Corporate team building: 10 activities to do online

Remote and/or hybrid working are destined to be part of our professional lives. Among employees, there are those who appreciate the flexibility of smartworking, but there are also those who suffer from the loneliness and coldness of working from home, especially if they are new hires. For everyone, then, there are moments of decline in motivation and consequently team spirit and productivity of the working group. This is why it is essential to include team building activities in company training. These are informal moments that, if structured in the right way, transform games of mutual knowledge and other group activities for adults into a source of well-being for employees and for the company. These are some ideas for corporate team building.

1. Icebreaker games

Remote group dynamics games always open with icebreaker activities. Even if employees have known each other for a long time, it's always good to give a personal dimension to your work to cement relationships even more. A videoconference might open with a personal photo chosen by all employees, who take a few minutes to show it to their colleagues. A trip, a volunteer experience, an object can tell a lot about themselves and promote mutual understanding.

2. Work in pairs

When the workgroup is very large, employees can be encouraged to spend a few minutes videoconferencing with a random colleague. The trainer can assign each person a buddy to talk freely with or to do a task as part of a blended training course.

3. Listening skills

One of the most popular team building games online, is a kind of Pictionary with geometric figures. One of the participants is given a random figure by the trainer and must give instructions to another participant, the artist, who must listen carefully and draw. The rest of the group will have to try to guess the figure. Listening skills, communication and a common goal strengthen the group. Since this is gamification, points and prizes are always present!

4. Sales competition

This activity can be part of sales training, or just for fun in a team building session. The trainer will have to use all his wit and irony to present some very unique (and unlikely) items that employees will take turns trying to sell to their colleagues. The aim is to entertain.

5. Remote lunch

The lunch break or the end of a hard working session can be shared with colleagues. It is not always necessary to be physically in the same place for a good lunch. If you want to add a challenge to the most imaginative drink or dish, gamification does the rest.

6. Solve a crime

With an online course creation tool and a learning management system (LMS), you can prepare little clues throughout the week that will lead employees to solve a crime at the end of the month. It could be an incentive to complete eLearning training modules and win the clue to solve the case at the next video conference.

7. Guess the desk

Once team members have spent some time together it might be interesting to see how well they actually know each other. One of the adult get-to-know-you games you can play is to take pictures of your desk, fridge or car and guess whose it is. Each employee will be given a picture and will have to guess from the details, which colleague it belongs to.

8. Society games

From remote you can play Risiko, the Game of the Goose or Bingo, perhaps personalizing them with actions and situations taken from your sector of interest.

9. Speed Race

A challenge to colleagues always increases the level of involvement in training, especially when there are drops in concentration and you need a break. Some of the simplest challenges you can do are, for example, finding information online to share in the chat room, typing words into the keyboard as quickly as possible. The winning team may get a prize.

10. Role-playing in videoconferencing

The weekly videoconference meeting could become a team-building game by assigning roles to employees. One could be the technical problem solver, another the meeting transcriber, but not only that. Others, surprisingly, could play the role of "naysayer" and "motivator," either drowning out or welcoming new proposals with enthusiasm and a bit of comedy.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator