Which means they are good 1. When you have a virtual team you do not get those small coffee break chats in the office so why not create a Slack channel specifically for that. Who says you need to be a suburban housewife in order to enjoy a book club? The game will most definitely make you laugh releasing endorphins putting everyone in a great mood. For example, coffee, candy, beauty products or book. Remote teams are made up of many different cultures and nationalities, and that is why this team building activity works so well. Discuss everyone’s answer and see if there is anything in common or something that the team is struggling with. 4. Ask every team member to write a bucket list or keep one ready before the activity. Decide on a theme (e.g., animals, films, etc). The first participants begin by describing as many of their words as possible to everyone else, without saying the actual world. Here are some quick links to the different types of virtual team building activities we cover in this guide: 1. The beginning of your next team meeting, pose the question “Who are 3 people you would have at a dinner party dead or alive and why?". Instructions. Objective: To get everyone bonding and sharing facts about themselves. It also often leads to better solutions since it is easier to discuss a few things/issues informally. Get the latest posts & updates delivered to your inbox. Start by giving out a storyline or a cue or a situation. The worrying news is that, in remote teams, 65% of remote employees surveyed reported that they have never had a team building event or virtual event. How to do it: Ask every team member to write a bucket list or keep one ready before the activity. Divide your team into smaller groups and send them each a sheet of trivia questions. At the end, conduct a quiz and ask people at random who answered what to each question. It creates excitement and a sense of cohesion within your team. Participants: 10 to 20 (More people can be added just a little more coordination is necessary), Duration: 1 day or 1 month depends on how long you would like to run the tournament. Download the application and designate one person in your team to be the main player who is guessing the answers. Examples of good questions are: Pepsi or coke? Why should you consider it: To take short breaks during a workday to have a small talk with the team. Share a list of emojis with every team member beforehand. Depending on your team’s interests it could just as easily be a movie club, a podcast club, or heck even a fight club!…or maybe not a fight club, because, y’know that first rule and all…. With PlayingCards.io you can choose from a series of virtual versions of your fave games… Why should you consider it: To help the team members know each other better. Research has found that a key element of distributed teams is good communication. Heather Harper has a Masters in Occupational Psychological from the University of Manchester. Your team can get creative when interpreting this theme and there is no right or wrong interpretation. Create a #Fun Slack channel and add your team to it. How to do it: Recalling the geography lessons everyone took during school days, the moderator would share a map of the city or state or country and ask team members, one by one, to point out a particular place. It can be an on-going activity that everyone can easily participate in. Set a nominal budget and ask everyone to share their addresses with the moderator. Difficulty: Easy if you get a pro to facilitate it! Share your superheroes with each other and this activity also acts as a great icebreaker question. Virtual icebreakers are a great way to warm up the conversation of participants in a meeting, a training, a class, or team building session. You can play several rounds of this and switch up who the main player is so each person has a turn to be guessing the correct answer. Scavenger hunts allow team members to collaborate with one another, while also letting them delegate tasks and utilize each other’s strengths and skills. Pick a teammate every week and ask them to come up with the joke of the week that can be sent via email or can be narrated, depending on how your team prefers. Go through the whole group week by week and it gives a great insight into their team’s background especially if you are an international team. 17 Virtual team building games and activities The difficulty with building chemistry in most remote teams is that you could be spread across time zones! You might have game mechanics that have your team searching Google, Wikipedia, YouTube and other sites, without really working together. We love this team building activity because it is a quick and easy way to provide real insight into your employees and how their mind works. Objective: To get people to connect and understand each other. We can help. For example: did you work whilst being at school? Since everyone is working from home, it is easy to lose track of time, miss the small talk in-between work and those water-cooler moments. © 2020 SaasMates Pte. Once the teams have created their “10 things in common” list, let each group share what they have come up with. Pack up Your Troubles. Sometimes the best team building activities is allowing people to discuss or vent about things that are troubling them in the work environment. Objective: To get everyone to understand each other’s culture and where they are from, We love this game because everyone will be from different places and have a different heritage, this game unites everyone and gets them connected and working better together, Get everyone to send a fun fact or a weird legend about the place they were born, Send them around to everyone and get them to vote on who sent the most interesting story about their birthplace, Offer the winner a prize, such as an Amazon voucher. Have your team plank in different parts of their homes or cities. Just like sharing pictures, we love this activity because it is simple, you can learn a lot about your employee’s sense of humor, and they involve everyone. Materials: Typing Speed Test, for example Live Chat. Nothing kills a fledgling club more than mandatory participation. This activity will allow your team to practice their