With so many companies moving to remote work, it's never been more important to keep your team engaged. The Cooleaf platform helps employees stay connected with remote team building activities that encourage teamwork, professional development, and healthy habits.
Here are five remote team building activities you can use to maintain a positive company culture with a remote team.
Challenge - Let’s Have Coffee
Workplace friendships are proven to boost employee creativity and productivity. While offline friendships are often born out of physical proximity, there’s no reason to shy away from online friendships.
Encourage employees to get to know each other virtually with a video coffee date. In the Let’s Have Coffee Challenge, employees schedule a virtual coffee or lunch using a video conferencing tool such as Google Hangouts, Discord, or Zoom. During the meeting, employees learn about one another by sharing one fun fact about themselves and taking a “selfie” screenshot.
Challenge - Share Your Workspace
In the absence of in-person happy hours and office parties, it can be difficult to get to know our team members outside of the office. But photos and stories are a great way to keep your team connected.
Encourage your employees to share stories and photos from their day-to-day life – no matter how imperfect it might be.
In the Share Your Workspace Challenge, team members earn reward points for sharing a work-from-home selfie.
You can get creative with this activity by asking team members to share photos of other things in their home. Such as desk decorations, favorite mugs, or favorite "coworkers" (furry or otherwise!). Or, create a work-from-home scavenger hunt and award points to the person who checks off every item on your list.
Challenge - Idea Share: Focus & Productivity at Home
Working from home isn’t one-size-fits-all. By sharing their best tips to stay focused and productive, employees can try out different tactics and learn what works for them.
In the Focus & Productivity Idea Share Challenge, team members share their best productivity hacks and resources for working from home. Time management tips, organization tools, or playlists to help you get in the zone are encouraged.
Step Challenges
Step challenges encourage employees to meet physical fitness goals, establish healthy habits, and connect virtually with their team. Participants connect with a step tracker such as a FitBit, MisFit, or mobile device, and their steps automatically sync to the platform.
With Cooleaf step challenges, employees can compete to see who can reach the highest step count while earning rewards and getting healthy.
Challenge - 10-Minute Mindfulness
Practicing meditation can help employees reduce stress and boost their immune systems. The 10-Minute Mindfulness Challenge encourages employees to try meditating for 10 minutes each day for five consecutive days. Employees can use a mindfulness app such as Headspace to track their meditation time.
In addition to meditation, remote team challenges can emphasize other techniques for stress-management and self-care during coronavirus quarantine or isolation. You may wish to help employees destress by sharing gratitude, practicing breathwork, or encouraging them to set a time to unplug and relax.
Article updated on 10.13.2020
Interested in learning more about how to engage and motivate your remote team? Cooleaf can help — let's chat!
