July 7, 2020
Virtual Team Building Ideas
Most of us have adjusted to working as a virtual team by now from a business perspective but what about from a social perspective? Even with some offices gradually opening up, on any given day an office team will find that they have team members working from a variety of different locations and they still need to connect virtually on a regular basis. This week I am sharing some fun ways to connect with your team no matter where you are working from.
• Joke of the Week- share the load with each team member taking a week to share a joke. Here is one: What is the animal mascot of COVID-19? The raccoon because he washes his hands often, wears a mask, and if you are creative the letters in his name spell “corona.” He is also pretty good at social distancing coming out at night when others are home in place.
• Best Pet Photo- Have each team member share a photo of their pet(s). You can see a picture of mine above.
• Story Time- Use a chain reaction for the entire team to create a story that makes some sense. Reminds me of the old game “telephone.”
• Emoji- Have each team member share their most used emoji and let everyone guess who submitted it.
• Let’s do Lunch- Have a virtual themed lunch with each member bringing (and eating) an assigned dish while visually enjoying the other dishes!
• Take Your Meeting Outdoors- Encourage each team member to join in Zoom from outdoors or with an outdoor virtual background.
• Scavenger Hunt- design a hunt that everyone can do around their own location and have them either bring the item or a picture to share. First one done wins-but make sure they have all of the evidence!
• Show and Tell- Have each team member pick an item from their office (wherever it currently is) and share it with the group including why they chose that item.
• Water Cooler- Have an open meeting where everyone is encouraged to talk about how they are doing, where they are going, or anything else they have planned this summer. The goal is to simulate the water cooler discussions at the formal office.
• Photo Contest- Have each team member send you a picture from their childhood. Post them like a game and let everyone match the name to the picture.
• Bucket List- Have each team member share three things that are on their bucket list to do in the next two years.
• Baking Contest-Send each team member the same recipe and have them make it and post a picture of it. You could even use some of the guidelines from Karen Blakeslee on virtual foods judging!
I hope each of our KSRE office teams will take some time during the next several weeks to try some of these ideas wherever you find yourself working from. All work and no fun is not the way to deal with our current times!