When most of your employees are remote, fostering a sense of community can be difficult. However, virtual team-building activities for work aren’t just for teams in different cities or states; they’re also effective ways to connect with your virtual employees. 
We have jotted down some remote team-building ideas to boost morale and help teams feel closer. But first, let’s understand why an organization must invest time and resources in virtual team-building activities.
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Why is Virtual Team-building Important?
One of the most important reasons an organization needs to invest time and resources in virtual team-building games is that it can help the team work better together.
An excellent example of where online team-building games are crucial is when a group of employees are located in different parts of the world. If you have a team in other parts of the world, it’s hard for them to meet up physically and get together as often as they would like. This means that they will not be able to spend as much time together as they would like, which could lead to issues with communication.
Another reason an organization needs to invest time and resources in corporate team-building games for work is that it allows people from different cultures to communicate with each other more easily. It minimizes problems due to cultural differences between them. This will make communication more accessible than if they were not using technology.
Furthermore, team-building activities for work allow people who live close by but don’t know each other very well. It helps in knowledge expansion and encourages creative thinking.
You want your team members to feel like their contributions are valued and appreciated—which might mean conducting leadership activities, giving them extra attention when it comes time for performance reviews or bonuses. But if you don’t give them the chance to grow together as a group first, those rewards won’t mean much because everyone will feel like they’re part of a separate unit instead of being integral pieces of a single whole.
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Virtual team-building games help ensure everyone feels like they belong. They encourage communication within and among teams through video chat meetings or group chats where everyone can ask questions about projects or share ideas for improving processes.
All in all, virtual team-building activities for work provide employees with the skills they need to succeed in a world where work happens anywhere, anytime—and on any device. In addition, it helps boost employee morale, keeps teams connected across different locations, and encourages collaboration between people who might never have met otherwise.
So if you work for an organization that doesn’t organize virtual team-building games yet, why not start today? This article has some great tips for how you can get started!
What are The Best Practices for Virtual team-building Activities for Work?
Virtual team-building activities are one way to encourage collaboration and give people an opportunity to get acquainted with each other. Here are some best practices for doing so:
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1. Choose activities that fit your audience
If you have several people from different parts of the world, you might want to pick team-building activities for work that don’t require large amounts of physical activity. On the other hand, if your team is primarily young professionals who live in similar time zones, choose virtual team events that are more active so they can stay up late without worrying about waking up early for work the next day. Also, ensure you conduct virtual icebreakers if the participants aren’t well acquainted with each other.
2. Make sure everything is set up ahead of time
For corporate team-building activities, if your participants are in different locations worldwide (or even just inside other buildings), ensure everyone has what they need before starting — laptops, phones, or tablets with internet access, activity itinerary, and other required resources.
3. Involve everyone in the planning process
A successful corporate team-building meeting requires careful planning from all parties involved. Participants should be given ample opportunity to provide input about their needs and preferences before the meeting so that everyone feels comfortable participating fully during the conference.
4. Use technology wisely
The right technology tools can make all the difference between an effective corporate team-building meeting and one that falls flat. Here are some tips for making virtual meetings more successful:
Use video conferencing instead of just audio conferencing. Video-based meetings allow participants to see each other’s facial expressions, which helps build trust and rapport. It also allows them to see who is speaking, making it easier for everyone to pay attention and respond appropriately.
Provide visual cues during the virtual team events by sharing images or documents with participants via your conference call tool. This will help keep everyone on track by showing what you want them to focus on during your presentation or discussion. Use real-time collaborative tools for easy participation.
5. Ensure good internet bandwidth beforehand
The success of virtual team events greatly depends on visual and hearing cues. Therefore, having a decent internet connection is essential as it plays a crucial role in virtual collaboration. For example, if some people hear distortion or noise in the call, they won’t be able to follow along or participate fully in the conversation.
6. Set expectations
Before the virtual team events, ensure everyone knows their expectations. This includes what equipment will be needed, how much time they have, the participants’ guidelines, and other essential details about the activity location or logistics.
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7. Be respectful of other cultures and languages.
It’s easy to forget cultural differences when communicating in virtual meetings because everything seems ordinary compared to face-to-face interaction. But it’s important not to do this because it could lead to misunderstandings or hurt feelings among participants who aren’t comfortable speaking up.
What is The Different Types of Virtual team-building Activities?
Virtual team-building games are a great way to enforce a positive company culture. Additionally, it provides opportunities for participants to build trust, share knowledge and develop relationships. Here are a few corporate team-building activities you can explore:
1. Coffee Talks
Coffee Talk is fun team-building activity and a great remote employee morale booster. It’s based on bringing people together for an informal conversation, communicating ideas, and expressing thoughts, and everyone gets to relax and share some laughs. It is an excellent virtual team-building event and a way of getting employees who don’t know each other well acquainted.
