Team Building 101: Can Team Members Do It Online?

Team building is important for any group that closely works together, such as in an organisation or a company. It forms bonds and minimises conflicts among members, which essentially helps everyone to function well together. Such cohesiveness boosts productivity and efficiency in a team that will eventually drive success in the organisation.

But how can members working remotely boost such bonds if it is seemingly impossible to meet physically?

This is where online or virtual team building comes in.

What is virtual or online team building?

Online team building activity is useful for organisations with distant members, such as those with employees working from home. It requires scheduling a meeting or an activity through an online conference app such as Google Hangouts or Zoom.

Yes, online team building doesn’t involve highly physical activities such as trekking and ball games. However, such type of team building can become efficient, especially when creatively handled by professionals. It creates an online bond among team members, which is essentially similar to its physical counterpart.

How does online team building become efficient?

An online team building session should possess few factors to work well. Yes, these are quite difficult to pull off, but a professional facilitator can largely help.

1. Suitable settings

Everybody needs to agree. Begin by deciding which online conference software to use. Then, agree on a time that is favourable for everybody. Note that remote members may have different time zones, especially for international groups. So, for example, think of hours when people are normally awake. However, be open for some compromise when needed.

2. Engaging

Similar to traditional team building, its online variation should keep the fire burning in the team. The thing is, it is quite difficult to accomplish when the members are in different places. They may have different distractions around, such as having some noise around the neighbourhood. It is easy to lose interest when away from an actual conference room, too.

That is why it is important to come up with interactive tasks for the event. A quiz game that allows two or more members to work in private chats is a good example. Or, pulling a popular figure as your motivational speaker, instead of a random guy that is uninteresting for the team.

3. Remarkable

Lastly, an online team building should create a remarkable effect on members. It should make them feel valued as a part of the team, so they would love to continue and work with other members after the event.

Another way of making a remarkable team building is coming up with activities for causes. For example, you may create activities that allow members to earn some points, and then such points can be converted into cash donations. It would be best, however, if the team agrees to the goal. 

Let your members enjoy a terrific team-building event!

A successful team building isn’t only fun and enjoyable, but it also creates long-lasting effects for the team. And having a team with remote members shouldn’t stop you from enjoying such perks. Find the best virtual team building facilitator today, and let them bring you an impactful event.

Author bio: Emily Stuart is a farmer of words in the field of creativity. She is an experienced independent content writer with a demonstrated history of working in the writing and editing industry.  She is a multi-niche content chef who loves cooking new things.