be motivated self-starters with the ability to work well independently. Above all, they should be highly trustworthy and well organised.
Communicate with the right tools
The key to managing remote teams is good communication. And according to the dynamics of the group you’re leading, the tools used to manage conversations and tasks to do changes. And for remote networks, it’s crucial to express ideas using the right channels.
Nowadays, companies with remote workers use tools like Slack or Twist to communicate tasks and lead conversations effectively. Indeed, asynchronous communication is a powerful resource that allows teams to save time and prioritise tasks. Still, your flexibility will depend upon the needs of your team.
Achieving Success in Virtual Teams
When managing a remote team, your employees are given the advantage of working independently with more flexibility. Although there will be deadlines and check-up meetings, your employees have a lot of freedom to adopt their own working style and manage their own work. Consequently, as a manager, it’s vital to find the right balance of structure and freedom.
Here are some guidelines you can follow to keep a group of remote workers on the same page:
- Explicitly identify roles and responsibilities
- Outline how you will measure success and design accountability systems.
- Foster a positive team spirit.
- Host and participate in team-building events
- Fun corporate team-building activities are great to bond group members and boosting teamwork
Best Virtual Team Building Activities
Building trust and confidence is tricky. But companies are booking and designing interactive activities for employees to boost their confidence and teamwork skills. Above all, consider bringing your team to challenges and activities that strengthen collaboration skills and build trust.
Of course, there are lots of options out there, but we have gathered a selection of the best team building for remote teams:
- Virtual escape room: fun team building game. This experience was designed to enhance teamwork in small groups by promoting collaborative spaces to solve a common goal.
- Team building quiz: join efforts with your colleagues and put hands-on work to solve trivia questions together. This virtual activity is great to work on communication skills and integrating new team members.
- Thirsty Painter: a great way to let your creativity flow. Attendees join in individual or group sessions to paint and socialise.
- BucketRace: an online scavenger hunt game that encourages clear communication and will put your team’s problem-solving skills to work.
- Around the world in 80 Minutes: a team-building challenge that requires problem-solving abilities and creativity. Although there’s an outdoor version, the game works in an app to include all your staff regardless of their time zone.
- The Big Bonkers Virtual Bingo: the perfect bingo party to enhance your team’s confidence and have fun in a relaxed environment.
- Virtual Cocktail Making Classes: an engaging activity for groups of 8 to 250 people. Your team will receive the ingredients right in their homes and participate in online classes with expert bartenders.
- Virtual CSI: is your team ready to solve any challenge? Test teamwork and problem-solving skills with this interactive crime scene investigation online game.
- The Iconic Trivia Game Show: an exciting event to improve your work under pressure. This company promotes friendly competition and ensures a memorable experience for all participants.
- Master Of The Tasks: a full virtual experience for 1 to 50 people open to teams and individuals. Participants are guided by a comedian host who will lead fun challenges designed to make you laugh with your team.
Ultimately, you should embrace virtual team-building activities to keep your employee’s spirits high. Considering that almost half of UK workers prefer working from home, building effective virtual teams is something you should prioritise. Remember that successfully managing remote teams doesn’t just happen overnight. But it’s possible to build a team that effectively works together remotely, especially if you focus on building trust in the workplace above all.
