During 2020, “80% of global corporate workers moved to virtual or hybrid-virtual teams. Despite the waning danger from the coronavirus, “64% of these organizations report that their virtual teams will be a permanent change.” As more teams become more virtual, management will have new challenges to face, especially when it comes to keeping their virtual workforce engaged.
According to surveys performed by Indeed.com, there are many benefits for companies that have virtual teams, including improved morale, lower employee turnover, reduced insurance costs, lower absenteeism, lower costs, increased opportunities for diversity, and higher levels of creativity. One huge benefit of using virtual teams is that it increases your possible talent pool and chances of incorporating more diversity.
Going virtual also has benefits for virtual team members, including flexible scheduling, better work-life balance, lowered anxiety and stress, cost of savings, lack of commute, improved physical and mental health, and more freedom of location. These benefits can also help attract top talent and more diversity to your teams.
There are many benefits to people working on virtual teams, but it can also have potential drawbacks such as lack of interaction with co-workers, loss of company culture, loneliness, and lack of engagement. According to a survey by GitLab, “28% of remote workers are challenged by burnout and feeling disconnected at work.” Smart companies will launch initiatives that support the success of the virtual teams and address the specific challenges that come with virtual teams.
This article includes ten tips for engaging your virtual teams. Of course, there are many more ways to accomplish this, but this list should help you get started.
Tip #1: Increase Their Creative Activities
A great way to start getting your virtual team engaged at work is to have them do some arts and crafts together. While this might sound cheesy at first, research shows that “making art is an important part of keeping the mind active and healthy.” Research shows that engaging with arts and crafts activities can increase confidence, promote relaxation, prevent anxiety and depression, and reduce cognitive impairment from aging.
According to Christiane Strange, a Professor of Neuroscience at the University of Alabama, people who regularly engage in arts and crafts feel more connected to themselves and the world around them. Engaging your team’s minds creatively with arts and crafts is an excellent way to combat the feelings of loneliness and burnout that can come with working virtually.
Virtual Cartooning & Doodling Workshop
This 1.5-hour Virtual Cartooning & Doodling Workshop teaches the basics of cartoon drawing and doodling. It is geared towards beginners so that everyone can participate. The instructor will walk your team from stick figures to drawing realistic faces. They’ll also learn the basics of drawing and begin developing their own artistic style. There will be a time in the event for everyone to draw and share their creations.
Virtual Shibori Dye Workshop (Materials Included)
Your team will be guided through learning shibori, a Japanese tie-dying technique, in this Virtual Shibori Dye Workshop. They’ll be twisting, bunching, tying, and binding to create surprising dyed creations. Participants learn six classic shibori styles during this 90-minute class. All materials will be shipped to participants before the workshop, including cotton napkins, a cotton tote bag, RIT indigo dye, two large tin pans, craft sticks, wood squares, and rubber hands.
Virtual Candle Making (Materials Included)
This beginner-friendly Virtual Candle Making is a low-pressure way to bring your team together. They’ll be guided through the process of making an environmentally-friendly soy/beeswax candle. Everyone will be proud of their creativity and new skills. All needed materials will be shipped to participants, including a pouring pitcher, stir stick, wax chips, candle tins, wicks, wick adhesive, candle labels, and fragrance oil.
Tip #2: Host a Mixer or Happy Hour
What brings people together more than great food and drinks?Hosting a mixer for your virtual team is a great icebreaker for newer teams or ones that haven’t interacted with each other as much. Or, if you’re just getting your team-building and engagement initiatives off-the-ground, hosting a mixer is an excellent way to get started.
Mixers invite your team to try food and drinks together, which gives them a shared experience to connect over. You can decide if you want to sign everyone up for a cooking or baking class, in which everyone gets their hands dirty. Or, you could opt for a food and drink tasting for a more relaxed and social event.
Virtual Wine & Cheese Workshop
Your team will be given a chance to taste two delicious wines (red and white) and two delicious cheeses in Virtual Wine & Cheese Workshop. The wine and cheese are selected by a professional wine and cheese expert who then walks your team through a tasting. You’ll be able to ask questions and participate live, with no prior knowledge required. Participants will be mailed all necessary materials, including a French Sauvignon Blanc, and Argentinian Malbec, French goat cheese, and sharp cheddar cheese.
Virtual Chocolate Tasting (Materials Included)
Who doesn’t love chocolate? Chocoholics and everyone else will enjoy this gourmet chocolate tasting experience. Your team will taste and learn about chocolate in this Virtual Chocolate Tasting. A chocolate expert will share about the history of chocolate while guiding your team through tasting three different specialty bars from around the globe. All materials will be shipped to participants, including the three bars of specialty chocolate and crackers for palate cleansing.
