When was the last time you had a friendly conversation with your coworker? It is crucial to spend time socializing with your employees especially while many work from home. Teambuilding activities, even if they are conducted online, provide staff with the chance to learn from each other, improve their problem-solving skills, spark creativity, break the ice between members, and simply set a warm and trustworthy atmosphere within the group. We collected the best teambuilding practices that can be held online to maintain a connection with your employees during times of uncertainty. Choose the ones that seem to fit you and try it out with your team!
Teambuilding is a way to create a strong and successful group of workers who are united by common goals and values. Moreover, these activities are a vital investment in a company's future. Such events enable workers to get to know and engage with one another and help shape corporate culture, both of which can improve productivity.
Here is the list of the five most popular community-building activities for online engagement with your staff.
"Mafia," which is played all over the world, is an entertaining cooperative game that promotes interaction and collaboration. It's a perfect way to get away from your daily grind by concentrating on the players. And "Mafia" is a great way to meet new people at work. "Mafia" is a team game in which players experience a war between criminals and law-abiding city citizens.
The roles are assigned in random order at the beginning of the game using a regular or special deck of cards. During online games, it is better to use special apps for certain games and in this case, the Mafia mobile application will randomize your roles, so you don’t need to use actual paper cards. For example, teammates are in a Zoom video call with all cameras on. After entering the video call each person should rename his/her screen name to a game nickname and choose the player number. Then everyone closes their eyes and the host of the game calls out the person’s number and shows the player's role on the screen, repeating this with all members.
Some players are assigned to the role of law-abiding civilians, led by a sheriff with special powers, while the others are assigned to the mafia. Each team's objective is to recognize all of their opponents and remove them from the game.
The team traditionally clarifies who is who, after the game. The game continues until either the mafia is gone, or until the people uncover the mafia.
If your team is not new to each other and has already been working together it is still never too late to get to know each other better and break some insecurities between coworkers. There are plenty of different icebreakers on the internet, so you can find the most convenient format for your team. These games can be done in both online and face-to-face events and can involve physical activities or just group discussions. For example, the Bucket List Challenge. This is the best game to play online! It does not take a lot of time and does not need extra preparation work. Simply, when all members will join the video conference, give them around five minutes to think about the things that they would love to accomplish during their life, and then each employee shares what's on their bucket list. This activity helps you learn more about the dreams and goals of your team outside of the working field. If some members have things in common that they want to do - challenge them to do it together!
As we transfer most of our activities in a virtual space, physical exercises can be conducted online too! Set a convenient time for your employees a couple of times in a week and do some stretching together! For each training session members can prepare their favorite exercises and moves or even lead the whole practice for others. You just need to have a little bit of space in your room, a laptop with video call,s and a yoga mat. There is no need to have professional, hard training, just use this time to move and stretch your muscles as well as enjoy informal communication with your coworkers.
Get to know your teammates better by sharing your hobbies and interests! Organize a video conference where workers can teach each other their skills and share some knowledge on a specific topic. The format of this online activity is totally up to you. For instance, it might be conducted as an actual workshop, where someone will show how to do something on camera, then another team member will try to repeat it (like cooking, painting). It can be a training/lecture with an invited speaker on a topic that is most related to your company or your team. It is common to discuss issues about mental health, burnout in the workplace, time management, cultural diversity and so much more with your employees. Find an expert, professional, or field that is interesting to your coworkers and plan a lecture and discussion altogether.
Codenames game is perfect for team building and it makes players bond and understand one another, as well as show their leadership skills. The players are divided into two equal teams, then each group chooses the captains. A key is written in the upper left corner of each online game. Captains view the code names in the Table of Captains. They are available in four different colors: red, blue, white, and black. For step one of the captain, it is important to describe as many color code names as possible for the team, so members could guess the name. For instance, if the captain has to clarify the term "wing," he might use the code "bird 2" which includes an interpretation and the number of code names assigned.
They don't have to see the colors of the words, all they have to do is comply and guess the captain's code names. Simultaneously, participants must avoid unintentionally opening the words of the opposing team or the score will be awarded to the opposing team. When you open a white word, the opponents take their turn, and if you open a black word, the game ends in a loss. The team that cracks all of the code names first is the winner.
Since it is light and enjoyable, playing these games helps to alleviate awkwardness within the workspace. It's also a fantastic way to get to know one another, particularly when it comes to topics that aren't well known. Organizing fun activities, online games, lectures or discussions binds the team together, helps coworkers learn more about each other, and increases productivity and a pleasant work atmosphere in the office!
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