How to Organize Team Building Activities During A Pandemic

One of the hardest-hit aspects of office life so far during the pandemic has been the inability to organize team-building activities as well as before.

Doing everything over the internet is not a new idea, but it has been a tremendous struggle to try and make sure that your team is getting to know one another.

The lack of relationship and team building in a real, live setting is frustrating because this is the easiest way to get people to meet and know one another.

While it is not ideal, there are still ways to work around this problem. Here is how you can organize team-building activities during a pandemic.

Video Games

It might sound unconventional and maybe a little unprofessional, but video games are actually being tapped into as a fantastic source for team building. Using video games as a team-building exercise lets employees see how one another reacts in real-time scenarios. It is essential to focus on games that have team-oriented tasks, like capturing objectives or solving puzzles. This allows them to figure out what roles they work best in and how to maneuver problems in applied settings.

It might seem farfetched, but the use of video games is not only fun for them but helps employees get to know each other. Plus, there are plenty of streaming platforms and mic-capable games so they can interact over voice or video chat.

Virtual Team Building Exercises

The classic go-to for a business to help develop their employees have always been with online or software-based team-building training programs. Now that it is harder to get them to work on it in person, the use of virtual exercises is much more important, and according to https://brightvisionevents.co.uk/team-building/virtual-team-building/, many of the activities are incredibly interactive.

Using virtual escape rooms or other team-based challenges helps foster strong bonds between workers and helps them use their problem-solving skills in more work-related applications than video games would.

Video Chatting

It’s simple, it’s cheap, and it’s effective. Getting to know one another by simply chatting over video programs is a good way to put names to faces and vice versa. This is likely the best way to start onboarding the employees before you dive into the real team-building exercises because it is best to understand who it is that you are sharing these activities with on virtual programs or what have you. Being able to connect with people begins instantly when you can recognize them, and it will help when you all venture back into the real office and get to see each other. As a boss, it is also important to start remembering these names as faces as quickly as possible as well.

Social Distanced Activities

While you can’t quite go back into the office just yet, you can still take advantage of social distancing. It might be harder now that winter is approaching for many, but if it is possible, heading outside for a good nature hike or sight-seeing tour can be a great way to garner information about the employees in a real-world setting.

As mentioned, it is really important to see how people act when they are in a group setting as opposed to just online. When combined with the use of virtual exercises, you can really help foster group identity to make a better cohesive team.

Weekly Contests

Everyone loves to win prizes, and there is undoubtedly more incentive when there is fun involved. Weekly contests are a good and straightforward way to allow you to provide some fun prizes (office pick for virtual activity, free lunch, etc.) and lets people flex their creativity in these events.

The contests can be the most creative costume, or best dressed virtual office wear, or funniest office joke. As you can see, they can be incredibly simple to implement, and they let employees get to see how everyone is outside of a professional setting. It is important that employees are able to express themselves, so the office culture is inviting and fun. This is a good way for you to encourage this kind of open and fun place for them.

Creating a great, cohesive, and fun workplace begins and ends with the employees themselves. They’re the backbone of the office, so they need to work well together as a team. Incorporating team building elements and activities is more challenging now that nearly everything has gone virtual, but it is not all for naught. Using the team building activities above helps foster a strong team dynamic for the workplace, virtual or not.