Wondering what will be a great way to keep the team dynamics during remote working? Team building activities can come in handy. Creating human-to-human interactions between remote team members is what virtual team building means. Making these connections not only fosters chemistry, but also optimizes communication and enhances productivity. The most effective method to connect remote teams is to make them feel seen and heard, both literally and in ways that directly address the difficulties of a distant workforce. 

Team building activities are typically free, but it will not harm the finance to allocate some budget for it. The budget can be used to give simple rewards for challenges during the activity. For example, the winner of each mini challenge will earn a gift card or Google Play voucher. Employees who are usually hesitant to gather may finally be interested if chances for a reward are present. Team building activities can all be done through video conferencing applications like Google Meet or Zoom.

Here are 5 team building activities to maintain team dynamics during remote working.

1. OnLunch Date 

Type : Weekly

Time : 30 minutes

Tools : Zoom or Google Meet

OnLunch date is basically an online lunch date with your team. Lunch break is the time where employees can let go of their professional status for a little while and just chill over good food or coffee. In normal situations, they can go with their workmates to the nearest cafeteria and have lunch together. However, the ongoing global pandemic has taken this routine away, which also weakens the bond between coworkers. Thankfully, Google Meet comes to the rescue. 

Pick one day from your work week and schedule an online lunch date where all employees attend a virtual meeting and have lunch together. Chats over lunch are usually far from serious, so make this as relaxed and enjoyable as possible. Effectively, one meeting room should not consist of more than 10 people, so the interaction can be more intense. It will be more fun to encourage everyone to turn on their camera, so everyone can see what others have for lunch. You can also do a mini challenge: everyone must perform a 30 seconds persuasive review of what they have for lunch and the best, most persuasive employee can earn a food voucher. Everybody loves freebies, so it is possible that everybody will love this team building activity!

Read Also: 5 Tips to Stay Engaged in Online Meetings

2. Messy desk Faceoff

Type : Biweekly

Time : 3 hours (asynchronous)

Tools : Slack, WhatsApp group, etc

If a real time team building challenge is not viable, then an asynchronous team building can work. This means that employees do not have to dedicate specific time for a video call, but rather be given a challenge to be completed during a specific period of time. 

Messy desk faceoff can be a good asynchronous activity. This is a form of challenge for employees to do a ‘before vs after’ presentation of tidying up their workstation at home. To make it more competitive, a reward can be granted for the top three employees with the best transformation. The way to do it is to send a small clip of their workstation look and give them around 3 hours before sending the ‘revamped’ look. 

To make it more fun, conduct a follow up video meeting to do a blind showcase of the revamped workstations, anonymously, and let other employees judge. This can be really fun as everyone gets to hear comments and praises about their workstation without even knowing whose workstations they are. Indirectly, this team building activity will also prompt employees as individuals to always maintain a tidy workstation. 

3. Voiceover Challenge

Type : Biweekly

Time : 60 minutes

Tools : Google Meet

Ever heard an advertisement so often that you start memorizing each word along with the intonation? Well, you can actually make a game out of it and many more through a voiceover challenge! Basically, this team building activity will challenge employees to mimic the voice of a specific audio advertisement or a movie scene dialog prepared by the host. This can be really fun since everyone gets to prepare and try their best to do a voiceover of whatever it is being challenged. If the advertisement or the movie scene is silly, then it will be really hilarious to see fellow employees attempting to mimic it. To strengthen the bond of one another, fellow employees get to give a score for each performance. Rewards for the top three employees that can impersonate the best voiceover will be a cherry on top for this.

4. Try Not To Laugh Challenge

Type : Biweekly

Time : 60 minutes

Tools : Google Meet

When you watch a really funny video, you are most likely to laugh, even unintentionally. However, what if you are forced to watch a really funny video but prohibited from laughing? The old classic ‘try not to laugh’ videos, which are popular on YouTube, can be made into a team challenge. The host simply needs to get everyone attending, turning on their camera and microphone, while sharing a screen of ‘try not to laugh’ videos. It is exciting to see fellow team members holding their urge to laugh, as those who laugh do not get a score or are disqualified from the round. The winner will be the one with the highest score or who successfully manages to not laugh until the final round. Despite its name being ‘try not to laugh’ it is certain that this team building activity will involve a lot of laughter!

5. Classic Truth or Dare

Type : Biweekly

Time : 60 minutes

Tools : Zoom or Google Meet

Having been popular in offline team building activities, the classic truth or dare challenge can also be done online. Put a virtual wheelspin on a shared screen and use this opportunity to either discover team members’ trivia or simply tease them with dare. If team members generally have a good bond, this activity will be a very fun team building activity. However, please note that new employees may not be comfortable with this challenge, as it can get too personal. This activity is suitable for employees who have known each other long enough to be open about their personal life. 

Remote working creates the impression that work is invisible, which creates further hurdles to organic team building. The loss of a vibrant office environment meant the loss of those built-in possibilities to develop social relationships and build trust with colleagues. This can lead to disengagement, which can lead to poor work performance. These five team building activities can be fun to do while your team is working remotely. Although nothing can ever beat the joy of face to face socializing, these activities are still worth trying!

Read Also: Performance Management for Remote Employees