Virtual American Whiskey Tasting (Materials Included)
Your team will learn how to taste and judge whiskey like a professional in Virtual American Whiskey Tasting. In addition to tasting five premium whiskeys and bourbons, your team will learn the history of whiskey and tasting techniques. Everyone will leave more knowledge about whiskey and whiskey tasting. All materials will be shipped to participants, including five bottles of premium American whiskey and bourbon.
Virtual Private Mixology Workshop
In Virtual Private Mixology Workshop, a professional Mixologist will teach your team how to make three delicious cocktails: an old-fashioned, a ginger lime margarita, and a mint julep. They’ll also learn about the history of mixology, how to use common bar tools, and key skills for making great, balanced cocktails both during and after the workshop. This workshop is a great choice for pairing with a virtual happy hour or remote team mixer. All materials will be shipped to participants before the event, including a jigger, Hawthorne strainer, garnishes, artisanal syrups and bitters and a gift card for spirits and fresh fruit.
Tip #3: Get Them Playing with Each Other
Another tip for getting your virtual team to engage is to get them playing. Setting up a game for your team is an excellent way to get them having fun, which leads to a higher level of engagement overall. Research from Harvard Business Review shows that having fun at work is critical to employee engagement and building a robust corporate culture.
You could get your team playing in a lot of different ways: you could choose an escape room, a trivia night, or something a little more outside-the-box. CourseHorse offers a variety of fun, unique game experiences that will get your team to start feeling engaged.
Brick Building Team Challenge
Your team will have so much fun competing in this Brick Building Team Challenge, with a Lego Kit included. Everyone competes as individuals or as mini teams in a series of Lego-building challenges. Example challenges include creating Lego self-portraits, competing to build the tallest tower, and making Lego zoo animals. All materials will be shipped to participants before the event, including a Lego kit.
“Get to Know Your Teammates” Icebreaker Game
“Get To Know Your Teammates” Icebreaker Game is trivia with a twist: all of the questions will be pulled from questionnaires about your team. Here’s how it works: each participant will receive a prompt beforehand to provide interesting and surprising trivia about themselves. Then, at the event, everyone will quiz each other on speed-dating style to see who can guess the most correct answers about their teammates.
Virtual Team Olympics (Materials Included)
Your team will go for the gold in Virtual Team Olympics, inspired by the iconic episode of The Office. There will be a casual, silly tone to all of the games, which might include typing speed races, Family Feud-style challenges, creating balloon animals, racing to build marshmallow towers, and playing harmonicas. Winners will receive gold, silver, or bronze medals, which will be shipped to participants before the event along with other materials needed for games such as marshmallows or harmonicas.
Tip #4: Teach Your Team New Skills (noble)
Up-leveling your team’s skills is another way to get your virtual team feeling more engaged with their work and each other. Your team will get a confidence boost when they’re learning cutting-edge skills and adding to their knowledge base.
Noble Desktop is a top NYC design, coding, and business school with over three decades of experience teaching career skills. All of their courses are taught by expert instructors using their highly-rated, unique, project-based approach: the instructor will teach a short “micro-lecture, ” and then immediately walk students through applying what they learned using real-world, hands-on projects.
Noble Desktop has partnered with CourseHorse to offer corporate training sessions on some of today’s most cutting-edge skills, including data science, financial modeling, social media marketing, and programming.
Beginner Excel Corporate Training
This is one of Noble Desktop’s most popular corporate training and professional team-building courses. You can get your whole team on the same (spreadsheet) page with Beginner Excel Corporate Training. Everyone on your team will learn the essentials of using Microsoft Excel, including calculations, basic functions, graphs, and formatting. This course is taught by an expert instructor who will guide your team through hands-on projects to develop their skills using Microsoft Excel.
Noble Desktop offers several level options if you’re considering Microsoft Excel training for your team. You can also sign up your team for Intermediate Excel Corporate Training or Advanced Excel Corporate Training.
Python for Data Science Corporate Training
Python for Data Science Corporate Training is a bootcamp-style training program designed to take participants from Python beginners to the start of machine learning. In this tech bootcamp style corporate training, an expert instructor will guide your team through hands-on data science projects to develop skills in using Python. Some of the skills taught in this professional team-building training include creating programs and data visualizations, using Python to work with data, working with lists, understanding different data types, creating data variables, indexing and slicing, and creating machine learning models.
