Having a team get together in person can be an effective way to bond, but without regular team building activities for remote teams implemented into your strategy, your employees’ productivity might decrease significantly. Hence, finding the best team building activities for remote employees that work best for your case is crucial for the success of your company. Here are some team building activities you can do to improve your remote team productivity.
Why Is Team Building Important?
Communication is one of the most important factors of a company’s success because communication that is kind, clear, specific, and sincere is what makes your team work well together. And, in turn, proper communication using the principles of Radical Candor — caring personally while challenging directly, can improve your employees’ productivity. By having your employees work better together, you can expect more creativity, increased sales and conversions, better organization and planning, and so on.
#1 Virtual Team Meetings
First of all, there are the obvious virtual team meetings. These are a must for any kind of remote team because they help you discuss everything with your teammates almost as if the meeting was being held face-to-face. To make your virtual team meetings more productive, make sure to:
• Plan everything beforehand. Write down all the points you want to discuss to make sure no topic gets forgotten or overlooked.
• Communicate the time to everyone. You don’t want half of the team to be late to the discussion. If not everyone lives in one time zone, keep that in mind when setting the time for the meeting in the first place.
• Check all the techs for possible issues. Moreover, ask everyone else to check their own tech to prevent possible interruptions.
• Explain to everyone what kind of behavior you expect of them. Nobody should interrupt each other and everyone should strive to acknowledge each other’s opinions – not just their own. Let everyone have their time to talk.
• Set a particular goal or aim for your meeting. Your team members need to know what the purpose of the meeting is and work towards achieving a certain goal.
#2 Virtual Office
One approach you can try is having a virtual or video chat office. When people feel like they’re in a work environment, they are more likely to stay focused and invested in their jobs. Consequently, making them feel like they are at the office can help your team work synchronously.
To create a virtual office, simply set up a video conference at the beginning of the day and let your colleagues join as they “come to work”. Keep the video conferences going until the end of the day when everyone can say goodbye and “leave the office”.
#3 Texting in Messengers
Perhaps one of the most efficient and fast means of communication is via messenger apps or messaging platforms. These come in all shapes and sizes, so there are many options to choose from. Obviously, professional programs like Slack are recommended.
As Chris Wood says, “Messengers are perfect for communication between remote team workers. The texts are delivered instantly while alerts can be set up to notify you when you have a new message. This lets you have such smooth communication that it feels like you are actually working in the office.”
#4 FaceTime Breaks
For teams that choose to message and emailing as two primary means of communication, it may be hard sometimes to get enough face-to-face conversations. Though you may be at home with your family, you will still probably want to see your colleagues and talk to them at least for some time to feel like you are actually working with real people.
This is when the FaceTime breaks can be particularly helpful. When the lunch break arrives, explain to your employees why setting up FaceTime calls and chatting for a while can be a great alternative for the usual coffee breaks they would normally get at the office.
#5 Celebrating Events
Though focusing on work might seem to be the best way to promote teamwork and build your remote team
, getting distracted a bit can help too. For instance, celebrating events that are important for your company will help you bring people together in a more emotional and spiritual way.
Your company’s birthday, your employees’ birthdays, various holidays, achieved milestones and other prominent days in the life of your organization are the perfect time for this. First, your team will be occupied by organizing the events. Then, they will be happy to get a break and celebrate together. It can even be as simple as a virtual movie night!
A word of caution, do not make these events mandatory. As Kim writes in Radical Candor, “Sometimes, though, when these events are introduced by management, they can feel both obligatory and forced— unintentionally undermining a culture of freedom and autonomy. When you do organize a social event at work, bear these warnings in mind: even non- mandatory events can feel mandatory. Sometimes, the greatest gift you can give your team is to let them go home.”
Or for remote workers, let them log off Zoom.
#7 Sending Gifts
Another way to bring more happiness to your team is by having everyone send gifts to each other. A lot of the time, people are willing to do it themselves just because it’s so enjoyable. But other times, you might want to make the process more organized (e.g. have everyone participate in Secret Santa for Christmas or New Year’s).
As Laura Sawyer puts it, “Everyone loves getting gifts, even if they are small. A simple box of chocolate can make someone’s day. That’s why encouraging gifting in the workplace can help you bring your employees together. If it is a remote team, virtual gifts can replace regular ones.”
#8 Team Workouts
Exercise is one of the most overlooked aspects of a healthy work environment. When your employees are sitting on one spot for hours, it is essential to have at least a few breaks specifically dedicated to working out.
Moreover, consider organizing virtual team workout sessions to encourage everyone to exercise together. It can even be just a simple dance session or some stretching. Discuss it with your colleagues and decide which type of physical activity is the best for your remote team.
#9 Day Roundup
Last but not least, remote teams need to have an end-of-the-day roundup just like any other regular in-office team. Like the virtual group meeting at the beginning of the day, this end-of-the-day video conference can help you confirm all the goals achieved during the day and set objectives for tomorrow.
Keep in mind that if it’s the end of the working week, you might want to discuss how productive the whole week was. In addition to that, talk about the next week or the next month depending on your plans.
Final Thoughts
To sum up, encouraging teamwork and creativity, using innovation, and building your team gradually are all important for the success of your organization. Start using the tips and techniques from this article to maximize the effectiveness of your efforts and improve the productivity of your remote team.
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Author Bio:
Gregory V. Chapman is passionate about researching new technologies in mobile, web, and WordPress development. In addition to the world of tech and innovations, science is his one more passion. Gregory is among professional dissertation writers whose goal is providing instant help in response to “term paper services reviews” urgent requests.
