What Is Virtual Team Building?
Virtual team-building activities are online group activities intended to foster better camaraderie and collaboration amongst remote teams. It takes extra creativity and engaging activities to build a strong team virtually, and whether your teams are entirely remote or only meet virtually in some cases, virtual team-building exercises can be invaluable to creating functional working relationships.
For a team to function efficiently, its members must respect and feel a sense of responsibility toward one another. Building your team involves fostering a sense of community and spirit that exists not just in the workplace but out of it, as well. In this blog, we’ll walk you through some tips and tricks to help you make the most of your virtual team-building activities.
Why Is Virtual Team Building Important?
In today's world, many teams have shifted to fully remote or hybrid in-office schedules, which means we're all seeing a little bit less of each other. Losing the small moments throughout the day—from coffee cart chats to quick syncs at someone's desk—can take a toll on a team's attitude, performance, and sense of community.
A team won’t perform efficiently or effectively if its members are not motivated. It is important to actively cultivate relationships among your virtual teams so your employees keep their spirits up and continue to look forward to doing their jobs.
Who Can Virtual Team Building Help?
By taking the time to build your team and create a fun yet effective work culture, you are not only benefitting yourself and your fellow employees but the entire organization. Here are just a few stakeholders that benefit from virtual team building.
Managers
If you are a people leader, you know firsthand that a team that gets along well accomplishes much more than a team that must constantly move past disagreements. If you take the time to build your team, much less time will be spent on conflict resolution down the road. Instead, your team members will have the tools to swiftly resolve any problems that arise and find a solution.
Team Members
If you like, appreciate, and respect your coworkers, you feel more obligated to do well at work. However, if you don’t know your coworkers well, you may not feel the same sense of responsibility towards them and your work. By building a strong, collaborative team, you can ensure team members feel a sense of accountability toward one another that will not only create a more enjoyable work environment but will result in higher quality work.
Executive Leadership
Sometimes, especially at a larger company, it can be difficult to recognize that your small team is contributing to the organization’s success, as a whole. However, it is important to recognize that each team adds great value to an organization, and a cohesive team adds even greater value.
Imagine if a company has five teams. Three of these five teams don’t communicate well, have internal conflicts constantly, and don’t produce work on time. This affects the other two teams, because they cannot complete their work without the previous teams’ contributions. Executive leadership then must explain to external stakeholders why the company is moving slowly. The poor management of just one team affects the entire organization.
If your team has a strong sense of community and works well together, this directly benefits your company’s executive leadership when your team’s work is completed in a timely and top-quality manner.
Clients and Customers
Your clients and customers will love working with your team if you communicate well and respect one another. Gaps in communication, separate email chains with differing information, or awkward meetings are all red flags that can leave your customers or clients feeling like they may not be in the best hands. Ensure your team is aligned on the best ways to communicate with customers, approach team meetings with clients, and present a united front.
Tools for Successful Virtual Team Building
With so much technology available for virtual meetings, it's important to carefully evaluate the features you need in your virtual team-building event tech.
Virtual Team-Building Event Platform
First and foremost, you'll need a virtual team-building platform that allows you to get your employees together online. Depending on the format of your team-building activities, this might include a presentation-style event using a virtual event platform that allows attendees to move into breakout rooms for smaller group discussions and activities.
Live Engagement During Virtual Team-Building Events
To help your teams feel more connected during the online experience, make sure they can engage as much as possible with each other and your content during the event. Attendee engagement can include live chat, Q&A, polls and games, and surveys.
Mobile Event App for Improved Connections
Having a mobile event app dedicated to your team-building event is a wonderful option to help employees keep track of their event schedule, connect with team members, learn more about each other with personalized profiles, participate in games and polls, and access on-demand content.
Post-Event Survey Platform
Consider using a post-event survey platform to collect feedback and suggestions for future team-building activities, insights learned from the event, and ideas for team growth.
Virtual Team-Building Ideas
Looking for some virtual team-building ideas for your next team-building event? Check out the suggestions below!
1. Mobile App Gamification
With your team’s mobile app, create fun games to keep your team members engaged throughout the event. For example, create a scavenger hunt where your team members must take photos of items around their remote workspace. Set a meeting time for the end of the day to share your photos and see which team member checked off the most items. Here are some ideas of things to add to your scavenger hunt:
- Your favorite coffee mug
- Your favorite at-home work buddy (pet, family member, friend, etc.)
- Your lunch
- Your remote workplace set-up
- Your agenda book/calendar
2. Polls and Quizzes During the Event
Break up longer meetings by including fun, non-work-related poll questions at various points during the discussion. Here are some fun questions to ask your team:
- What is your go-to work drink?
- What is your favorite afternoon snack?
- Would you rather go to the beach or the mountains on your next vacation?
- What is your favorite movie/TV show?
3. Team Happy Hours and Coffee Breaks
If you want to set aside time to bond with your team outside of work, a happy hour or coffee break is a great way to do so. Schedule time after your team-building activities for attendees to grab a drink of choice and stay online together to talk about their day and learn more about each other.
4. Team Board Game Night
Similar to a happy hour, schedule time for your team members to play games online together. Find a virtual streaming provider that allows you to connect in small groups, and hop onto an online gaming platform to play games together. Make sure the game you choose can be played well virtually and is easy to learn for those who have not played before.
5. Team Training Study Session
This idea isn’t as “fun,” but it is a great way to focus on professional development. Turn this opportunity into a team-building activity by creating a team study session. For example, if your team wants to become certified in Cvent’s venue sourcing solutions, set aside an hour once a week dedicated specifically for your team to study together for the certification exam. This is a great way to show your dedication toward one another, your careers, and your professional development.
The Rewards of Virtual Team Building
We spend so much of our lives working, which means if we're unhappy, unmotivated, or unable to work well with our teams, it will take a toll on more than just our professional lives. By setting aside time for virtual team-building activities, organizations can help ensure their employees are not only more productive but are enjoying their work as much as possible.