Social Media Marketing Corporate Training
Up-level your marketing team’s critical social media skills, with Social Media Marketing Corporate Training from Noble Desktop. A social media expert will guide your team through developing the fundamental skills of content marketing, including setting goals and metrics, brand establishment, marketing strategies for specific platforms, and creating and sharing content. The training will also cover trend monitoring, cross-platform promotion, and how to build and engage an audience. Anyone who completes this training will have a solid understanding of how to use content marketing as a part of their digital strategy.
Tip #5: Celebrate Holidays Together
Celebrating holidays together is an excellent way to engage virtual teams and build the kind of traditions that contribute to a robust company culture. Celebrating holidays together also provides an opportunity to incorporate celebrations from other cultures.
Crystal Schiller, a Clinical Psychologist at UNC Health, says that celebrating holidays together as a work team encourages both connection and community: “Humans are naturally social and crave connection, so gatherings and traditions that bring [people] together can inspire community and connection.” Working virtually can limit the chance for natural community and connections. Holidays provide a great opportunity to create more of it, especially with virtual teams.
Virtual Escape the Office Holiday Party
The Virtual Escape the Office Holiday Party combines a virtual office holiday party with an escape room game. Your group will be divided into mini-teams that compete to escape the office holiday party or miss the holiday break. The game consists of clues, puzzles, and activities in the form of virtual maps, video and audio clips, and character descriptions. Your team will learn collaboration and communication skills while bonding over a shared goal.
Virtual White Elephant Team Gift Experience
Everyone plays a fun game and receives a gift in this custom-designed Virtual White Elephant Team Gift Experience. At the event, participants play a fast-paced trivia game to determine the unwrapping order. Then, everyone takes turns unwrapping and keeping or stealing quirky, wonderful virtual gifts. At the end of the party, everyone will receive their gift in the mail.
Virtual Pride Mixology (Materials Included)
Celebrate pride and practice allyship with this Virtual Pride Mixology class from CourseHorse. A professional mixologist will teach your team how to make LGBTQ-inspired cocktails with materials from LGBTQ businesses such as Stonewall Kitchen. Everyone will learn the history of mixology and key skills while making delicious cocktails. All ingredients are shipped to participants, including a Hawthorne strainer, jigger, cocktail pick, a gift card for spirit purchases, and artisanal syrups and jams sourced from LGBTQ businesses.
Tip #6: Celebrate Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion
Many companies are interested in increasing their efforts at team-building and DEI. DEI stands for diversity, equality, and inclusion. It’s about creating a team with various perspectives and cultural backgrounds and making sure everyone feels included and acknowledged.
You can combine your efforts to engage your virtual team with your DEI initiatives. This might mean celebrating Pride or Black History Months. Or, it might mean scheduling activities that focus on recognizing underrecognized groups.
Virtual Pride Rainbow Bagel (Materials Included)
Your team can learn how to make bagels from scratch while celebrating Pride in this Virtual Pride Rainbow Bagel making class. Participants are walked through the steps of bagel making, from making the dough, to setting up a boiling station and using gel-based food coloring to make a vibrant rainbow flag-colored bagel. Your team will bond while making and breaking their bagels together. All ingredients will be mailed to participants, including flour, honey, kosher salt, gel coloring, and a gift card to purchase cream cheese and rainbow sprinkles.
Virtual Black History Month Trivia
Did you know that Vermont was the first state to abolish slavery in 1777? Celebrate diversity in your workplace while increasing your knowledge of black history in this Virtual Black History Month Trivia. Your team will be asked questions about black movies, music, pop culture, sports, history, and current events. The trivia game has three rounds: classic trivia, music trivia, and a picture round.
Tip #7: Have Lots of Fun Together—Totally Fun AcAivities
Fun is one of the most underrated qualities of a strong company culture. We often think that work should be stressful or demanding. However, research shows that the amount of fun that employees are having is directly correlated with their job satisfaction. Workplaces that incorporate more fun have higher productivity, lower rates of burnout, and increased retention.
According to research published in Harvard Business Review, “81% of companies that are ranked as ‘great places to work’ have office environments that are described as fun.” The article further describes how having fun at work can increase “engagement, creativity, and purpose, ” while decreasing turnover. Having fun is an excellent way to get your virtual team more engaged.
Virtual Murder Mystery: Team Escape
This Virtual Murder Mystery: Team Escape blends murder mystery and escape room as mini-teams race against the clock to solve a murder. In this game, participants are attending their high school reunion when the doors are locked, and a classmate is murdered. Your group has one hour to use virtual maps, character descriptions, images, and video and audio clips to figure out who the murderer is.
Please note: CourseHorse also offers a 45-minute version of this murder mystery game for companies that want a shorter activity.