When planning your coffee talks, ensure you set aside enough time for this activity because it may take more than an hour for everyone to get introduced and have the chance to express themselves. Some topics you can discuss include:
- favorite movies/tv shows
- books or authors
- favorite food
2. Mentorship Programs
Mentorship programs are one of the best corporate team-building sessions for remote employees because they allow you to learn from others. For example, your mentor may be someone who has been in your position before or is more senior than you but offers valuable advice nonetheless.
Did you know that 90% of workers who have a mentor report being happy in their job?
In addition, mentorships help build trust within teams because they allow colleagues to ask questions and have conversations without worrying about who can see what they’re saying. This is especially important with remote teams where there isn’t always face-to-face contact, so finding ways of building rapport is essential!
3. Get to Know Your Colleague Trivia Games
To set up this one of the best virtual icebreakers, you’ll need a timer that can be easily visible to all participants and a list of topics to choose from. These topics should be easy enough for anyone to answer but still challenging enough that there’s some suspense involved. Topics could include:
- Favorite movies
- Favorite book genres
- Favorite sports teams
Once the audience picks your questions, ask them one at a time and let each person answer without interruptions or discussion. Suppose the group has too many people to fit comfortably around one screen. In that case, you can use Google Sheets or another similar tool on your computer monitor so everyone can see what’s happening at all times.
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You can also write down the answers as they come in so everyone can see how close they are after each question is answered. This is one of the best virtual icebreakers and aid employee bonding.
4. Virtual Happy Hour
Virtual happy hour is an easy way to break up the monotony of the day while still getting work done. It’s also an ideal way to bring people together who might not interact with each other regularly.
A virtual happy hour is just as much about getting to know each other as hanging out together over drinks.
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The concept is simple: Employees gather online at a specific time and chat about whatever they want. The virtual happy hour doesn’t have to be tied to alcohol — you can use it as an opportunity to celebrate birthdays, share funny stories or catch up on work gossip.
5. Random Fact Friday
What is a random fact? A random fact is a fun way to end your week. It’s a little trivia that you can use to test your employees’ knowledge or be used as an icebreaker activity at the start of the week.
The idea is to pick a topic; one team member, followed by another, will share one interesting fact about it. The person who shares the most exciting fact wins!
How do you make it educational and fun? You can get creative with incorporating these into your workplace culture. You can try having teams compete against each other for points – whoever has the most points at the end of two weeks will be the winning team!
6. Team Lunches
When you work in a virtual team, there are things that you miss out on. For example, you can “see” your teammates from time to time via video chat or shared documents.
But there’s nothing like lunch together to break down barriers and make your team feel more cohesive.
Lunchtime isn’t just about food — it’s about bonding. It’s the perfect opportunity for you and your team members to spend time together while getting to know each other better. You can talk about personal interests, family life, and even past experiences working with other companies.
Bonus point: Of all the virtual team events, team lunches are a great way to understand your team’s culture and traditions!
What are the most engaging virtual team-building activities?
1) Digital Card Games
The best way to build camaraderie and team spirit is through a shared experience with your colleagues. And what better way to do that than through digital card games?
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These games don’t require much physical activity, so you can play them during your lunch break or at your desk. They’re also easy to learn and can be played by anyone in the office, regardless of skill level.
2. Virtual Campfire
Imagine that you are sitting around a campfire. You can feel the warmth of the fire on your face and smell the smoke in the air. The crackling of the wood is relaxing as you sit with your colleagues and talk about work.
This is what virtual campfires are all about — they bring people together in a way that feels like real life.
Virtual campfires create an environment where the entire team can feel together, even when they’re not physically in the exact location.
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A virtual campfire is a great way to build a sense of community and camaraderie in a remote team. Because it allows you to share stories and ideas around a virtual campfire in real time, everyone can be involved.
You can talk about anything from what went well this week, what didn’t go well this week, what they’re working on next week, or even catch up on the weekend’s events.
It’s a great way to break down barriers and get people to talk with each other.
3. Online Team-building Bingo
Online team-building bingo is a fun team-building event. It is a great way to get your team together. It is a fun and interactive activity that will bring your group closer. You can use this as an icebreaker or a way to get your team excited about a new project.
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The bingo game is played by calling out numbers, one at a time, until someone gets five in a row across, down, or diagonally. If the caller announces “Bingo!” everyone else stops calling out numbers, and the person who called it wins.
