With remote working here to stay in some shape or form, how does this impact the way we interact, socialise and network with our colleagues?
For many companies the emergence of a remote work culture over the last months meant putting in extra care to ensure everyone remains connected. This was often done by adding positive, friendly and fun interactions as our personal and professional spheres increasingly started to merge during lockdown.
Now, with some gradual return to office spaces, these team-building activities are more important than ever in helping us adjust to the new normal.
We spoke with Kate Healy from Virtually Together recently as we considered these challenges for managing remote teams going forward. The team building company specialises in connecting teams virtually with fun, engaging and interactive activities, that are designed to be hosted on video platforms. This means that whether you’re dialling in from your home or the office, everyone can be a part of the same experience.
Question: How can you keep team spirit alive and thriving in these uncertain times?
Kate: Empower your social committee to organise at least one virtual event each month. These can be pre-planned to make the most of key calendar moments with themed events such as a Halloween Murder Mystery night, a Cooking Class to celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas Wreath Making Workshops ahead of the holidays. These activities will likely attract different people each month, making it a great platform for people to socialise and enjoy new experiences together.
Question: What suggestions do you have to encourage networking and other unconventional team building ideas?
Kate: Look at activities which are either completely interactive or have smaller group sizes. Our Escape Room Game is perfect for this, as although we can host up to 100 people at any one time, the wider team get split into smaller groups of between 4-8. You then have 60 minutes in this smaller group to solve 7 cryptic puzzles and ultimately ‘escape’ from the room. It’s fabulous to share that moment of victory and accomplishment with people who you may not have interacted with before.
Question: How can companies recognise and reward remote teams?
Kate: You need to have a hybrid or virtual party of course! There are a few ways of doing this. You can either have the entire company together on the same event, or you can give your employees a choice of activities to do.
A popular activity combination is a Magic Show followed by a Cocktail Masterclass. As every attendee shares the same experiences, they can then discuss how incredibly mind blowing the magic was and how you’re going to make Mojitos more often!
Otherwise, it is also possible to give your employees a choice of a few activities to do such as a Wine Tasting, Chocolate Truffle Making Workshop or a Painting Masterclass. They are then empowered to choose something that they are interested in. You could always then bring the group together at the end of the evening with a live DJ party to wrap up the night.
Question: How can remote teams generate donations for fundraising as a team building idea?
Kate: If your team would like to raise money for a good cause, a Virtual Casino Game is a great option. Everyone is given fake money to play with throughout the event. Why not sell tickets to the value of this amount? Then, if people run out of money, they can make a live donation to a fundraising page to buy more chips. We can also offer this with Virtual Horse Racing too!
Visit Virtually Together for more innovative team building ideas.
Take a look at Church House Westminster’s Virtual Events and Hybrid Events Venue. Our in-house Audio Visual team can help with Webcasting, Video conferencing, Live streaming, HD recordings for on-demand viewing and Live event broadcasts.
For more information please do get in touch via our contact form or give us a call on 020 7390 1590 to discuss your event.