February 04, 2021
Now more than ever, organizations are working remotely. Yes, the pandemic forced the hand of many employers to adapt quickly to a safer-at-home atmosphere and virtual workplace. But many organizations including Dropbox and Adobe, will be remaining virtual first moving forward. With the transition comes a dilemma for HR departments, business owners, and team managers. How to keep a workforce united, when everyone is working remotely?
Perfect for the virtual happy hours. There are an array of companies offering sessions where you and your team can mix up a cocktail or two with the guidance of a skilled mixologist or bartender. Your team will need to either make sure they have ingredients on hand to craft the cocktails. Or this can be part of the experience. Select a mixology kit and have it sent to the homes of your staff. Together you’ll be able to whip up some fun drinks and enjoy some laughter and sipping all while enjoying each other’s company on Zoom.
If you’re looking for employees to engage in problem solving and collaboration, trivia on Zoom may be the perfect platform. You can designate a manager or business owner to be the quizmaster and be the host of the game. Next create teams of 3 - 5 people to allow for collaboration and problem solving to come up with answers to the trivia questions. The trivia teams will relay their answers into the quizmaster who will keep score. At the end of the game, the team with the most points wins. Offering up prizes like Amazon gift cards can mix in even more excitement.
If your organization has recently achieved a milestone of hitting sales quotas, breaking revenue goals, or completing a project early, celebrate it! One way to do this is to arrange for a free lunch to be delivered to the homes of your employees. Block of time on everyone’s calendars and schedule what appears to be a typical meeting, be sure and make it mandatory. You can even be sneaky and put in a fake meeting agenda. Next you’ll want to use one of the popular meal delivery services like GrubHub or DoorDash to have the meals delivered. If you plan ahead, you can even ask your employees what type of food and/or restaurants they like best. This ensures they get a meal they’ll enjoy. During the lunch celebration, be sure to offer recognition to your team for the roles they played in the achievement. Allow everyone to participate by saying a few words about their experience in hitting the milestone.
Do you have weekly or daily team meetings? Try starting them off by introducing an icebreaker type of question that allows everyone to engage in conversation that has nothing to do with work. Examples of questions you can ask are:
These are kind of like questions you may hear on a first date. They work great to just get back some of the interpersonal conversation that used to take place in the office, that is no longer occurring with teams working remotely.
For managers it’s not as important which team building activities you go with, but that you’re doing something to keep your teams engaged. Employees pay notice and will certainly appreciate the effort. Try and keep the team building going on a regular cadence. If you go too long without any fun Zoom meetings, morale can suffer.
