The secret ingredient for any leader of a virtual team is to focus on building a strong culture. Due to geographical distance, team members easily feel disconnected and misaligned. The key is to align the team to a mutual set of values and behaviours.
The level of effective interactions between team members also plays a vital part in building the culture.
- Agree on which technology to use to assist with collaboration and decide on rules for virtual meetings.
- For the international team clarify business hours taking different time zones into account. Decide on meeting times and accommodate everyone by rotating the timeslot and each member shares in attending the meeting at an inconvenient time slot.
- Simulate a virtual “water cooler experience”. Use social media and video conferencing to informally meet and engage with team members on a regular basis.
- Arrange your own ‘cupcake day’ to celebrate birthdays of team members.
- Share in the fun: Include a fun element and share pictures of home offices. One can create a contest with categories such as “best view from your desk” or “biggest need for improvement”.
- Communicate, communicate, communicate: Agree on response times to queries – internally and externally. Commit to honest and candid conversations. Follow a plan to address miscommunication, as it can very easily happen.
- Measure output not hours behind the computer. Give team members autonomy and agree how will follow-up and provide support
Have a look at more tips to use for inspiring some watercooler experiences. Have a look at the last one, it contribute to the team’s High Performance Rhythms as it focus on a exercises challenges and as we know exercise is one of Neurozone’s foundational drivers in the Neurozone HP readiness index.
? Weekly team virtual lunch – even better, fund their UberEats or handle their food orders
? Share a photo of life at least once a week – it gives team members a glimpse into your life beyond work and will almost always spark some conversation. You can even make it themed each week (eg messy desk pictures)
??♀️ Zoom meditation or yoga sessions – this may sound a bit crazy but the teams that we’ve spoken to that do this, love this
? Live DJ on Fridays – it’s fun to just watch someone spin on Zoom as you wrap-up your week
? Virtual brown bags – I’m sure this came with free pizza when held in the office but keep it going when virtual. It allows those who don’t normally get to present opportunities to present + you can pair it with your weekly team lunch. Also, it doesn’t just need to be about work, just have someone “Share a skill”.
? Gaming sessions – this might be the most obvious and can be a nice fun activity to include 2 Truths, 1 Lie , a virtual escape room with Puzzle Break or have a virtual quiz and trivia games.
? Wednesday bonfires – I have heard of a a team that set up a bonfire in their backyard and they do a regular virtual camping trip with their team. It’s a good opportunity to have “watercooler chat” while watching the fire.
? Start some recurring meetings with ice breakers – each week, choose a new ice breaker question and lead with it. It’s a great way to learn more about teammates, especially those that work across teams that you don’t normally interact with.
? Collaborative music playlists – lots of different apps to make this happen but it allows different team members to be DJ for the day.
? Meme/GIF and/or Zoom background battles – it seems Instagram celebrities have also picked-up on this and custom Zoom backgrounds are now a business!
? Play White Elephant – yes, this is the same game you may already play over the Christmas holidays but do it with your team virtually. Once you finish, have the gifts shipped out.
☕️ Virtual coffee chats – on Slack, you have great plugins like Donut but take this a step further and make it live. Each week randomly pair with someone you don’t work with closely that you can chat with for 15 minutes or more. It’s a great way to connect and gain empathy with other teams in your organization.
? Create a book club – with less commute, many of us have more time to read. Create a recurring event to chat about recent books and share.
? Start a challenge – not everyone may be up for a fitness challenge but simple out-of-box challenges can be helpful each week. For example, one team recorded jumping jacks done each day.
