A pleasant atmosphere in the team is one of the reasons why we come to work and which are our motivation pages. Integration for employees not only for temporary practice in corporations, but most of all for a real one for the company and an element of the team building strategy. Moreover, a great variety for our daily work.
We have prepared a dozen ideas for you, including examples for online integration, remote team building, and ways to break the ice between colleagues. You can organize some of the proposals yourself, others are definitely more interesting to prepare with an event company.
Virtual coffee / tea / lunch
Many people mention virtual meetings with their team for coffee and tea. This is one of the simpler team building solutions that we can implement even every day. A 15-minute break for an informal conversation with the team (not about work!) Is a great solution, thanks to which we will feel at least a bit like in the office.
Puns
Virtually everyone knows and likes charades. Thanks to this game, employees can stimulate their creativity and improve their relationship with each other. Puns can be carried out online without any problems, all you need to do is turn on the webcam and draw passwords on the cards. A game with very simple and clear rules, which causes a lot of laughter and positive emotions.
Treasure hunt
When we spend many hours at home at the computer, we often have less movement than in an office space. So let's take a break for a moment of entertainment and force them to get up from the chair. To do this, give your employees 25 seconds for tasks such as "show something yellow", "find something craziest in the apartment." Then have each of the employees share the subject. It's great fun, allowing employees to get to know each other better and reveal fun facts about their lives.
Truth or lie
There is a new person in your team and you are planning remote onboarding? It is worth introducing the new employee to other colleagues in an interesting and fun way. It's a great idea for each employee to say two things about themselves that are true and one that turns out to be a lie. The other coworkers have to guess which facts are true facts.
Show me how you live
One of the ideas for a virtual meeting and online integration is also a game in which we take our colleagues online to our homes, similar to the MTV Cribs program. Thanks to this task, we can get to know the everyday life of each of us and see what their position in the home office looks like. The ideal solution will be if each week one of the employees prepares a video in which he shows him around his apartment.
Desert island
A deserted island is an idea for a remote team building in which each participant receives a scenario that says that we are stuck on a deserted island with seven items. And of them, we can only choose three.
These items must be non-obvious and difficult to guess in order to force as much creativity and ingenuity as possible. Examples of items are: a bag with fruit seeds, a 100 m rope, a pocket knife, a sheet, a bucket, etc.
Then divide the team into small groups so that they can decide together which items they want to sell. After the group talks are over, each team will tell you why they chose such items. p
This exercise influences people's perception of themselves as team members and leads to healthy competition, helping to achieve collective results. It is also a great opportunity for team cooperation, of which there is definitely less in remote teams.
Look to the future
This is a short and interesting exercise, perfect for understanding the expectations, priorities and goals of each team member. Simply share the selected article or magazine online with your team and ask them to mark ten headlines that may be related to the company in the future.
Examples of such headlines are: "The Best Place to Work in the World" or "How This Company Changed the World".
Donut
Donuts are on Fat Thursday, but a donut can also be on Slack. Donut is an extension to Slack that takes remote team building to the next level. Remote teams do not have the option of a short chat in the company's kitchen, which is why Donut gives the possibility of virtual conversations by automatically pairing colleagues and planning a 30-minute video call together. Such a conversation is a great way to integrate online and meet other team members. It is worth noting that these talks should not only concern work.
Make history
Everyone loves interesting stories, and thanks to this game you create a story together with the team. The game is where the whole team forms a "virtual circle" and one of the members starts the story-telling. The beginning may be: “Ania's car broke down on the first day of her new job. At first she felt helpless, and then ... "
Another person adds the ending of the sentence and adds another. Each of the employees adds their part of the story, thus creating a complete story. Creating a plot stimulates the creativity of team members, encourages cooperation and listening to each other.
Sports challenges
Most employees work remotely, but that doesn't mean they aren't active outdoors. Thanks to the implementation of all sports challenges, they can virtually compete with each other and share their achievements. Telling your passion for sports is also a great way to start a conversation.
Virtual Escape Room
Everyone knows the Escape Room very well. For some time, companies organizing integration have moved escape rooms to virtual space. The aim of the game remains the same all the time, i.e. by solving puzzles you have to leave the room. The rooms can be different: a psychiatric hospital, a prison, a laboratory, etc. Online integration via an escape room is a great idea for having fun and cooperation.
Online culinary workshops
Culinary workshops conducted online are cooking lessons and a pinch of knowledge about the world's cuisine in a fun and relaxed atmosphere. It can be easily joined by employees from their own home, as the classes are streamed live from the culinary studio.
Before this form of remote integration, each participant receives a package with ingredients that will be useful during the workshop. The companies conduct interactive training and encourage them to cook together. Take a look, for example, here.
Tasting
One of the elements of integration is usually… alcohol. Despite remote work and dispersed teams, we can also carry out “alcoholic” integration remotely. In cooperation with a professional company, you can prepare an alcohol tasting package that will be sent to each employee's home. In addition to the described bottles of alcohol, they can also be tasting glasses, cards with a description of flavors and aromas, and information books. Such remote integration can be carried out by a professional bartender or sommelier.