The world of work has changed significantly over the last year, with many companies moving to fully remote work. With this new environment comes a new way of managing workers. As teams are physically separated, it becomes even more important for leaders to find ways to bring them together—and virtual team-building activities can make a big difference.
To offer ideas on what kinds of activities to plan, 11 members of Young Entrepreneur Council share their thoughts on the following question:
For remote businesses, what's one low-budget team-bonding activity leaders can do to bring their teams closer together?
11 virtual team-building activities that are affordable or even free
1. Standing weekly meetings
We have standing weekly meetings every Tuesday, and we use the first 30 minutes of this meeting for everyone to share personal updates. This way, we get a peek into what's going on in each other's lives and not just as a collective at work. —Carrie Rich, The Global Good Fund
2. Monthly informal virtual meetups
As a remote company, you can organize virtual meetups once a month and invite your team to participate in them. You can then organize different team-building games like “Guess Whose Desk It Is,” a personal fact-guessing game, picture-sharing rounds, etc. This gives your team members the feeling that they know each other even if they haven't met in person. —Josh Kohlbach, Wholesale Suite
3. Friday happy hours on Zoom
On Fridays, we get together sometimes to share a beer, coffee, soda, whatever! It's a time when we can just chat about nonwork stuff. We also have game night once a week, which has been great! —Jared Brown, Hubstaff Tasks
4. Team trivia with Kahoot
I'd recommend using Kahoot to build your own team trivia. Play it on Zoom with your team, and you can even make it more fun by getting personal questions from team members and then see how much people know about each other. —Nicole Munoz, Nicole Munoz Consulting, Inc.
5. Multiplayer gaming
You could try multiplayer gaming on company time. It may sound like a waste of time, but gaming does more than just build bonds between players. It also encourages creative thinking and strategy, and it might be just what your team needs to get recharged and relaxed enough to see a new solution. —Reuben Yonatan, SaasList
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6. Team quizzes
Team quizzes are great for getting people together and keeping people interested. Large group call situations often lead to some team members being sidelined. A quiz allows everyone to have some fun and you can even slip in the odd question related to industry-specific knowledge. —Ismael Wrixen, FE International
7. A virtual escape room
A fun team-building activity you can do with your colleagues is a virtual escape room. There are different ways you can go about conducting this, like whether you want to use an outside service or not. But it's a great way to pick each other's brains and have fun in a way that takes the focus off work. —Stephanie Wells, Formidable Forms
8. Music talks or jam sessions
Music is a great way to bond with your team. Discuss your favorite music or tell a story about a memorable concert over Zoom. This allows people to show each other their interests and helps develop relationships. You can also take it a step further and have a virtual jam session. Chances are more than one team member plays an instrument, so rock a cover tune, do karaoke, or hold a virtual songwriting session. —Shaun Conrad, Guitar Repair Bench
9. A virtual cookie decorating class
I'd recommend a cookie decorating class. One of our employees owns a cookie business on the side and she led our team in a virtual cookie decorating class. Everyone loved it and it was definitely a new way to break from our norm of virtual happy hours. —Kelsey Raymond, Influence & Co.
10. A quick expression of gratitude
We start every virtual standup call with each person saying one thing they are grateful for. That starts the meeting on a positive note, everyone gets a chance to speak, and we get to know each other a little bit better with each call. —Michael Barnhill, Specialist ID
11. "Let's Celebrate" posts
We have a new "Let's Celebrate" channel on Slack to organize birthdays, holiday gatherings online and other celebrations. It allows us to wish coworkers well on special occasions. In addition, we sometimes theme our Zoom calls to match certain holidays. This past Halloween, the managers dressed up and encouraged the team to dress up. This perked up spirits as people were working from home. —Duran Inci, Optimum7
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