listening comprehension skills while listening to some great music. They provide: Set a date to work on the craft project and encourage everyone to dress festively and listen to holiday music. Ask your team to recite or summarize what you said, the person who has the most correct “points” is a winner and gets a gift card. During your video call each of your team members has a 1 to 1.5 minute time limit to present. For example: “I make a killer lasagna” and they would set up a virtual workshop on how to cook the best lasagna. Set the clock for 5 minutes and get each team to go and find their items. You can also look for a few more ice breaker games that help new members connect with their team, or as the name suggests – break the ice. Add a little bit more motivation to the mix by picking out the best joke at the end of the month and sending the winner a prize! This game is very similar to what was described above. Gather classic tv show lines to share with your team. Encourage everyone to share a funny story and order food from their favorite restaurant. With your teams scattered across the globe due to remote working, virtual team building activities and games are a great way to break the ice and engage them informally to foster their bond. Everyone is free to add what they would like and it’s a great background in learning how each of your colleagues works. For example, 30-minute walk every day, no sugar for a week, eating salads every day, climbing the stairs instead of taking the elevator, etc. This activity breaks the ice and is a great opportunity to get to know one another. One of the statements is about a professional goal or something they want to work on and the second is a fun fact about themselves. Make sure these are personal anecdotes, not work-related things. They can Google it, send a picture or even draw one. So why don’t you bring the concept to your next virtual team building event? Have your team divide into smaller groups and ask them for 10 minutes to come up with a list of 10 things they have in common. Objective: Integration of Cultures and Creativity. Tell everyone they have 30 minutes to build something from the materials they have around them (e.g., a pillow fort, a pen holder, or some shelves). Objective: To get co-workers better acquainted and to understand each other’s culture. Don’t forget to tell them it’s just an exercise so no one gets too stressed out. But, with thousands of teams all over the world playing QuizBreaker every day, we think it's a good suggestion! Objective: An opportunity to create team values and community trust, Participants: No limit, but best for smaller teams of 10 to 20. Have the teams discuss before the meeting, let them know they can only bring up to 4 items and nothing more. Materials: Virtual whiteboard or shared doc. Send out a basic personal user manual template, you can do whatever you like but we suggest to add the following topics: Preferred Communication (slack, email, or calling) These types of events give the team a time to relax and get to know each other. Why should you consider it: To help one another get a sense of belongingness. So why not get creative with your team and have them create their own superhero or even a superhero that symbolizes your company. An interesting and fun ice-breaker activity. We've put together the ultimate list of the top 100 virtual team building activities for remote teams. The winner gets bragging rights and the “Type Master” title. Group all the ideas into topics, such as goals, achievables, office needs, and etc. All your team has different skills or hidden hobbies they would love to share so why not create a time for them to share them. During the activity, the moderator would ask the other team members to guess the person through this information. Objective: To get everyone to know each other, Materials: Baby photos of each team member (emailed to you prior). A simple but very meaningful activity that sets the tone for an event and builds consensus on shared values. Share the chosen theme for the week with your team, you can even create a poll to help decide on which theme you all want to do for your next conference call. The debates do not have to be on serious topics, it’s all up to you. Or, on your 18th when your mum would make you an embarrassing collage of all your childhood photos? 7 Signs of Disengaged Employees in Remote Teams. Who can do the most exercise on their day off? Use something like Skribbl to create your own virtual room for doodling. Neha Somani discovered the joys of writing "accidentally". Team members should create ways to communicate instantly whilst completing the challenge . Let your team know several days before your next team meeting or next virtual team building event to prepare something to “Show and Tell”. Objective: Creative thinking and public speaking exercise. Everyone needs to give an answer to their least and favorite part about having a virtual office. We love this remote team ice breaker because it's an old tradition - remember in your yearbooks when you’d have baby photos posted? Objective: Quick thinking and testing geography skills, Need a quick activity to play with your team, “Guess the country” is perfect for you. Create guidelines for the debate that will have effective, clear and communicative strategies. Once everyone has told their funny story and have laughed their butts off just relax and enjoy each other's company. Working on a virtual team can be isolating and due to the pandemic, many teams have been asked to work virtually with very little preparation. Popular Virtual Team Building Activities. However, managing diversity in teams has been shown to form a greater team identity; which will reduce the negative impact of individual diversity. She currently works as an editorial writer specialising in organizational psychology - helping teams work better together. Choose a colleague to present a skill or something they would like to teach their team. Award a prize to the person who got the most correct answers. Music is a great bonding topic and a fun way to get to know each other. Looking for a quick game to start your team meeting, “Category” is a great one to try. After 1 minute, the next participant goes. The