Like it or not, remote work is here to stay. As the novelty wears thin for many, and with more people starting new jobs remotely, new challenges are presenting themselves.
Related: Return to work survey – Discover what HR, Office Managers + business leaders had to say about their return to work strategies.
One of the main challenges facing team culture is relationship building in a virtual world. When we’re all in the same location, building relationships with colleagues is a lot easier. It’s easier to spark casual conversations, have lunch with others, and enjoy spontaneous office interactions. The relationships that colleagues have with one another directly impact company culture, morale, wellbeing, and the overall happiness and effectiveness of employees. So it cannot be ignored as the majority of us continue to work remotely.
The good news is that team building can be almost as positive when it’s done virtually, and it doesn’t have to be another zoom quiz either – that’s so March 2020. It’s time to try something different.
Virtual Team Building Activities For Remote Teams
1. Online cooking class / cook-along
Organising a virtual cooking class or a cook-along is a super fun way for your team to bond over a shared experience, learn new skills, and enjoy a tasty meal together. Organising is easy – all of the ingredients can be sent to your team, so all they have to do is jump on a call and get cooking. If your team loves a bit of friendly competition, you can award prizes to the best chefs!
Speak to a member of our team about experiential events + Feedr home delivery.
2. Virtual breakfast or lunch
Hosting a virtual breakfast or lunch, with minimal work chat allowed is a great way to keep things simple and encourage everyone to take a break and have a little downtime with their colleagues. It’s beneficial to make this activity part of your regular routine, and you can make it extra special by having regular food deliveries sent to your teams.
If you don’t fancy a virtual breakfast or lunch, a simple coffee break is an easy alternative to allow your team to catch up with each other just like they would in the office. All you need to do is schedule a 15-minute period every day or week where your team can join a virtual get together. To encourage more people to attend, why not send treats to your team to be enjoyed during the event.
3. Wine, gin, or even mead tastings
You don’t have to be in the same room to enjoy the experience of a wine, gin, or even a mead tasting. You and your team can be led through tastings by experts who will teach you all you need to know about whatever it is that you’re having, and can get your team talking about their impressions and opinions. Your expert will usually provide a shopping list of items required or you can send everything to your team, as part of an all in one experiential package.
Virtual team building activities: The alternatives to another virtual quiz
Tip: If you want to get bums on seats, add in the extra incentive of delivering food + treats to people who attend, just like you would do at the office.
4. Virtual skillshare
Your team has skills! Consider hosting a weekly meeting where team members take it in turns to lead a short session about a particular skill or topic they know quite well. It could be a skill related to work like coding, or it could be just for fun, like origami. Either way, your team will learn something new and get to know their colleagues better.
5. Scavenger hunt
An at-home scavenger hunt is an entertaining way to get to know your team. All you need to do is come up with a list of items that everyone will have in their house (You can make it open to interpretation if you wish, for example by asking people to find something round or green, or both), or you can use the alphabet as inspiration and have everyone find one item that starts with each letter from A-Z. Then, send team members running around their homes to find and share each item. The first person back or the person with the most interesting item wins, it’s up to you.
6. Charades
The classic party game – Charades. A bit of fun that encourages team members to let their guard down and act ridiculous. Everyone can submit prompts for teammates to act out, or you can use online tools to generate random ideas. If your team aren’t the biggest fans of Charades, look to see what other games you can play online. You may be surprised at what you can play with a little tweak.
Free online charades generator
7. Icebreaker questions
This particular activity is a fun way to break the ice and give team members a chance to learn more about each other in a relaxed environment. The premise of the game is simple, ask a question about a topic, such as “What do you miss most about the office?” or “What’s your favourite snack”. Then, allow a short time to answer and a short time to explain/discuss as a team. This is particularly good if you have a lot of new joiners.
8. Online group gaming
Group online games are a great option for remote team building. Each week, ask your team to vote on what virtual game they would like to play together, and then book some time in the calendar to play the game that won the most votes. There are hundreds of free games to choose from, so you should be able to find one that everyone loves. At Feedr, we like to play Codenames and Skribbl.
9. Fun fact guessing game
A fun fact guessing game to get to know your colleagues a whole lot better. Prior to your next team meeting, ask everyone to submit a fun fact about themselves to you privately. Then, read out the facts one by one and let everyone try and guess which fact matches with which team member.
10. Personality assessments
Team building on a deeper level can be cultivated by completing personality tests such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, which identifies whether people are introverted or extroverted, thinkers or feelers, judgers or perceivers, and whether or not they take in information through sensing or intuition. Results can be discussed as a group, providing an opportunity to get to know each other better and to learn how to communicate in a more effective way. To make this exercise even more effective, consider having educational resources on hand, or by inviting external experts to deliver a presentation and to aid group discussions.
Try this Quick + Free personality test – 16 Personalities
Summary
Just doing one of the above listed activities will help your team come together at a time where remote team culture is essential. So shake things up and try something new, and don’t make it a one-off. Consistency is key; if you preserve time for fun activities like these each week, you’ll soon notice a more positive atmosphere, increased performance and stronger relationships between teams.
Feedr can help you keep your employees engaged, motivated and healthy with our home delivery service. Treat your team to a surprise lunch, celebrate a birthday, or liven up virtual building events with some tasty treats + experiential packages with Feedr Home Delivery.
