The Marshmallow Challenge was developed by Tom Wujec, who has done the activity with hundreds of groups around the world. This version has an extra debriefing question added with sample questions focusing on roles within the team. In eighteen minutes, teams must build the tallest free-standing structure out of 20 sticks of spaghetti, one yard of tape, one yard of string, and one marshmallow.
By sharing some of their 9 dimensions, your team gets to surface things they’re proud of, as well as those that need work. You’ll explore what your group is aligned on in the debriefing section and then move forward together as a team. There is no shortage of fantastic tools to collaborate and communicate, but not all of them are appropriate for every situation.
As technology changes, so will the best practices that empower remote teams. Keep an eye out for advancements in AI-powered facilitation, virtual and augmented reality integration, and increasingly sophisticated collaboration platforms. By intentionally designing inclusive practices into your remote meetings and workshops, you cultivate a more collaborative, engaged, and ultimately more successful team.
Virtual Icebreaker Games
These sessions build organizational knowledge while ensuring good work receives visibility and celebration across the team. These walls become places team members visit regularly to give and receive appreciation. Seed the wall with leadership recognition to model the behavior and encourage specificity in appreciation (what exactly someone did and why it mattered). Visual spaces dedicated to appreciation create ongoing recognition rather than one-time moments. Digital team appreciation walls serve as living records of gratitude and acknowledgment. Milestones deserve celebration, and virtual ceremonies can feel surprisingly meaningful when designed thoughtfully.
This activity involves individual reflection while fostering connection and promoting forward-thinking. When teams don’t connect, they don’t just underperform – they fall apart. We’re seeing turnover rates spike in companies https://about.me/asianfeels that haven’t cracked the code on virtual connection. We’re about to add some life into your next team meeting, and not a single person will mysteriously develop “camera issues”.
You’re going to feel a bit vulnerable and exposed, so it works best if there’s already a sense of psychological safety amongst teammates. But because you’re discussing each other’s strengths, the conversation tends to be very positive and affirming. Chances are, everyone will walk away with a deeper sense of belonging and an understanding of the unique value they bring to the team.
A Step-by-step Guide To Planning A Workshop
Virtual escape rooms provide an exciting way for teams to bond and problem-solve in a time-sensitive challenge. Laughter is one of the best ways to bond teams, and meme challenges deliver humor and creativity. Creative activities allow employees to relax and unleash their inner artist. For pet lovers, virtual pet events bring plenty of smiles and connection.
Or the one where a guide dresses up as a plague doctor and walks through the streets of Prague, commenting on various landmarks relevant to the 17th- and 18th-century plagues. Cohesive teams that work well together are those with an understanding about what makes a team and how it functions. In this next section, we’ll take a look at some example processes with a complete workshop template you can use to get started.
Organizations can create a unified, motivated workforce that thrives together by prioritizing remote employee engagement, driving long-term success and innovation. Clear, transparent communication ensures employees stay aligned with company goals. Smaller teams thrive when ideas flow freely, and virtual brainstorming encourages collaboration and creativity.
- Understanding each other on a personal level means we can communicate more effectively and have an easier time distributing roles and responsibilities across the team.
- This creates a need for more thoughtful, planned ways to help remote teams bond and stay connected.
- Quieter individuals or those less comfortable with technology might struggle to contribute.
- Someone has masterminded a heist to steal a priceless collection of precious jewels, and it’s up to you and your team to recover them before time runs out.
- Moreover, trivia competitions can boost morale, create a vibrant remote work culture, and provide opportunities for recognition and positive reinforcement.
We write as a team of community-engaged practitioners committed to sparking dialogue about facilitation, participatory design and social justice. We sought to find spaces to learn from others who shared similar social justice commitments and turned to our networks to strategize on how to best adapt our projects with care. We realized that more critical spaces were needed for community-engaged practitioners to collectively learn from one another across sectors and fields. Our larger goal was to develop a series of free, public resources and cross-sector events to support community-engaged practitioners through this challenging time. Facilitating a remote workshop or online meeting requires that you use tools as part of the process.
We will explore specific, actionable ideas you can implement immediately, from collaborative problem-solving in virtual escape rooms to casual chats over coffee. Each item includes clear steps for execution and tips on how to facilitate the experience for maximum impact, helping you build a connected and thriving virtual team. There’s no better way to get to know virtual team members than by hearing their stories. Whether they know it or not, everyone has a wide variety of stories to share — it may just take a little prompting. To get ideas rolling and everyone on the same page, create a list of ideas, or select a few from this New York Times prompt list. For work, you want to keep the topics light and fun, so people are comfortable sharing their stories with colleagues.
Office Trivia Challenge
Then, using a video conferencing platform of your choice, ask your teammates to share a story from their birthplace or talk about their favorite thing about it. You can turn this unusual circumstance into an opportunity to get to know your coworkers better. Ask each member of your team to snap a photo of a part of their workstation that they feel represents them or their personality. Ask your team members to make the recipe before the end of the week and then block off some time to share how it went with each other on a Friday.