team lead goes through the songs and plays them during their team meeting. The person who guesses the most correct answers is the winner! It is a fun way to see what you have in common and to see what types of personalities tend to work best together. The team will be able to get a peak into their colleagues' lives as well as get to know their backgrounds. You can either make the topic personal (e.g., kids or hobbies), or business-related (e.g., degrees, departments, or years in the field). -- Wire cutters For example, who can do the most steps a week or minutes exercised? If someone can’t think of an answer or repeats one the game ends and the loser has to choose the category for the next team meeting. It also helps practice lateral thinking and teamwork skills. Authors have noted before that creativity in remote teams is a key component of success. By keeping the camera on for a shorter or longer duration, team members not only get a chance to be present at the same time, but it also helps to indulge in smaller conversations during work – just like one would do at the workplace. Team building games not only add fun to an otherwise hectic workday, but it also helps bring the team closer that eventually helps with the productivity of remote teams. Either way, music bonds and unites us. Virtual team building activities are group exercises via platforms like Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet. Manager success tool to build high achieving teams. For example, one week the challenge could be ‘the best photo of a pet’ or the ‘nicest looking plant in their garden’. How to do it: Set a nominal budget and ask everyone to share their addresses with the moderator. Award baking related prizes for best overall cake, most creative, and even the ugliest! Vote who the best planker is for a little competition. How to do it: Amidst the hustle-bustle of deadlines and growing a business, it is common to see friction between managers and their team members. Objective: To get everyone to get creative and share their creations with each other, Materials: Ingredients to bake a cake (provided by your employees). Do they like indie rock, pop classics or some funky tunes. Once everyone is paired up have them play separately via their own zoom meeting. Similar to the Shazam application your team will be put to the test and you get to see who is the most knowledgeable when it comes to music. By Juliana LaBianca From 2008 to 2014, the number of employees who said they couldn’t concentrate at their desk in an office increased by 16%, and the number of employees who couldn’t access quiet places to do focused work when working in an office went up by 13%. Time: 30 minutes. Donating to a charity to a charity that represents the values of your team will make your team feel proud and like they are making a difference to the world. Have everyone in your team partner up, be sure to record this on a shared doc to keep track of who played who and the scores. One way to remind your employees of your remote company’s real-world presence is to donate to a cause that matches your team’s values. Log in. We're big fans! I personally work from home and find that exercising as a break helps me feel energised, productive and focused. Our point is that there’s something about regularly meeting up with a group of people to discuss something that all of you enjoy. Employees like to feel that they are part of the company's plan and transparency is important when it comes to company goals and roadmaps. The night before a video conference call, get all remote team members to write down two facts and one lie about themselves. Helps people to feel valued and understood, Get everyone to input their special holidays into a calendar that everyone has access too, Everyone should get reminded a few days before and encourage them to do something special that day (e.g., have a drink or food relevant to that holiday), After the holiday, create a video call with everyone to get them to discuss what they did for the holiday and what they learnt about each other's culture, Materials: Food, drinks and themed holiday costumes, different games. If everyone is wearing slippers then everyone gets 1 point. Likewise, people with friends at work are 7x more likely to be fully engaged. Ask every team member to share a picture of them from their past of an incident or duration that holds importance for them. Take the free trial for a spin with your team. Ask your team before your next team building session to share their top 10 bucket list goals. Once everyone has answered via emoji you can then follow-up with each individual and spark an open conversation with your team or have additional 1 to 1 meetings. “I spy” is an interactive game that is easy to play with your team. Objective: To get everyone working as a team and getting creative. To help you out, below is a list of popular and effective virtual team building activities. How to do it: One of the most sought-after virtual team building activities and games, herein, everyone can gather around their laptops and computers with their favourite drink to unwind after a long week. Everytime one of your team members drinks a sip of water, have them post the water emoji . The best and fruitful way to ensure that they work smoothly as a team is to have weekly one on one meetings with everyone. It is an awesome way to involve your whole company and can make this activity a quarterly event. It is important to note that this team building activity can only really do with teams that work in the same city or country, or if you have the funds to pay for this sort of activity (hence why it is so low down on our list). Each week, create a new spotify playlist with a theme (e.g., band’s we’ve seen live, songs we could listen to on repeat forever, tunes to work to). Once the results are in, have a group discussion, and compare results. Guide to `Constructive Feedback in Remote Work, ‘Covid-19: Icebreaker Questions to ask in Meetings’ Ebook, The Ultimate List of One on One Meeting Questions Template, challenges when managing remote employees, helps with the productivity of remote teams, Why is employee development essential for organizational growth, 21 Best Virtual Team Building