Virtual team building is an important tool that you can use to keep your team engaged, build strong workplace culture, and even boost the efficiency of how your team works. And, in an increasingly dispersed workforce, organizing fun team building activities is a key part of creating togetherness while working remotely.
We’ve compiled a few key considerations for planning your next remote team building activity. From figuring out logistics to choosing the best activities for your team, find out everything you need to know to plan a genuinely engaging and memorable team-building event.
Set a Goal
The best place to start? Set a clear, achievable goal for your team building experience. Having a thought-out idea of what you want to accomplish will help you choose the right activity for your team. Plus, you’ll be able to better measure its impact and success.
Maybe you have a few new hires you want everyone to get to know — this is a great reason to pick activities that have more of a team-building component, where people can chat and get to know each other. With a goal like this, consider including plenty of icebreaker questions, or host a game that involves everyone learning more about each other.
If the goal is to do some strategic planning or to make a decision on the company’s next steps, you might incorporate some brainstorming activities, puzzles, and games, to get everyone’s problem-solving skills and creativity flowing.
Whatever your goal is, knowing it clearly is the first step to planning an intentional and effective team building experience.
Know your team’s logistics
Once you have a good understanding of what your goal should be for your virtual team building session, the next step is to take a close look at logistics. Understanding the needs of your team will help to narrow down what type of virtual team events would be a good fit for your team.
Here are a few key questions to consider:
1. Is your team completely remote, or will some people be joining in from an office?
Consider asking your entire team to put their cameras on, even if some of them are together, to make sure everyone feels included and on the same page.
2. Is your entire team in the same time zone, or do you need to work around multiple time zones?
Happy hour might not make the most sense if that’s still in the morning for some of your team.
3. What big events and projects are coming up on the calendar?
Understand when your team might be busy with big work projects or holidays. Plan around those times to minimize distractions and make sure your team is engaged.
4. What are the tech requirements?
Plan on testing whatever software your team building event will be hosted on in advance to minimize any issues.
5. Do you need a host?
Whether it’s kicking things off or encouraging everyone to participate, having a specific person who’s running the experience will help make sure everything goes smoothly.
What type of activities should you choose?
Now comes the fun part — which virtual team building activities should you choose? No matter what you go with, at the end of the day, your event should be fun, engaging, and inclusive.
One option is to stick with the classics. Games like two truths and a lie or activities like icebreaker questions are quick and easy to explain to your team. Plus, these activities are simple enough that you can add them on to a meeting or even a larger team building event.
Another option? Get everyone together for a virtual happy hour (non-alcoholic drinks welcome!), a team lunch, or even a virtual movie. Depending on your team’s size and the goals of your event, having a way for everyone to chat in a casual and unstructured way can be a simple way to add value and build culture.
Remote team building doesn’t have to be boring
Go beyond the expected and plan a team building experience that’s truly exceptional and memorable. With Marco, discover extraordinary and one-of-a-kind experiences and elevate your team building event
With a wide range of virtual team building activities, treat your team to a coffee tasting experience that’ll teach them to brew the perfect cup, a mind-blowing virtual magic performance, a sushi-making 101 workshop, and plenty more.
Plus, you’ll have almost all the work done for you — events are curated, tested and hosted by Marco. So, once you take your pick, all you need to do is sit back, relax, and watch your team’s culture grow.
