Regardless of whether a team is professional and non-professional, team building is critical to defining and maintaining a good one. Those motivational posters on the office walls, as corny as they are, do make a point.
To boost employee happiness, enhance team bonds, and increase productivity, companies should always look for methods to optimize workflows and develop alignment. This can be accomplished by organizing virtual team-building activities to increase team-building and team empowerment.
What is virtual team building, and how does it work?
The technique of bringing remote teams together and strengthening ties via shared experiences is known as virtual team building. It serves as the foundation for communication across scattered teams, virtually replacing actual office facilities such as the water cooler, conference room, and lunch area.
To keep the team collaborative and on the same page, leaders will have to proactively manage virtual team development through particular efforts.
Continue reading to learn about the top advantages of virtual team development exercises. We've also included some of our own suggestions for things you might do with your team that isn't standard team-building exercises.
1. It improves employee morale:
Disengagement and burnout can result from a work environment that is entirely focused on deadlines and KPIs. Team building activities provide positive reinforcement to scattered teams and make each employee feel appreciated. It allows for the development of camaraderie, which increases staff morale and fosters greater levels of trust and transparency throughout the company.
Here are a few examples:
Virtual Coffee catch-ups
Laughter Therapy
Collaboration is encouraged:
Distributed teams don't have the option of tapping a coworker on the shoulder to discuss a task or seek assistance. This makes it difficult because most tasks are interrelated and necessitate resource coordination. When working remotely, there is a higher danger of communication breakdowns.
Boosts team building and productivity:
When teams are isolated, they are less likely to have a clear work direction or to be on the same page both of which can reduce productivity. Virtual team building exercises allow team members to reconnect and remind each other of their roles in the larger picture.
Encourage a positive work environment:
“People need to feel wanted and as they belong as part of a team,” said Dr. Ben Hamer, Future of Work Lead at PwC Australia. Employees will be positively influenced by constant engagement within a distributed team, reinforcing favorable workplace cultures.
Virtual teams need to be reminded, through shared experiences, that we can still have a good time at work virtually, make genuine connections, and come up with creative new ideas and methods. Leaders must be more deliberate than ever in setting priorities at these moments. Find out what makes your staff happy, then make time for them to share and enjoy it together.