Virtual team building makes remote teams feel as tight-knit as office employees to support purpose, vision, and enthusiasm and grow as a company. The future of work is remote work, and when it’s done right, it improves employee productivity, creativity, and morale, psychologists’ research finds.
The number of employees who said they couldn’t concentrate at their desk in an office increased by 16%, and the number of employees who couldn’t access quiet places to do focused work when working in an office went up by 13%. Similarly, research has found that employees who worked from home were reported to have higher job satisfaction and reduced levels of burnout and psychological stress.
Bringing that teamwork and collaboration to the virtual world can be difficult, but it is not impossible. Also, virtual teams are increasingly growing because most people prefer to work from home. With this increase of remote working, companies mustn’t forget that these are real people behind their screens, and creating a solid rapport with one another can bring your team closer together.
What Is Virtual Team Building?
Virtual team building is essential because people have felt very isolated over the past couple of years. When a group is a part of the virtual team-building experience, they are getting to know their team, so the usual team bonding people complete in the office can be done virtually.
Why Is Virtual Team Building Important?
While returning to face-to-face work is slowly coming back into our lives, many companies are also looking at mixing in-person work with virtual work. Since this is happening, it is vital that every team member feels and knows that they are a part of a team.
A study found that “87% of remote workers feel more connected through the use of video conferencing”. So, to promote the use of video during team building activities. Icebreakers for remote teams are activities to start a virtual meeting involving everyone and making quick, personal connections with your remote co-workers. Use these virtual team-building activities and icebreakers to connect with your team better and conduct effective remote meetings.
Benefits Of Virtual Team Building:
The main benefits of virtual team building activities include:
- Supports Collaboration among remote employees
- Combat Loneliness because of working from home
- Increases Productivity
- Boost Team Morale
- Encourage Creativity and generate new ideas
- Improve Communication between team members
- Boosts Motivation to work during difficult times
- Supports Innovation Management
- Builds Strong Relationships amongst the team members.
- Reducing Stress and taking care of employee’s mental health.
Here is a list of 10 virtual games, icebreakers, and activities you can do with your virtual team to build that strong company culture. This list includes:
- free virtual team building ideas
- quick virtual team building games
- virtual team building activities for conference calls
- best team building activities for work from home
- ways to make virtual meetings fun
- online team building activities for conference calls
- fun virtual team games for work
Let’s get to it!
The 10 Best Online Games and Icebreakers for Remote Employees
Ice Breaker
This is such a classic game to complete in person that it just needed to be added to this list. Ice Breakers are a great way to virtually get to know your remote team. This activity can be done in two different ways.
The first way is to find an Ice Breaker list online that gives you a lot of questions to ask. On the contrary, have your team members answer questions themselves and send them to one individual. That person can print them out and cut them up to be picked from a hat.
Either way, it’s a fun way to get to know your team and learn a bit more about each other.
Two Truths & a Lie
Another game that is very popular in person (such as this one) may also be applied to the virtual world because it’s good for people to play games they’re familiar with. Have each employee think up of their two truths and a lie so that the other members can guess.
This game is excellent for introducing your team to one another and building that social connection. With so many different aspects of picking from within your own life, this game always makes people laugh and ask questions for clarification.
Virtual Scavenger Hunt
What is great about this game is that the teams are going to have to work together to find all of the items. Split your virtual team up and give everyone a list of things they have to see in their house. Have some fun with it! Please give them a specific task like finding a green stuffed toy or blue pencil. Then, do something abstract, like finding something with an eye on it.
After finding all the items, individuals can show their findings on the video chat, and their teammates can say whether or not that fits the bill. It’s a great way to have fun with a timer and for lots of laughs to be had.
Video Charades
Who doesn’t love a good game of charades? With the acting, jumping, and overall fun, your team will love this virtual Zoom game. Create a list from an online generator and privately message the individual with their topic on Zoom. Then, have them act it out for their team to guess, and voila, you have video charades!
This online team-building exercise can bring a lot of social interaction to your team. In addition, it will leave your team with new memories of one another, and they are going to be excited for the next game day.
Time Traveler
Everyone has thought about what life would be like in a different time period. So, first, have your team discuss which time period they would like to go to and why. Then, get them to properly explain everything about this time period and how they would even make a living, survive, or their goals.
This is a great way to introduce your team’s imagination into the conference calls because daydreaming is fun for everyone. You can even give bonus points to people who want to act out their time period!
Photo of Your Life Challenge
Creating a personal connection with your virtual team can be difficult because you are all apart. That is why it’s essential to show your personal and human side, not just the business version of yourself. Have each team member take a picture that sums up their life. Yes, this isn’t easy, but it can make them think a lot about themselves.