Online team-building Bingo has many variations, including traditional paper bingo cards, online versions, and even electronic versions that can be played on mobile devices. The main difference between these versions is how you play them: with paper cards or online boards; with a computerized game or without, etc.
4. Guess The Emoji
Guess the emoji board is one of the most fun online team-building games that teams of up to 10 team members can play. It’s a great way to get your team members interacting with each other and having fun simultaneously!
To start, each team member must choose an emoji they think best represents their personality. Then, the rest of the team will have 30 seconds to guess which emoji each person chose. Once everyone has selected an emoji, you can start playing!
The first player has to choose one of the emojis on their side of the board and explain why it represents them as a person. If another player guesses correctly, they take over for that round. If not, then the first person chooses again until someone guesses correctly. At this point, you’ll move on to the next round with that new set of emojis.
5. Can You Hear Me Now?
Can You Hear Me Now? is a fun and engaging online game that allows you to build your team’s communication skills. The game is based on the concept of improvisation; participants must describe an image so that their teammates can draw it accurately.
The game uses a random image generator to source a suitable image for each round, which will be displayed on a projector screen for all to see. The speaker then has one minute to describe the idea in their own words while the other team members listen carefully. The other players are artists and must draw what they hear without visual aids. At the end of each round, all participants vote on who best described the image accurately.
This team-building game is excellent for improving communication skills among your employees because it forces them to listen carefully and speak clearly without relying on visual aids or hand gestures. It also allows participants to practice their ability to improvise by using their imagination when describing something unexpected or unusual that they might not be familiar with previously (such as an odd-looking animal).
The game – Can you hear me now? – is also a great icebreaker for new team members. It is always a good idea to gently push the new members to participate.
6. Virtual Pub Crawl
This is a great game where you get to explore exciting websites. In addition, you can do a fun virtual pub crawl with your team members by joining a virtual meeting or conference call.
Everyone goes to an exciting website and chats about the content over a drink every 15 minutes. Here’s an excellent web page that explores the depths of the ocean to start with.
Conclusion
People spend most of their waking hours at work, so there is no doubt that you must feel like part of the team to succeed and be happy in your work environment. Virtual team-building exercises are a great way to achieve this goal.
So if you are a remote worker, manager, and/or company, why delay any longer? Try out some virtual team-building activities today and see your positive results!
Frequently Asked Questions
Virtual activities are any activity that takes place online. For example, online storytelling, knowledge sharing, or gaming. This includes both virtual games and virtual worlds, bulletin boards, chat rooms, social networks, and blogs. Virtual activities can be very addictive—they're simple to use, you can do them in your pajamas with a good internet connection, and they're always on.ypes of recruitment: internal (involves transfers, promotions, and re-hiring ex-employees) and external (involves job sites, agencies, etc.)., and email marketing to promote and sell products and services.
Virtual team-building activities are a great way to unite your team, even if you're all working remotely. Virtual team-building can take many forms — from video conferences and webinars to games. These activities can be a fun way to build trust and strengthen relationships among your team members, no matter how far away they are. The key difference between virtual team-building and traditional face-to-face events is that the former is designed for people who don't work in the same office or location. This means there's no need for travel or accommodation costs — just a computer with internet access!
Virtual meetings are often a necessary evil. They're usually more productive than in-person meetings, but they're also more difficult to manage and can be less enjoyable for participants. The challenge is to make virtual meetings as effective and enjoyable as possible. Here are five ways to do that:
1. Plan ahead with time zones.
2. Set the plan before the meeting begins.
3. Make sure everyone can hear one another.
4. Communicate clearly about the next steps after the meeting ends.
5. Have a precise end time that everyone agrees on before you start
Everyone must be on the same page, whether you're working as part of a team or independently. We all work remotely at Front, and below are a few strategies we use to stay in touch without all the traditional interruptions.
1. Never underestimate the power of recognition.
2. Collaborative virtual spaces.
3. Encourage breaks and work-life balance.
4. Virtual water cooler.
5. Growth and development opportunities.
Virtual teams are not easy to manage, but they can be highly effective. One of the keys to making them work is to keep your team members engaged. Here's how:
1. Hold virtual meetings that include all team members so that everyone has an opportunity to contribute.
2. Have a clearly defined purpose for each meeting.
3. Use technology well to maintain engagement.
4. Make sure you have the right equipment for everyone on your team.
5. Put consideration into scheduling meetings.
Allowing remote teams to grow together requires exceptional communication skills. Bonding with a remote team is a long process and a series of activities over time, but empathy and clear communication are crucial.