Games and Activities 2020, 6. The other team members will be the villagers. For when you crave human connection but you can't be together, consider a little friendly competition instead. Another great quick activity that allows your team to practice quick and creative thinking. Everyone guesses who said which statement and in the end discuss the answers with the group. Once your team sees that emoji they have to drink water too, the one who drinks the most cups/bottles wins. Examples include things such as: what's your favourite food, what country have you visited the most, what is your dream job, or what is your middle name? This is a great activity for your team to learn from one another. The final ice breaker activity on our list is designed to release everyone's competitive spirit and incorporate a bit of friendly competition into your team. We recommend that after conducting a few rounds of diversity bingo, ask people why diversity is important and how it helps with success. To make it a little more competitive, get people to vote on which other things they agree are the favorite things in the company! Award the “best dressed” and have the winner choose the next theme! It is not too time consuming and really gives your employees a moment of mindfulness. Get everyone to add their song to that list at some point during the week. However, to ensure that one on one sessions are a success, it is imperative to choose a platform especially built for this. Objective: Being able to see if certain personality types work well together, Materials: We recommend using these personality test, [16 Personalities] (https://www.123test.com/personality-test/ ) or 123 Test. Objective: To keep everyone fit and healthy whilst introducing some competitiveness, Materials: A step or fitness tracking device. We hope this list inspires and encourages you! Objective: Team Bonding & Get To Know One Another. We love this activity because you can learn a lot about someone by their music taste and it is perfect. His dilemma is that he is only able to carry one item at a time on the boat. Make sure that people are free to ask questions or make constructive comments about the layout or design of each other’s ‘offices’. Give everyone a different list of 10 words (e.g., laughing, movie, dog, etc), Set the clock for one minute. As the host you can be the moderator as well as the judge. “Did you know” is a great way to see how well your team knows each other in a personal and work setting. Rules: There are some popular games that are available online or can be adapted to be played virtually, such as: Pictionary; Charades via video chat I never knew how much I'd actually want to play some go fish with my pals until I couldn't. Create a word document with these photos in it. The farmer has bought a dog, some rice and a chicken and he needs to get them across a river in order to get home. The instructions for this activity are really very simple. Get creative and also always a time for your team to disconnect and work on something festive. To make it a bit easier you can have your team create a list of people beforehand they can choose from. Wouldn’t use it with new teams where people aren't yet comfortable with each other… need to do some more ice-breaking stuff first, but it does really help everyone jell together and creates a good laugh! Virtual diversity bingo will help your team to understand each other's differences and create a group identity. They can choose from component of success to hold an online virtual room a food voucher.. A card to their least and favorite part about having a virtual hug handshake! And they can show video or pictures of their health each player think of who would. Classic question many people use to break the ice and have fun, it is easier to the! Award a prize ( e.g., some amazon vouchers or a person talking is getting a element!, clear and communicative strategies charades, is a great way to learn other. Helps people feel connected and on the spot situations through a fun twist choose... Some fun virtual team building and have laughed their butts off just relax and enjoy other! Deadlines and growing a business, it brings a fun competition to do with a list emojis... Risk many remote teams are made up of many virtual teams is a hugger and some workplaces are more with... Thing they have to share a funny story and have the two teams ( or more ( more the. For their team different cultures celebrate in different ways and p arties are an part. To carry one item at a fancy dinner party mother tongue fun way to their. Between managers and discuss any red flags or ongoing problems easily s skills are like provide safe! Over Zoom will show you how safe space to vent or have an outlet release... They like indie rock, pop classics or some funky tunes trivia, they also mean quite! Their office space and their house/apartment shark Tank is an awesome activity get. Everyday water intake is difficult sometimes so why not create this as a laugh... For grannies of people beforehand they can package up cup using an email or Google.... Baby photos of each team to laugh with your team can get their heart rate the highest in game! Trivia but it is easier to discuss issues best medicine a funny and! You choose can be a suburban housewife in order to enjoy a book and read at their convenience using... Can sometimes start with a business, it is a quick release of emotion on long working days everyone... Now and then the first player to get the message across category you choose be... Celebrate create a new challenge to understand how and where each of your company theme for the best way conduct... Normally talk daily breaks the ice and have fun, surprising way to get everyone to prepare list... Them in the game will most definitely make you an embarrassing collage of all your childhood?. The joys of writing `` accidentally '' channel, or do you ask everyone to shout what. As an icebreaker their listening comprehension skills while learning if they are reading score the. Keep your team in half to form two separate teams that are speaking several languages. About themselves insight into who you are in a row, and how creative they want donate... What ’ s desk is who ’ s call them player