Team Building Online: What You Need To Organize It And Activities

The transformation that we are experiencing in the way of developing work has generated the appearance of different techniques and concepts that aim to improve the quality of employees, adapting to these new circumstances. Team Building Online is a good example of this.

This practice, which has been used face-to-face for years, is beginning to be implemented virtually, which allows workers who carry out their daily work remotely to participate in these practices and meet their co-workers in an environment relaxed.

What Is Online Team Building?

Team Building is called the practice of recreational activities organized by companies so that their workers can meet and interact in a relaxed environment, different from work, in order to foster a feeling of team and improve relationships and performance. 

The origin of Team Building dates back to the 20s of the last century when the foundations that allowed addressing the improvement in working conditions began to be laid.

The starting point for this interesting transformation was the publication of the work of psychologist William McDougal in 1920, in which the importance of creating integrated work groups when it came to increasing the effectiveness.

The road has been long since then, but fortunately, companies are aware of this reality and invest more and more in it. Most companies have been carrying out activities for years that are precisely intended to foster a good relationship between employees and favor their predisposition to carry out efficient and effective work.

However, with the new work models, where part of the workforce carries out their daily tasks remotely or semi-face-to-face, these activities have had to be adapted to remain effective. And that is where the online Team Building arises. The objective is the same, but the ways of carrying out the activities vary.

Advantages Of Online Team Building 

The practice of Team Building online offers companies and employees a series of benefits that, as we have said, will have a direct impact on the well-being of workers, which will undoubtedly increase productivity. Here are some of those advantages:

• Knowledge of co-workers: obviously, one of the advantages of carrying out Team Building activities online is getting to know co-workers with whom you no longer share a physical space, and also in a different environment than usual and in which More personal than work issues will be discussed.

•  Improve communication: a good Team Building program, carried out effectively and with structured objectives, will not only promote belonging to a group but will also improve communication between the participants. 

• Learn to work with common objectives: another advantage of this practice is that it facilitates learning when it comes to specifying common objectives, which can be very useful to later apply it to the work environment.

•  Facilitate conflict resolution – All of the above benefits are really important when it comes to creating an effective workgroup. In addition, thanks to improved communication, personal knowledge of group members, and the creation of common goals, when conflicts arise, they will be much easier to resolve.

Everything You Need To Organize An Online Team Building Day

To organize a virtual Team Building, we are going to need a series of technical elements that allow us to gather our employees regardless of where they are located at the time of carrying out the activity:

• Laptops or devices with a camera: It is essential that each member of the team that is going to participate as a device with a camera and good sound, connected to the Internet.

• A videoconference software: the session can be carried out from one of the many free software on the market, but our recommendation is that you have a good platform that allows you to carry out the activity without interruptions. Microsoft Teams, one of the leading applications in the industry, is a good example, offering functionality that includes 15 Team Building games that encourage participation, identification with the group, communication, and the achievement of common goals. In addition, the Microsoft Teams platform integrated with the virtual switchboard facilitates collaborative work.

• Activities to develop: if you decide to set up the Team Building without having an external company, it is necessary that before determining what activity you are going to carry out, you must establish the objectives you want to achieve and choose the activities based on them.

Online Team Building Activities

In our Team Building meetings, we can choose to carry out endless activities. Here are some ideas, in case you don’t know where to start, but remember that it is important to adapt each of them to the specific characteristics of the group and the objectives set.

Online Board Games

Versions of different board games, but remotely, are very popular in Team Building. You can create, for example, a trivia, but instead of general culture questions with questions related to the participants, always with their consent, of course. You can even get them to participate by creating quizzes or questions themselves that they will then ask the rest of the group. Enhance knowledge and facilitate participation

Escape Room Online

Escape rooms have become very popular lately, and there are many that can be done remotely. It is an excellent activity to promote teamwork and the achievement of a common goal. In addition, some companies customize them to turn them into corporate activities.

Show-Cooking

Another very fashionable practice when it comes to Team Building is online courses. They can be cooking, but there are also wine, beer, or cheese tastings. If you prefer a training more in line with the activity of your company, there are endless options.

Group Dynamics

Group dynamics should be integrated into any of the above activities since, with them, the aforementioned objectives are achieved in a fast and fun way.