Afterward, have them write up a short explanation of why this picture represents them. You can post this in a group chat or do a short presentation during a video conference. Either way, this is one that people will enjoy because everyone is going to know a bit more about their colleagues.
Can You Hear Me Now?
This is an excellent twist to Pictionary. Every team member has a turn of being the Describer. The Describer only has three minutes to describe how to draw an item using only simple shapes. For example, if it was a car, then they could say that you have to draw a rectangle and have two circles side by side at the bottom.
Afterward, have everyone share their image. This is an excellent way to laugh with one another as your compare each other’s drawings. The Describer gets the point for every person that draws the correct item, and whoever draws correctly gets the point too.
Guess the Workspace/Refrigerator
Want a guessing game that is fun and thought-provoking? Have each team member take a picture of either the inside of their refrigerator or their workspace. Get everyone to send their photo to one person and post them all up onto a group chat. Allow your team some time to look at the images and figure out which picture is connected to which teammate.
This activity is a great way to try and bring each other into your home while still being private at the same time. It can also encourage your team to clean up their space before taking a picture, and they might be grateful for that.
Tiny Campfire
Everyone likes S’mores because they’re delicious. Send every member a little kit with a tea light, marshmallow, graham cracker, chocolate, and a toothpick if you have the budget. Pick a day where your team is going to have a campfire together and have them all set up in front of their workspace.
Take this time to share ghost stories around your tea lights while enjoying a S’more on the business. This is a great way to create memories together and to relax. With such a fun activity, your team is going to tell everyone about this idea.
Pancakes vs. Waffles
Pose the question to your team members: ‘Both pancakes and waffles are about to disappear from the universe forever. Which one should go and why?’ Your team needs to come to a unanimous decision on which one is allowed to stay and which one is disappearing. Once this has been decided, someone else can suggest another food or topic that is up for debate, like carrots.
This game can get intense quickly because people can nominate anything for debate. If they want to put love, humanity, or family up there, then they can. With such freedom to choose the next topic, it is sure to keep people talking and allow them all to get to know each other more.
You can more ideas for team building and icebreakers for remote meetings from the video below:
Are you looking for a remote job?
Team building activities, on the other also allow remote team managers to become familiar with every employee’s talents and skills, making for more efficient task delegation. Therefore, make sure you connect with your virtual team because you work together for most of the day.
Also, suppose you’re looking to join a virtual team or find any remote job. In that case, look at DailyRemote, find a remote position, learn about remote interviews, remote working tips, tools, and more, as work from home provides the ability to have a better work and home life balance.
It offers job seekers the ability to find a job anywhere in the world, so whether you’re looking in the United States, Europe, or Asia, there are options for you. Also, pick your skill to better narrow down which jobs you want to apply for. With so many different job postings, there is sure to be one for you to work the job you want.
Frequently Asked Questions
Some common questions to come up with for companies managing remote employees for the first time and are looking for fun remote team-building activities and games.
Why is Virtual Team Building important?
Virtual team building improves team effectiveness, leads to closer-knit teams and heightened collaboration levels, brings a team closer together, and creates a culture of psychological safety, which is essential for a team to be high-performing.
Best Practices For Virtual Team-building.
- Regular check-ins & constant feedback sessions with your remote teammates
- Provide trainings, workspace upgrades, wellness packages, and technology allowances
- Conduct employee wellness programs
- Conduct daily stand-ups and 1:1 meetings
- Encourage social interaction
- Set clear expectations
- Promote fun Watercooler Chats
How do you boost team morale virtually?
Virtual happy hours, coffee catch-ups, and other fun activities are easy to keep morale high when times are tough, and connectivity is low.
How do you make a virtual meeting more fun?
Breaking up the monotony of online remote meetings is essential to keep people from falling asleep, feeling awkward and to boost participation and team involvement:
- Let people take ownership
- Keep meetings short and on-task
- Play games throughout the meeting
- Utilize interactive features on Zoom etc
- Use fun quizzes, trivia, and icebreakers
- Incorporate real-world objects
- Conduct fun interactive polls
How do you motivate your team virtually?
- Align the remote team around the company goal so that everyone understands how they impact it.
- Create incentive programs to attract employee participation in remote team activities
- Provide the team with all the required remote tools
- Create and foster a growth mindset.
- Never miss a way to increase communication among teammates
- Introduce recognition and employee awards program to boost motivation
- Address trust issues by interacting more with remote employees.
Tools for virtual team building.
- Virtual Escape Room
- Squad Squabble Virtual Icebreaker
- Plop Quiz
- The Team Quest
- QuizBreaker
- Water Cooler Trivia
- Team Building Slack Extensions like Donut