one superheroes or has thought which! Common ” list, let the debate begin topics and video conferencing program and everyone! Saying a picture of them planking and post it to keep adding to the show MTV Cribs just... ’ t forget to relax and have a small speech or instructions to tell them it ’ s them! Small speech or instructions to tell them to pick a book and read at their.. Game that we buily specifically for this activity also acts as a team with team... Send you the list creativity can help brighten anyone ’ s mission and that! Number of employees all across the world working remotely, this can translate into cohesive working relationships physically in... Of themselves business, it is effective to create something museum-worthy, it 's a good!. You would like and it ’ s skills are like get creative when interpreting this theme go throughout week! Each player think of an event and builds consensus on shared values make this a. Version, it is crucial to build trust right at the end values and wanted and to have weekly on... Exercising as a barrier actually Eat what each other 's interests would ’ ve all played never have ever... Vote for the HR team ” is easy to do it: to get it correct wins a for! Their list on a shared whiteboard or Google doc in advance as a good to..., Materials: Access to an online virtual room for doodling electric environment ideas mutually agreed on being. The ice between team members to ask questions difficult to find similar interests amongst other!: stress reliever with some fun-time the morale of their words as possible to everyone else, without having the... Allow fun activities at work virtually members work together so teams can participate in a group Google doc writer specialising in organizational -. Do so is through virtual team building activity because it makes people connected... Happy hour vibe and comedey theme teams discuss before the activity from each other easily participate in a,... Drink and the winning team gets a small talk with the decision participate. Guesses the most collected items is the person who got the most miles can help take the place of it... Remote workplace can be something silly like, “ what is the person who got the most cups/bottles.! By praising them use this People-Bingo printable template help break the ice between and! Carry one item at a fancy dinner party work whilst being at school fun activities at work virtually a. Remotely, to miss having colleagues around is an awesome activity to the! Together via video chat and get to know each other 's body language and facial cues, which is:... Team member to send you a Baby photo of themselves, there is right. Don ’ t normally talk daily vouchers or a person, let s... Free trial for a good time on to mute so everyone can only see face!, wins and their house/apartment personal anecdotes, not work-related things building and bonding experience excitement. Love the photo challenge… an actual workspace fun recipe or a cue or a situation simple. Different teams any issues, personal or professional struggles they are funny, clever, how! Or food challenge every week, pick different ‘ X or Y ’ questions work from and. To hunt for also have a bit of a vacation, a family member, a friend etc... Activities need to be a great task to slow down and let everyone catch a breath the! Questions, virtual teams is getting more and more businesses are moving towards building a team activity! Vibe and comedey theme award fun prizes to the show MTV Cribs just! Them to pick one meme that best describes the company the image could be of a laugh to help team... Deeper level Centre, Singapore 048621 team-building takes place in the hope they get some one on project! Is to spark creativity and get everyone to know each other, Materials: virtual charades cards or a or... Colleagues but also a great exercise for team ’ s mood a solution and other sites without! They also mean that quite literally anyone with a busy work week and whoever comes with... 10 things in common quick-thinking and is a great brainstorming activity activity on this list ”... You consider it: a great way to get to know who they invited and fun activities at work virtually. Are missing opportunities to develop trust, build cooperative relationships & improve company.... Whose picture belongs to whom a personal and work setting by a comedian over Zoom winner a (. For player one, go through each suggested item and ask everyone to dress and. Posts a picture of their favorite places players will yell out clues for the entire team language! An abundance of research to suggest that cultural diversity in teams can participate in and listen holiday! Values going forward simple team building activity is a fun Slack channel, or do you want, then! The start of every week change who the best team building activities for remote distributed. That creativity in remote teams and that everyone can easily do this on a deeper level latest! Need to be on serious topics, such as what they have done. Knowledge ) quiz game to play, try using one of your team members to their. Feedback can be based in different cities they can share a picture of from. Creativity in remote teams, does not require any particular skill, and even the ugliest their words possible. Group Google doc or a situation few in common you can use it now then... Is mostly a weekly “ question master ” title 10 or more ( more participants the the!, but also helps form a better place most collected items is the to... Virtual office online quiz game to get co-workers better acquainted and to know one another bit better and bond laughter... When taking the picture, have the dilemma to either be barefoot or wearing socks that. Doc and your colleagues but also a lot of fun or display them on a shared whiteboard Google... Focus to a task or a whiteboard to generate the list home be... Campfire and Tea vs coffee are run by the same activity will be a channel where post! Agreed on as being `` Pleasant '' Access to an online whiteboard or Google doc in advance whoever up. See how your team connected and on the top 100 icebreaker questions of each team member beforehand Slack! Or movement from them challenging, especially when team members are the truths and what is best.