21 Team Building Activities for Your Remote Teams

In the ever-changing world of work, remote work has become the norm for many companies, especially those applying the "remote first" principle, meaning working remotely 100% of the time.

This kind of setup can present unique challenges, particularly when it comes to building strong, cohesive teams. More and more, companies are learning that remote team building is no longer an option but a necessity.

In this article, we'll explore why remote team building is so crucial to the success of your virtual team, and how to choose the right activities. We'll give you practical tips to strengthen your virtual team's cohesion, along with more than 21 effective and fun activity ideas.

Understanding the benefits of remote team building

Whether you already practice remote team building or want to adopt this practice, you first need to understand its benefits in order to better choose the activities suited to your team.

Strengthening team cohesion

One of the main challenges of remote work is the lack of physical proximity. By organizing remote team building events, you can improve your teams' cohesion, wherever they are, without investing too large a budget.

When done well, the success of your team building efforts can be measured through several indicators:

• your team's productivity,
• your employees' ability to work together better,
• and the sense of belonging within your company.

These factors help strengthen your company culture and can become a lever to attract talent. Indeed, a company that actively seeks to nurture the bonds between its employees shows that it's attentive to their needs and their well-being.

Today, 36% of young employees feel that "a good atmosphere at work" is a key criterion when choosing a job. It's even said to be the second most important one, behind "a good salary". So whether you practice hybrid work or fully remote work, keep it in mind!

Improving communication

Communication is essential within a company, and even more so when you can't pop into the office next door to chat about a project. With remote work, your team needs to know how to communicate effectively.

It's during remote team building activities that your employees will get to know one another and better understand how each person thinks and works. By encouraging regular exchanges, you strengthen the bonds between your team members, fostering a better mutual understanding.

Boosting your employees' motivation

According to a study by RingCentral, many remote employees report that fully remote work fosters a sense of isolation, a loss of connection with colleagues or a loss of motivation toward their work.

Remote team building can reverse this trend by creating a stimulating environment, and by strengthening the sense of belonging to the group. It offers opportunities to celebrate successes, set shared goals and encourage active participation from every team member.

Read also: Understanding the risks of hybrid work

Choosing activities suited to your employees and your culture

To reap the benefits, make sure you choose activities that suit your remote employees. If you practice hybrid work, these activities can also apply to your team, so feel free to draw inspiration from them. Here are 21 remote team building activities suited to any kind of organization:

For the more intellectual, the curious, and video game enthusiasts:

Nothing beats group games to improve collaboration, for example:

1. a virtual escape room
2. a treasure hunt
3. a virtual quiz
4. a music blind test

Indeed, this kind of activity effectively combines collaboration and brainstorming in a fun setting.

For the more athletic:

If your team is sporty, you can plan:

5. a yoga class over video conference
6. a fitness class over video conference

If you're looking to foster a competitive spirit, why not organize:

7. a virtual race organized by team, with the goal of taking the highest number of steps
8. another physical activity such as cycling or fitness, following the same principle

To make sure your employees stay motivated to remain active, you can use running apps, such as viRACE for example, to measure your employees' physical activity.

Want to give a reward that reflects your company values? Consider making a donation to a charity on behalf of the winning team or employee.

For fans of culture and laid-back social moments:

Classic in-person activities can also be done virtually, such as:

9. a virtual cooking class (with a basket of ingredients delivered to your door)
10. a virtual exhibition
11. a DIY workshop (with a kit sent to your door)
12. a virtual happy hour or tasting workshop (with a hamper sent to your door)

Always greatly appreciated, these moments of sharing and cultural or culinary discovery will help your employees get to know one another better and communicate outside a purely professional setting.

For smaller budgets, an unstructured virtual coffee break can encourage informal exchanges between team members. It helps bring your employees closer by sparking conversation about their current projects or the challenges they're facing. As a result, you encourage mutual support and long-term problem-solving.

For the creatives:

Whether you're a company already geared toward the creative sector or you're simply looking to give your employees the chance to express themselves, you have many options, such as:

13. creating a video or a short film on a chosen theme
14. a talent contest of various kinds (comedy, voice acting, photography, costume, video-conference background decoration)

This lets your employees showcase their skills, while leaving them free to express their creativity.

For those mindful of their impact on society and the planet:

Why not broaden the benefits of your team building events by tying them to your CSR strategy (Corporate Social Responsibility)?

While the sporting activities mentioned above can become charity-driven activities, you can also take on more complex activities, such as:

15. setting up a mentoring system, to ensure the sharing of CSR-related knowledge and to foster skills development.
16. a well-being workshop to improve your employees' mental health
17. a workshop on nutrition and responsible consumption
18. an eco-friendly workshop on recycling and upcycling (turning old into new)
19. an awareness session, on a theme such as inclusivity, or the preservation of biodiversity
20. a collaboration with a nonprofit to carry out an environmental project

For fully virtual teams spread across several time zones:

21. Create a virtual space for exchange using a collaborative platform like Talkspirit, and organize fun activities for your team there. Every Talkspirit group comes with a chat room and a news feed, allowing members to share information synchronously and asynchronously. You can share polls, image galleries, and even checklists there, to organize your remote team building activities as smoothly as possible.

Discover Talkspirit

Best practices for organizing your team building activities

Consider inviting a coach or an expert to lead your workshops or to help prepare your activities if your budget allows. To motivate your team further, don't hesitate to create incentives for the winners and to offer small rewards for all participants (a gift voucher or a gourmet hamper, for example).

Tailor your team building strategy

Finally, before choosing team building activities, take the time to assess the challenges your team is facing. Every team is unique and it's essential to understand the specific needs of yours. Are you facing communication issues, a lack of trust or motivation? Identify these challenges and adapt your activities accordingly.

What's more, company culture plays a key role in choosing team building activities. The activities should be aligned with your company's values and philosophy. So take the time to assess how the activities mentioned above can benefit your company and how to adapt them, if needed.

Be aware of the limits of team building

That said, keep in mind that team building isn't a magic formula. To build a tight-knit and effective team, first and foremost think about establishing:

• clear objectives
• a good communication system, via a platform like Talkspirit
• excellent administrative management
• a culture that fosters feedback and recognition of everyone's work and efforts
• transparent information sharing, which brings clarity to roles, responsibilities and ongoing projects
• a right-to-disconnect policy, to respect your employees' time, including when working remotely

Conclusion

Finally, don't forget to adapt your remote team building activities to your specific needs and, above all, to make them a reflection of your company culture. To strengthen the effectiveness of your team building strategy, you can also launch other initiatives to improve well-being at work for your teams. Check out our practical guide to discover examples of actions to launch.

Access the Practical Guide

In this practical guide, discover:

• the main levers to pull to improve your teams' well-being at work,
• 10 examples of concrete initiatives implemented in different types of companies,
• tools and best practices to make your employees happier and more productive.