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orking remotely does not necessarily mean working without a team, alone and isolated from the rest of your colleagues. This distance must be physical only, as communication must continue to be permanent and even closer than it would be in an office. There are also some team dynamics that can be done at a distance and that, in a way, create that informality and chillness that a meeting in the hallways of the company's office or coffee breaks with colleagues are able to promote.
Even when each team member is working from home, or anywhere else on the globe, team building activities are important. This type of dynamic, which can also be done online, is a way to keep employees connected, motivated and united. In addition, they are useful for developing soft skills that are vital for remote teams to be more effective.
These are some of the team dynamics at a distance that we like the most and that we advise you to take to your team.
1. Q&A games
The first thing to do is divide people into several teams and choose questions from different categories. They don't necessarily have to be questions related to the company or the roles that each person has, they can be questions that touch a little bit of all topics, from music to science, through sports or current news. The purpose of this dynamic is to encourage team spirit among colleagues, while having a fun and relaxing time. There are several studies and experts who argue that gamification is a very effective instrument to achieve these goals, namely increasing the involvement of someone or some group with the organisation or a certain purpose.
2. Two truths, one lie
In this online team building game, also widely used in onboarding processes, a chosen person must think of two true sentences about themselves and one false one. Then the colleagues must guess which sentences are correct and which one is wrong. To reach a conclusion, they can, for example, ask some questions, which can only be answered with “yes” or “no”. It's a simple game that can be useful for the first team dynamics at a distance, to “break the ice” and get to know your teammates.
3. Screen-gym
If, on the other hand, you want to have a physical activity going, we suggest that you organise online workout sessions. You just need to turn to an expert in the activity you want - it can be yoga, crossfit, pilates, dance and so on - and gather a group of people interested in doing it together. This is an excellent option for people to stay active, but also to break some barriers and possible inhibitions between colleagues.
4. Lunch (and learn) time
Here's another initiative of which we are fond: themed weekly lunches. You can choose one day a week when a team member gives a short half-hour or one-hour class on a topic that interests them. It can be a simple class in any language, personal finance, image consulting or any other topic. Start by checking what skills and interests your team has to share and start organising these lunches.
5. Virtual book club
Book clubs are another option. Choose a book, set reading goals over the course of a month, and discuss it via video call at the end of each month. It is a way of instilling the habit of reading among people, fostering curiosity for new topics and acquiring new knowledge, as well as creating relationships between employees who are part of the book club.
6. Donut
Donut is a Slack app that randomly connects two team members each week for an individual call (you can also organise this dynamic manually without using Donut). This is a great activity to apply across the company so that different teams can get to know each other. You can prepare in advance a list of fun questions that people can ask on each call, and let them chat in a relaxed way.
7. Travelling - from your desk
If you have something different and that really surprises people in mind, we propose a guided tour of a museum. Without leaving your desk, or even the sofa, you can “go” with your team to several places in Portugal: Queluz National Palace, the Museum of Fine Art, or the National Coaches Museum, for example. If you prefer to cross borders, you can visit the Sistine Chapel, in the Vatican, the Salvador Dali Museum, in Girona (Spain) or the National Museum of Natural History, in Washington D.C..
8. (virtual) Escape Room
There are also companies that create online games in the style of an Escape Room and that can be very fun group dynamics. The purpose of these types of games is to get teams to work together, valuing and celebrating each person's ideas, actively listening and encouraging discussion. As confidence builds, participants learn to ignore the fear of failure, gain the courage to speak up and share their ideas clearly. Through trust, self-confidence and courage, teams discover the successes that collaborative deductive reasoning can bring.
9. Team workshop
What about... a workshop with the whole team? The possibilities are immense, so we suggest that you start by figuring out people's interests to know how to adapt the workshop's theme. Storytelling workshops are always a good option, but a workshop on the importance of sleeping, disconnecting or working in an ergonomic work environment can also be interesting, with simple and practical tips that everyone can apply.
10. Happy hour
Despite not being on the office terrace, we can perfectly have the famous “happy hour”. Why not end working hours early on Friday and allow people to wrap up the week with a drink in hand and chatting, in a relaxed way, on one of the thousand and one video calling platforms that exist? Toast to new challenges and goals accomplished during the week!
