Virtual Team Building Activities

With the advent of the pandemic, we all have had to scamper into the safety of our homes, while abandoning our plush offices. With our office spaces cordoned off, we lost not just our comfortable desks and hot coffee at the cafeteria but also the watercooler chats and casual catch-ups. What once could easily be done with just walking over to a colleague’s desk, today requires an intentional meeting to be set up.
As business owners and company leaders, this is the time to focus on your people – your team is as strong as your weakest link.

So what can you do?

At your next virtual team meeting, here are a few quick ideas you can use to get your teams to connect, interact and even have a good laugh!

Idea #1: Animal RoundUp

Material Needed: None
Time Required: 10 minutes
Group Size: 5-50

  1. Divide your teams into groups of 10 members each and assign them to breakout rooms.
  2. Get your team members to go on mute and ask one group members to silently think of their favorite animal.
  3. Then tell group members that without talking, they need to guess the selected member’s favourite animal.
  4. Group members can only make gestures.
  5. Once they have guessed, you can ask another team member to give it a try!

Idea #2: Build a Car

Material Needed: Digital Drawing Board
Time Required: 25 minutes
Group Size: 5-30

  1. Using a digital drawing board, draw the outline of a car.
  2. Instruct the group to add components to the car and explain what it stands for and how they can relate that to the team. Give one example to set the tone.
  3. Break the team into groups of four or five. Allow 20 minutes for the team to draw the car and 5 minutes for each team to present their vehicle. The total time depends on the number of groups you have.
Some examples: Draw the antennae to make sure we have good communication or the wheels keep us in motion. Others include a rear view mirror to keep an eye on where we have been, headlights to help us find our way, a trunk to store all our knowledge and tools, the gas tank to provide fuel when we need it, etc.

Idea #3: Traffic Lights

The purpose of this activity, suitable for any group, is to introduce the idea of developing an action plan at the end of week or quarter. You can alternatively use it at the beginning too.

Material Needed: Digital Drawing Board
Time Required: 20 minutes
Group Size: Small Group

  1. Divide the group into teams.
  2. Draw a traffic light on a digital drawing board. Explain that the traffic light represents an action plan: what team members should stop doing (red light), what they should do less of (yellow light), and what they should go forward with (green light).
  3. Ask each member to write down his or her own “traffic lights”. Allow 5 minutes.
  4. Go around the group and ask each person to tell the rest of the group one of the things they will stop doing, one of the things they will do less of, and one of the things they are going to go ahead and do.
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