How to team-build in a virtual office environment…
Tags: Team Building, Teamwork, Activity, Technology Trends, Virtual Office

Team-building activities bring back reminiscent memories of the days of yore, when a company would squash into a hotel conference room and listen to a motivational speaker try to energize the team.

You may be thinking to yourselves… What about remote and distributed teams? It would be a rather difficult event to organize, especially in the current climate and just think of the flight prices…

Let us stop you there.

Just because your workers are able to work from anywhere does not mean that you have to sacrifice important team-building activities.

As a remote first company, at Wurkr we know a thing or two about virtual team-building. We have drafted a list of our favourite remote team-building activities that you can do with your team in your Wurkr.io virtual office!

Location, Location, Location

It must be noted that in-person communication is easier, quicker and often more efficient. Although that has something to do with speaking face-to-face, it is also due to our interactions with our environment. Online meetings with a grid of passport photo like faces can feel off putting and artificial. Instead, why don’t you show your coworkers your view? Not, only will you be able to see some foreign sights, but you will also be able to learn more about and connect with your coworkers.

This could even be a fun icebreaker before a meeting with external members. Show them your view and have the other participants try to guess where you are currently situated. This could also include *fun facts* about your location, helping you remove any pre meeting awkwardness.

Let’s take this image as an example… This is a town in the land of springs and elves… Any ideas where that may be? Check out the answer at the end.

2. “Virtual” hotdesking

In a physical office, you would be well acquainted with your coworkers’ desks. There is so much to learn about your team through the items at their workstation. This is unfortunately missed in a virtual office environment.. Or is it? What about a desk show and tell? Give your coworkers a tour of your desk or even just show off your workstation must-have. Not only will you learn more about your coworkers, but you may also pick up some remote working tips.

3. The ol’ Classics

Team-building exercises often take the form of a variety of games. Despite not being able to practice your trust-and-fall exercises in the virtual office, there is still room for a variety of other classics. Take 2 truths and 1 lie, for example. You could dedicate a session going around the room and guessing which of the 3 facts is the lie.

You’ll be surprised about how many interesting anecdotes your team will have about meeting celebrities or climbing Everest. In addition, this is a great way to learn about how your coworkers think and the more times you play it, the easier it will be to spot when someone’s lying.

4. Coffee Breaks

Any Wurkr social media follower will know that we love our team coffee mornings. These moments are great at scheduling in non work related chats. By setting aside 15 minutes a week, you talk about what you did last weekend and solidify working relationships.

If coffee isn’t your cup of tea, any beverage will do. Or if you want a longer session, how about doing a virtual lunch or cook-a-long. By using Wurkr’s Screen sharing feature you could all follow the same recipe and have the same meal.

These tips are just the start of an endless list of virtual team-building activities for your virtual office. Nonetheless, without an “Office in the Cloud”, it may be hard to carry out some of these activities. So, allow your workers to team-build whilst working from anywhere by creating your own virtual office space today at https://app.wurkr.io/public/user-signup !