How Do You Do Team Building Virtually

As virtual team members, there are many ways you can do team building or morale-boosting activities. This article will talk about some easy things you can do to strengthen your workplace relationships.

Running an organized potluck lunch is a great way to connect with your colleagues. Ask around online and on social media how people would like their food prepared and let everyone choose what they want for them.

Inviting friends to visit during non-work hours is another way to boost teamwork and trust. If someone does not work at your company, offering to be a guest speaker at their office is a good opportunity to learn more about their department and themselves.

This article will discuss some other ideas.

Hold team-building events in person

While there is no need to hold an interactive event face-to-face, it is important to do at least some parts of your virtual team bonding activity in person.

This is because not only does this help keep workers connected physically, but also encourages collaboration and communication.

While you can easily chat during a workday session, having some time together outside of the workplace helps create closer bonds.

Furthermore, being able to meet in real life adds consistency to online interactions, such as via Skype or Slack.

Holding meetings in person is especially valuable if one member of the team works remotely or cannot make it into the office.

Organize a meeting via Google Hangouts or Skype

This is one of the most common ways to do team building virtually. Companies have organized meetings through online chat apps for years, so why not use this technology to motivate your group?

By having an open conversation with everyone, you can achieve the same results as in-person meetings. Not only that, but you can do it from anywhere!

You can also easily add new people to keep the conversations flowing. Some even say virtual teams are more productive than face-to-face ones because there’s no awkward silence.

There are many free chat apps options like Zoom, Slack, and Microsoft Teams.

Hold a meeting in your office

This is not necessary if you live close to each other and are already hanging out outside of work, but for most of us, this is impossible. A lot of professionals have distance or financial barriers that prevent them from being able to invite their colleagues into their offices as an appropriate place to meet.

If this applies to you, then hold your meeting at a neutral location with good internet service (better than what you’d get at home). If possible, find a room that has excellent wifi so everyone can contribute easily.

This way, people do not feel limited because they cannot join in person later, and anyone who needs to contact someone else about something can do so without having to go through another channel. It also helps promote group cohesion, as team members can collaborate virtually before coming together physically.

Another option is to use a video chat app like Zoom where you can be more specific about what area you want to cover and how long you want it to last, which makes it easier to manage time commitments.

Host a party

As we mentioned, team building is about creating strong relationships among coworkers. This can be done in many ways, but one of the most effective methods is having a party with snacks and drinks for everyone.

This way, people will feel comfortable coming to you and talking to you, as they know there will be food and drink for them. They will also feel more relaxed as they don’t have to prepare anything or worry about what to say to you.

Organize a retreat

As determined before, team building is an integral part of any successful workplace. It doesn’t matter if you are trying to boost teamwork in the workplace or just because it sounds fun, taking time off together to connect as people is worth its weight in gold.

Retreats are one of the most common types of team bonding events. They don’t need to be expensive or very long — even just for the day is enough!

If someone wants to organize their retreat at the office, then that’s okay too! But making arrangements ahead of time will ensure there isn’t anything unexpected that gets in the way.

Making sure everyone has transportation home can also help prevent anyone from being left out. While some retreats include refreshments and snacks, this type of event should not require large amounts of money unless your company already does something like this.

Drinking beverages and eating food while sitting across from each other help promote conversation, so having those things ready and accessible is important. What kind of drinks and foods look good together can also make a difference.

Having all of these prepared makes organizing the retreat much simpler. And since most people have jobs, they won’t feel obligated to spend time with others after the retreat, which decreases motivation to come back next month.

There is no wrong number of people for a virtual retreat, but eight to twelve people are ideal. This article will talk more about why.

Hold a 1-on-1 conversation with each team member

As mentioned earlier, one of the most important things to do when doing team building is to have individual conversations with every person on your team.

This not only helps you understand who these people are as individuals, but it also can reveal hidden strengths and weaknesses that may come to light during these talks.

It’s very common for workplace tensions to arise because someone doesn’t know what makes their colleagues tick, so this kind of talk pays off.

By asking questions about work, personal life, and leadership styles, you’ll be able to learn a lot about everyone on your team.

Have team meetings via video chat

Teams these days are constantly interacting with each other. Since working from home is such an integral part of our daily lives, it makes sense that we would want to continue this habit when we re-enter work after the break.

Running into people in the workplace outside of regular meeting times can be tricky. If you’re lucky enough to have a separate space where employees could meet, good for you!

But what if there isn’t? What if everyone works out of the same area or even room, creating limited opportunities for casual get-togethers?

This can easily become tiring for both workers and colleagues. And while some may feel uncomfortable attending a gathering that doesn’t include alcohol, most people don’t like spending time together without talking at least short little bits about their day.

So how do you hold virtual team-building events?

We recommend having monthly meetings which last around 30 minutes. During the event, one person should ask a question, and then everyone replies including adding comments and expanding upon ideas.

This way every participant gets a chance to say something, and the conversation keeps flowing.

Hosting team meetings via video chat

Many software programs make it easy to host group chats. Most of them allow individuals to invite others to join the chat, and then it becomes accessible to all of those people.

Distribute a group work session to be completed

One of the hardest things about team building is getting everyone into the same room for a full day. Since technology has advanced to the level it is at now, there are many options to virtually organize a team-building event.

Most good team-building events will have participants create or review a piece of content before diving in together to discuss it. By doing this as a virtual activity, you can easily distribute the presentation, discussion, and feedback via YouTube, Vimeo, or other streaming sites.

This way, people do not need software or internet access to join the meeting, they just need an account to use. It also gives those that cannot attend online participation, which should be considered when organizing a team build event!

These teams could then chat, comment on slides, contribute ideas, etc., completely remotely.