Virtual Scavenger Hunt
This Virtual Scavenger Hunt is a goofy way to have fun that will make your team feel like kids again. Your group will be broken up into mini-teams that will compete to finish a series of scavenger challenges: racing the clock to find specific items from around their house, image identification, and a riddle race to scavenge items. Your scavenger hunt will be hosted by a high-energy host.
Virtual 90s Pop Culture Bingo
Put on your Doc Martens and sail on the Titanic back to the last great decade with 90s Pop Culture Bingo. Bingo is combined with trivia as your group separates into mini-teams to compete like Tonya and Nancy to get B-I-N-G-O by answering 90s pop culture trivia questions. Identify songs from Nirvana or answer questions about popular movies, tv shows, and video games such as Sonic and Super Mario World. This event will make your whole team want to zig-a-zig-ahhhh!
Tip #8: Make Things Together
There’s no better way of getting your team engaged than getting their hands dirty. Making things together is a great team-building activity. Working to make something is a great ice-breaker as everyone figures out how to do it together.
The things that your team makes could be anything: from baking to painting to cocktails. You should check with your team to see what kind of thing they would most enjoy making together.
Virtual Private Mixology Workshop (Materials Included)
Your team will enjoy this interactive Virtual Private Mixology Workshop. Your group will be guided by a Mixologist to learn how to build three craft cocktails: an old-fashioned, a ginger lime margarita, and a mint julep. Your employees will get to know each other better as they make and enjoy their cocktails. All materials will be shipped to participants, including a gift card to purchase spirits, a Hawthorne strainer, a jigger, garnishes, and artisanal syrups and bitters.
Virtual Pet Portraits
Combine your love for your pet with a relaxing art event in Virtual Pet Portraits. This 90-minute workshop is taught by a professional artist who walks participants through sketching and painting their pet from a picture. Your team will get a chance to share their best friend with their co-workers in this cheerful, fun, and relaxing event. All materials will be shipped to participants, including palettes, brushes, canvas, and acrylic paints.
Virtual Sushi Making Workshop (Materials Included)
Learn to make delicious sushi at home in this Virtual Sushi Making Workshop. A professional chef will walk your team through the basics of making sushi. Some of the topics covered include sushi rice, fish selection, crunch rolls, and basic sushi knife techniques. Materials will be shipped to participants, including a bamboo rolling mat, reusable chopsticks, wasabi, pickled ginger, and a gift card for fish and vegetables.
Tip #9: Take a Deep Breath
A stressed-out team will kill your productivity. Nothing leads to burnout faster than stress. Smart companies make investments in their team’s mental health. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) says that the demands of the work environment is one of the biggest factors creating stress in the lives of Americans. Combating stress is a great way to get your virtual team engaged.
Art & Meditation (Materials Included)
This course, Art & Meditation, combines a simple guided breathing session followed by a therapeutic coloring workshop. Students will enjoy a relaxing meditation and express their creativity through coloring. Materials are provided for students, including a coloring book and a set of gel pens.
Virtual Vision Board Workshop (Materials Included)
This one-hour Virtual Vision Board Workshop will teach your team a valuable skill for goal setting and inspiration. Vision boards are a powerful way to make far-away goals seem more attainable. The instructor will provide your team with different prompts to help them in the creative process while encouraging lively interaction among your group. All materials will be shipped to participants before the event, including cork boards, push pins, and a picture book with inspirational images.
Tip #10: Try Something New
One quick way to snap your virtual team out of burnout is by having them try something new. According to research published in The Huffington Post, trying new things is positive for mental health since it allows you to overcome fears, know yourself better, and increase creativity.
When everyone on the team is trying something new, then everyone is on the same page automatically. When trying new things, your team will feel vulnerable enough to create bonds and excited enough to engage more fully.
Virtual Group Magic Trick Workshop (Materials Included)
Bring the magic back to life and make everyone feel like a kid again. In the Virtual Group Magic Trick Workshop, your team will learn the secrets to a whole batch of fun, impressive magic tricks that are actually pretty cool. Every participant will leave knowing multiple magic tricks to show off to friends and family. All materials will be shipped to participants before the event, including hot rod, 2 card monte, svengali deck, deck of cards, and pen through bill.
Virtual Tarot Cards 101 (Materials Included)
For something truly out of the ordinary, you can book a session with a professional tarot reader. In Virtual Tarot Cards 101, your team will learn all the needed basics of the ancient and effective tarot. Many people associate tarot most strongly with fortune telling and fate. However, tarot is a means to access your inner wisdom and guidance. It can also be an excellent tool for meditation, guidance, inspiration, and personal growth. Everyone will receive their own deck of tarot cards for the event.