Building Strong Bonds Remotely: Fun Ways to Connect a Remote Team

In today's business world, more and more companies are having their employees work remotely. This means people can be flexible with their work, which is good, but it also brings some problems. One big challenge is ensuring that teams of workers far away from each other can still work well together and get along. In this article, we will look at ways to help teams bond and work together nicely, even when working from different places.

What is a remote team?

A virtual or remote team is a group of colleagues who are geographically located in different places and can interact only with the help of special tools, such as instant messengers, task managers, etc.

How to build a strong team?

Building a successful team requires effort. Remember that with time and effort, you'll learn how to assemble your dream team. Keep your objective in mind: bringing a remarkable collection of people together to achieve a common goal. Check out the list of the below-mentioned team-building activities to build a strong team.

Hiring

Employees are the heart of your company, which is why it's so important to take the recruitment process seriously. It is important to hire people who can work effectively whether they are at home or in the office. If possible, you should personally interview candidates. This will allow you to better assess candidates' communication skills, their behavior, and their body language. If candidates live nearby, invite them to the office or other suitable place, and if they cannot come, arrange an interview using Skype, Zoom, Troop Messenger, or another video conferencing tool.

Monitoring

Trust is important, but don't give up on monitoring workflows. We rely on the following things:

Project management. You can use various project management software to keep track of tasks and keep employees accountable for their completion. This allows you to be sure that no project is lost and that everything will go according to plan.

Building culture

Nothing contributes to building a corporate culture like quality time spent in personal communication. Ultimately, the success of a remote team will depend on your ability to create a coherent work culture that is both enjoyable and rewarding to be a part of. Most importantly, so that employees communicate not only during the working day but also with pleasure on other occasions, arrange unusual team buildings that are suitable for almost any remote team. Here are some ideas.

1. Online Games

Games that can bring employees together in a virtual space become a valuable means of strengthening team solidarity. Virtual worlds, such as World of Warcraft, are becoming a great entertainment tool that helps bring teams together and forge personal connections between employees. World of Warcraft offers an exciting adventure in a fantasy world. Cooperation and interaction are necessary for the successful completion of many tasks and raids. Fighting powerful enemies together and achieving common goals, team members strengthen mutual understanding and trust in each other. WoW also offers a variety of classes and roles that require unique skills and approaches. Employees can exchange experience, teach each other, and jointly develop strategies for the successful completion of game tasks. If players find it difficult to play a game or want to spend less time developing, then they often order boosting on this site. There are services for many online games, including World of Warcraft, Destiny 2, Genshin Impact, FIFA 23, and so on. Additionally, consider surprising your teammates with a bouquet through a flower delivery service. Professional gamers will help novice players and gaming veterans with challenging content and development.

2. Virtual Tours

Invite employees to organize virtual tours for their colleagues. All that is required of them is to make a video call from their phone and go for a walk around their hometown or the place where they now live. Along the way, you can make stops, point out the sights, give historical commentary, or tell personal stories related to the place. It is especially interesting when employees work in different countries.

3. Quiz

Pub quizzes have become one of the main team entertainment in recent years. There is both a competitive element and satisfaction from the guessed inventor of the telephone or the performer of the song. If you can't get all the employees in one bar, play the game online. You can order a quiz from popular contractors. Or make your own unique quiz of fun facts about employees.

4. Friday parties

To efficiently manage remote teams we need to relax. The tradition of spending Friday nights in the office with pizza can easily be transferred online. Practice shows that it is enough to create a meeting in Zoom and invite employees there, and they will “bring” drinks and snacks themselves. And if your budget allows, order a pizza at home for each call participant. At a meeting, you can discuss the latest news, laugh at fresh memes, or discuss new movies - everything that is done at a regular party.

5. Virtual Pub Crawling

If you get tired of sitting at the "Friday party", you can go to virtual pub crawling. Usually pub-crawling looks like this: a group of friends or colleagues visits several pubs in one evening, without staying in any of them for a long time. The difference in the online format is that instead of a pub there will be some interesting website. Here's how such a meeting might go:

• Prepare a list of interesting and unusual sites in advance. For example, you can compete in typing speed or visit a virtual museum of electronic games.
• Gather everyone in an online meeting.
• Take turns sending links to funny sites in the chat.
• All pub crawl participants must follow the link. They have 15 minutes to explore the site and discuss its content over a drink.
• After 15 minutes, it's time to move to the next location.

6. Sports Challenges

If the company has athletes and adherents of a healthy lifestyle, offer them joint sports activities - online training or challenges. For runners, you can set a goal: collectively run a couple of hundred kilometers in a month - the results of each run are summarized. Another option is to organize a fitness marathon. For those who want to take care of their health, but do not really like active sports, offer joint yoga or meditation classes.

7. Conversation club and group foreign language classes

You can learn together. Organize group foreign language classes and online conversation clubs for colleagues. You can discuss anything - from watched movies to highly professional topics.

8. Cooking class

Many will like the master class from the chef online. The main thing is to choose a dish with ingredients that can be found in any city. Invite participants to buy everything they need in advance, and if the budget allows, take care of the costs. The host of the master class can be one of the colleagues if someone is fond of cooking at a professional level at their leisure.

9. Online concert

Surely you have musicians in your company - perhaps even professional ones. Invite them to form a group and improvise together during the call. Even those who do not own musical instruments can be invited to participate in this event: You can clap, use improvised objects, and sing along.

10. Book club

For those who love reading, start an online book club on Zoom or Google Meet or on the online collaboration tools that you prefer. The rules are the same as for offline meetings: club members call up every 2-3 weeks and discuss a book that everyone has read before. Meetings can be moderated by one of the participants.

11. Organize face-to-face events once in a while

If your company has multiple locations in-state, or even within the same country, you can consider organizing in-person team-building events. Meeting in person builds a stronger bond between team members, and you're not limited by minimal interactions through the screen. If you're headquartered in California for example, some events you can organize include hosting a team sports competition while enjoying the beaches, going to a theme park or amusement park, or even booking RV rentals in LA to go on a fun camping trip with your team.

Conclusion

In today's remote work environment, where teams are spread across the globe or working remotely, fostering a sense of unity and camaraderie can be a challenge. Some people really hate working from home and they need to collaborate with colleges a lot. However, with a little creativity and the right tools, it is still possible to bring your remote team closer together. By embracing various activities and events, you can create opportunities for team bonding, laughter, and personal connections, ultimately enhancing collaboration and productivity.