Top Tips for Successful Virtual Team Building Activities
Virtual team building activities can do wonders in strengthening the bond of all team members that will then translate to better work outputs and improved productivity. Check out the following to unite and fire up your virtual team and make them work together in a good and favorable environment:
Develop Good and Positive Habits
The success of a virtual team revolves around communication. Teams whose daily culture involves conversations and personal engagement tend to be more successful. Virtual team building activities that are interactive and collaborative also tend to be more effective.
While you can always connect your team through scheduled conference calls, another approach can work better. Scheduled meetings only make up a quarter of the collaboration of successful teams, with the rest happening in smaller groups in a more spontaneous way.
The recommendation here is to ask colleagues using instant messaging to talk about a problem or idea for a minute. Afterwards, talk over the phone. This is how it was done while working together in the office so there is no reason for virtual teams not to do it.
Establish Virtual Team Spirit
Today’s managers of virtual teams are like cheerleaders as their job involves rallying the players and showing enthusiasm. Feeling excited and having fun can make personal bonds stronger and boost morale at the same time. But, since you cannot hire a mascot or wave around pom-poms, how will you build virtual team spirit, then?
First, tap into the lighthearted nature and creativity buried into your members’ business minds. You can celebrate events or special days, for instance. You can encourage them to share photos, memorabilia, or stories of these events. You can also plan activities where everyone will be involved. You can initiate conversations, too. This is one of the best ways for building team spirit and team. Your virtual team building can involve having meaningful conversations where some personal details can be revealed.
Bridge the Gap
As far as virtual team building is concerned, among the biggest challenges of virtual team managers is the one that is most obvious. This is getting a team to strengthen and bond when it is rare for the members to spend time in the same room. It is important to bridge this gap and form a strong and solid company culture. Some of the things you can do include the following:
- Pick the right tools to use.
- Make engagement an expectation.
- Bring your team members together.
- Encourage the involvement of the community.
Virtual team building activities are no doubt here to stay as remote work is on a steady rise across different industries. With careful planning and the use of the right strategies, you can be sure that your virtual team will stay inspired and motivated with the willingness to grow and improve. And once your individual virtual team members become better, you can also expect that your organization or company as a whole will enjoy the benefits of these positive changes.