Fun Games For Team Meetings – “As they say, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. This is especially true in the context of distributed teams,” says Megan Williams, HubSpot’s remote work and engagement program manager. Team building gives your team a greater sense of belonging. Most likely, you can imagine team games in your head: exciting team outings, fun outdoor activities or after-hours chats. But what does team building look like online? When your team members work remotely, it can be a small hurdle to facilitate team building without face-to-face contact. Williams notes, “It’s hard to build that same sense of belonging and commitment to a team when you’re remote. This is where remote team building comes into play.” While it can be difficult to figure out how to build team morale virtually, the task is not impossible. Remote team building games improve your team’s morale and sense of belonging, which is essential for your team’s overall productivity and employee satisfaction. Let’s get to them in the next section. Online Team Building Games When looking for ways to connect with your team online, Williams suggests assuming that everything is an option. This mindset combats limited thinking with games and opens up new realms of possibility. “That mentality has led to everything from remote yoga to remote holiday parties, and we’ve had a lot of fun along the way,” she says. So, with that in mind, let’s move on to the exciting options for building your team. Remote Team Building Games Remote MTV ‘Cribs’ Remote Work Bingo Mafia Happy Hour Emoji Stories Craft Pantry Challenges Book Club Pop Culture DIY Farm Trip Scavenger Hunt Dine and Learn Never Have I Ever Dance Party 1. Remote MTV ‘Cribs’ Work Like MTV On the hit show “Cribs,” you and your team can spend some time showing off your remote jobs. This game, inspired by the Help Scout team, is a fun way to explore your teammates’ workspaces. To give it a “challenging” aspect, have team members vote for their favorite workspace at the end, and the winner can enjoy bragging rights for having the most impressive remote work setup. 2. Remote Work Bingo Using the bingo template, create a bingo card and schedule a quick game as a “brain break” for you and your team. You can personalize it to fit your company and team like the one below: Ask your teammates to come up with ideas for bingo spaces to make it a collaborative process. You can offer a prize to the winner, such as an online gift card. Another plus is that bingo is easy enough to incorporate into a routine meeting. To make bingo work remotely, select one person as moderator. They would call out a random phrase and wait a few seconds for the players to find their card for that phrase. If a player has this phrase on their card, they will use a tool such as paint to mark that space. Once a player has marked enough spaces in a row, they will announce “Bingo!” in a video call and wait for the moderator to check their answers. If the row is vertical, horizontal or diagonal and matches the spaces, that counterpart wins. 3. Mafia Mafia is known by several different names and is often played by large groups. Essentially, the game is a “rather than” mystery-solving challenge. One of the players is a silent “killer” and it is up to everyone to find out who is the culprit. In the mafia, several roles must be assigned to maintain the organizational structure, such as “doctor”, “townsmen” and “detective”. The best part about the game? All this can be played through a video call. Click here to see the full version of the mafia game. At HubSpot, we’ve redesigned Mafia to fit the Zoom call. We used a combination of chat boxes, Slack, and off cameras to re-imagine the camp classics in a virtual environment. 4. Happy Hour One of the most fun remote team building events I’ve done with my team was a remote happy hour. It’s an opportunity for your colleagues to get together and connect outside of work, remotely. At HubSpot, we use happy hours to build deeper relationships with team members. At one point, we even held a virtual wine tasting, where participants brought a glass of German wine and listened to a colleague explain how to taste specific qualities and point out things that are not known about the wine, such as how to create it. Air in a wine glass. Participants can bring whatever beverage they choose (tea, seltzer, or other non-alcoholic beverages are encouraged), talk about what they brought, and enjoy the relaxed atmosphere. Download Free Company Culture Template Code your company culture with this free template. 5. Emoji Stories Using less than six emoji, start writing a story in an instant message thread or video call chat section. Then, one by one, your staff will add to that story using five more. You can continue until all teammates have a seat or until you run out of ideas. To get the ball rolling, here’s a potential story starter: ?⛈?? … What happens next to a neighborhood without power during a storm? 6. DIY Pantry Challenges Are your team members obsessed with shows like MasterChef or Chopped? Alternatively, do they enjoy YouTube cooking shows like Bon Appetit’s Gourmet Makes? If so, it might be fun to challenge your colleagues to create their own version of a popular cooking show or a tutorial on their favorite comfort food recipes! This can be done in a variety of ways, but to give it a “challenging” aspect, choose one dish that’s easy to make, like a pie melt or mac and cheese. Give your team a week to take their own version of the recipe, upload it to Google Drive, and choose a winner based on dish creativity. Cooking is a great way to express creativity and it is said that food often brings people together. Plus, leftovers mean there’s nothing to worry about when it’s lunch time! 7. Book Club HubSpotters are no strangers to book clubs. A recent book club we hosted centered around the theme of diversity, inclusion, and belonging. One of our colleagues chose a book on the topic and the participants talked about what the book meant to us and how we could apply the ideas presented in the book to create change in the workplace. This can be a recurring event or a one-off session, but the goal is to discuss ideas outside of team projects. This can be a nice break in your day to review a good book – whether it’s monthly or a few times a year. 8. Pop Culture Trivia What song did Britney Spears perform at the 2001 VMAs? In which fictional city does the sitcom Parks and Recreation take place? Unwind with your co-workers in a friendly game of pop culture trivia — 2000s style. You can ask your team questions or search for fun questions online. Appoint a moderator, divide your team into groups and start playing! 9. A walk to the farm, do you remember that walk with your classmates when you were a child? They were fun outings to explore and explore with your peers. Nowadays, the field trip experience is moving to an online platform, so young and old alike can enjoy these encounters virtually. For example, you could talk to a local farm to see if they would be willing to host a remote farm tour for your team. We’ve done this at HubSpot, and it’s a great way to connect with colleagues as you virtually fuss over those cute pigs or goats you see on screen. 10. Scavenger Hunt When was the last time you took a deep dive into your company’s website? If your answer is ‘never’, here’s your chance to challenge your colleagues. Select pages or tabs from your company website for you and your team members and design a group scavenger hunt. Split into teams or make it a solo venture. After 20 minutes, the person with the most points wins! An idea to practice hunting for the ball: “Find a testimonial from user X.” 11. Lunch and Learn RSVP to your team to join the webinar and learn a new skill. Alternatively, ask your colleagues to take turns hosting mini lunch and learn sessions for tips on how to perform work functions in an easier way. For example, if I were to host a session, it might be “How
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