We’ve all gotten pretty used to virtual meetings at this point in the pandemic. And for many businesses, a remote video call is the only opportunity to bring employees together regularly for company updates and team building. At Xenium, we hold monthly All Team meetings, and they look pretty different now than they did before early 2020.
One way to make virtual meetings more engaging is to get all attendees participating and contributing to your team meeting, especially those who may not participate when the focus remains on only a few “presenters.”
We’d like to share three ideas for team building that have worked well for us:
Team-Building Activity #1 (Remote)
Inspirational Video
A favorite activity that we incorporate into our monthly remote All-Team meetings is providing small groups a chance to break off and discuss an inspirational video that we show to the entire group.
The video is selected based on a theme that makes sense at the meeting (for example, December can be a particularly stressful month for many people, so we found a video that focused on ways to relieve stress). It’s easy to search YouTube or Google for themed inspirational videos on various topics.
After playing the video for the wider group, send 3-4 people off into breakout rooms for a brief discussion. It helps when you provide a specific question for each group member to answer. The breakouts give the discussion meaning and direction and encourage every small group member to respond.
We’ve found this activity to work well as a meeting kickoff as it gets everyone engaged and connected with coworkers before launching into a larger meeting.
SAMPLE VIDEO
SAMPLE QUESTION: Is there anything you need to let go of or get support with right now?
Team-Building Activity #2 (Remote)
Remote Trivia
This activity is a fun and interactive way to involve everyone – either by having attendees compete individually or as a team.
If competing as individuals, try using the Kahoot! application, which allows participants to answer the questions using their mobile devices. Kahoot! also displays all participants on a leader board to track progress in a public view in real-time.
If you choose to set up the activity with teams competing against each other (a great way to encourage collaboration and team spirit), send teams into breakout rooms with fillable forms or have them report answers in the chat.
Trivia can be THE meeting (trivia happy hour, for example), or it can be used as a meeting opener/closer or a segue between topics in a larger meeting. Either way, it’s a quick and easy way for team members to show their personality and engage in a little friendly competition. Questions can be found by searching the internet based on whatever topic you’d like.
Team-Building Activity #3 (In-person with no contact)
Rock-Paper-Scissors
Suppose your company has a hybrid or exclusively in-person work environment right now, and you want a safe activity (socially distant with limited close contact) —in that case, we have the perfect activity to share with you!
We’ve come up with a fun, team-oriented way to play Rock-Paper-Scissors that allows people to compete individually AND to cheer on their teammates, all from a safe distance and with no contact.
Step 1: Have everyone break out into pairs, facing each other from a safe distance.
Step 2: Pairs will then compete in a quick game of Rock-Paper-Scissors, with the winner beating the loser 2 out of 3 times.
Step 3: Once you’ve established a winner, the winner moves on to the winner of a nearby competition in the room, and the loser of your previous match follows you around, cheering you on.
Step 4: Repeat this until you are down to the last two finalists with their teams safely rallied behind them until a final winner is determined. It makes the game incredibly fun when the group following the winner they lost to cheers them on to beat their next opponent.
Award the winner a prize to make the stakes even higher (and more fun). Though, bragging rights are plenty, as we have learned.
Summary
Remember, remote meetings don’t have to be strictly business. While it’s a good thing to limit the amount of time spent on a Zoom call (to avoid Zoom fatigue), allowing for some aimless chatting and virtual water-cooler talk can be good for team morale. It’s much easier for an individual to chime in on a conversation with just a few people than trying to contribute to a discussion when 40-50 people are present (and usually only a few of those people are the ones doing the talking).
In this new virtual world, which many of us are continuing to navigate, it’s essential to strike a balance between business, fun, and opportunities for remote employees to connect with their coworkers.