Virtual team building ideas

With the UK in the midst of a second lockdown and businesses across the country committing to remote work for the time being, many companies are looking at ways to bring their teams together virtually. This is especially important as we approach the festive season - businesses will be looking for new ways of treating their team to a company party. 

To help set those wheels in motion, here are a few fun virtual team building ideas:

Tasting sessions

Over the past year, many services offering online tasting sessions have sprung up. From wine and cheese to gin or chocolate, there are tasting workshops for every preference! These are usually set up through a third party company that will send each participant samples. Then, on the night, everyone joins a video call to go through tasting notes.

If you have somebody in-house who is an expert in something, you can always ask them to lead on that, too!

Cooking lessons

Similar to the tasting sessions, these types of team building exercises involve the help of a third party or in-house expert. Ingredients get sent to each participant’s home and the person leading the call will help your team learn how to create a new dish. The fun of this one? You get to eat it at the end and share a meal together!

Feed your team

Not interested in doing the cooking yourselves? Order a takeaway for the team! During most team days out and holiday parties, your team would probably get together to share a meal. Even though you won’t all be in a restaurant together, there’s no need to put this tradition to rest. This idea can even be combined with most of the others.

Goodie boxes

To make sure your team feels appreciated and involved, one thing you can do is send them each a box full of goodies that will get them into the spirit of things. For instance, you could send things like sweets, biscuits, themed accessories (like Santa hats for a holiday party), or any small item that your team would appreciate. These don’t have to be extravagant, but making them thoughtful is important.

‘Pub’ quiz

There’s nothing like a good old fashioned quiz! And, for this one, you don’t need to enlist the help of anyone outside of the business. Instead, ask your resident trivia buff or a teammate who can host in a lively way to compile a list of quiz questions. You can then gather together over a video call and try to beat each other’s scores.

Bingo

Another fun option is to host a virtual bingo tournament. You can use tools like Bingo Baker to set up cards and play online. If you’re feeling festive, you can even make custom bingo cards that relate to the holidays or your team specifically.

Icebreaker team quiz

To make this one work, create a questionnaire for your team to fill out and use the answers to make a quiz where your team has to guess which member it applies to. Some question ideas are: 

• What was your first online handle or email address?
• Which course was your least favourite at college?
• What's the weirdest job you've ever had?
• What's your least favourite song?

We know that this kind of team get-together is very new for most people and understanding how to run it effectively might be a struggle. Use these tips to ensure that your virtual party is well organised and fun for everyone:

• Use a spreadsheet to keep track of what’s been done, what needs to be done, and who is attending. This can also be helpful if you are running a Secret Santa game for your team!
• Make sure your activity is interactive. Webinars and learning experiences are great, but getting the team involved and engaged is key for team building.
• Plan far enough in advance that people can work around the time. Some may have children or other commitments they need to consider.
• Pick a goal. This can help you decide which activity suits your team’s needs best. Are you looking to simply have a bit of fun after a long year or are you looking to strengthen team bonds?
• Encourage your team to dress up. Whether this means getting decked out in your wintery finest or donning your wackiest Christmas jumpers, having a dress code can help make the activity feel more special and celebratory.

With these tips and ideas, you are now ready to start planning your virtual business holiday party or team building activity! If you use any of these ideas, be sure to give Accord Mortgages a shout out on social, so we can see the fun you have.