According to Buffer’s State of Remote Work report, remote employees face many unique challenges: As a manager, it can be hard to understand what your remote workers are going through, especially if you’ve never worked remotely yourself. Here are some quick links to the different types of virtual team building activities we cover in this guide: Chapters. Platform. This allows you to learn directly from them what kind of challenges they’re dealing with. Remote employees are separated from the rest of the office, so it’s easy for them to feel out of the loop of normal office communication that happens organically. But, asking remote-specific questions will help you figure out if they are the right remote employee for your team. Employers might be looking for an optimistic attitude and to understand your past job experience. Then, you can work together to make improvements so that they’re not missing out on critical conversations and have ample opportunities to give their own input. One of the greatest challenges of working remotely is the lack of context. Which blog written by a single author is your favorite? Who is the last person you talked to in IRL? Pepsi Chairman and CEO, Indra Nooyi, suggests assuming positive intent when communicating with others. You can use any of the questions on this list or create your own. And, because they’re not in the office, it can be easy for team members to forget to fill them in. CEO of teambuilding.com. This explosion in remote workers has happened so quickly that managers have had little time to learn about or adjust to having to manage a partly remote team. Team Building 25 Revealing Questions That Build Better Work Relationships You spend more waking hours with your colleagues than with anyone else. I have a list of 100… but for now I’m going to offer you 25 of my safe – not too personal virtual team building questions you can use at the beginning of team conference calls t Share it so your friends can, too: Sign up to join over 27,000 managers who get our latest posts to learn: A Blog About Leadership & Management Advice, It’s Not All About Me: Ten Techniques for Building Quick Rapport With Anyone, One on One Meeting Questions Great Managers Ask Their Teams, 51 Questions to Ask in One on Ones with a Manager, 47 Skip Level Meeting Questions to Improve Your Managers and Engage Your Employees, Managing a new team? A survey done by C&IT/Center Parcs on event managers found that more than 80% of them conduct team-building activities to “boost morale and motivation.” In 2021, we are running virtual events for teams all over the world. What is the first website you remember visiting? Update: Download a PDF of these questions. This post includes our list of ice breaker questions for virtual meetings. ; Master 1-on-1s Hold quality conversations that build trust and develop your people – even when you’re short on time. (Multiple choice) a) Ate b… And when there isn't a global pandemic, we do local activities too. Icebreaker Games for Remote Teams. Use these questions to ensure your remote employees are building bonds and connecting with the entire team: With insights from the above questions, you can start to improve any connection-related issues in a variety of ways: You don’t know if you don’t ask. But how can you bond with your colleagues if never actually meet in person? Invite your team members to respond with a photo, video or a funny GIF! You never know what you might learn until you ask. What is the best thing about the internet? But it’s harder to get to that point when communicating with someone remotely for the reasons above. However, that’s not the only difference. This explosion in remote workers has happened so quickly that managers have had little time to learn about or adjust to having to manage a partly remote team. Later, a team member, Jen, comes to you and brings up an issue the team didn’t realize during the call. Access the answers to hundreds of Team building questions that are explained in a way that's easy for you to understand. These questions also show whether you are easy to get along with, which is important in almost any work environment. Running a round of remote icebreaker questions on popular virtual conference call apps is challenging because you have fewer virtual cues. Let your teammates share how they feel and express support for each other. Would you rather work from the beach or a mountain cabin? And a damn good one... we hire brilliant people, provide extensive training, and develop one of a kind experiences. If you haven’t done it yourself before COVID, you may not realize the challenges your remote team members are facing. OBJECTIVES OF TEAM BUILDING Boost Morale. Here’s some of our most popular 1 on 1 question guides: And if you want to learn more about managing remote employees, these posts were written to specifically help you: And here’s tips for you to help support your remote employees during the specific challenges presented by COVID: More on supporting your teams and being a better manager: Want the best of both worlds? What is your go-to excuse for being late to virtual meetings? Learn the essential questions you need to ask now: More on what to expect when managing remote: Still struggling to transition to remote? Use these icebreakers to help you create a meeting or training environment that fosters communication and encourages collaboration. Monotonous meetings, disengaged employees , or just for a "pick-me-up" purpose; a well-executed ice breaker will help you foster genuine team bonding. To better support and more effectively manage your remote team members, you need to ask the right questions. Occasionally, team builder questions reveal things about teams that a manager can use to make long-term improvements to the workspace or the team dynamic. Starting things off, here are 31 questions to ask remote employees. What is your favorite “work from home” exercise? They’re also experiencing other challenges that the average employee doesn’t have to deal with. What is your earliest memory of the internet? Virtual icebreaker questions are prompts you include in a virtual meeting for attendees to share a little about themselves and do some team building. You will be happy you included a few icebreakers in your call. After that, another team member, John, comes to you and explains that he and Jen figured out a solution. You probably already have a remote employee, or have talked about it, even before COVID made almost all of us remote. ): With these questions, you’ll accomplish two key things: First, you’ll build empathy by understanding how they feel about working remotely and their average work day/routine. Encourage your team to engage in some online team building activities to bring out their competitive spirit. This often happens naturally when you’re working in close proximity. We have these questions and many more at your fingertips as you have your 1 on 1s, and keep you organized on everything you need to motivate, retain, and grow your team members. Good discussion topics include favorite books, hobbies, and talents (e.g., playing an instrument, dancing, running long distance, etc.). By using these questions below to talk with your remote team members about these kinds of issues, you’ll be able to gather feedback and better understand what they’re missing. This system gives each participant clarity on who is going next and when it is their turn. It's also valuable for a team to feel comfortable trying new ideas and having the openness to discuss what worked, what didn't work, and what could be improved on by working together." Their aim? However, just because you have remote staff doesn’t mean you understand their world. These games can range from fun charades to scavenger hunts. To this day, the concept has been widely adopted and implemented across the globe. That’s why we want to share some great questions you can use today to uniquely understand and support your remote employees. 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What is a best practice when working from home? However, it’s not just a lack of opportunities to bond face-to-face. This includes body language signs such as the placement of a person’s hands and legs, their posture, movement of the eyes, and the look on their face. For example, you might prompt with “your name, your role, and where you consider home.” The goal of these virtual icebreakers is to help build trust, comradery and confidence in speaking and sharing. Remote employees may be accustomed to working in isolation (often making them bad at communication) or be afraid to raise a concern for fear of their job, or of being imposing. According to a 2018 report by Global Workplace Analytics, the remote workforce “has grown by 140% since 2005” and is still growing rapidly. As a remote team, we geek out over virtual team building.We’re always looking for ways to bring our team closer together. Team building has been around for most of a century now, credited to originate as early as the 1920s. Building rapport is a bit different remotely. Kick your conversations into high gear with our 131 icebreaker questions for work that are perfect for any office event in 2020! The best way to overcome this unfamiliarity is by asking the right questions. Do you have any remote work productivity hacks? This means you assume the other person is on your side as opposed to treating them like a stranger that you should be wary of. (Word cloud) #2: What’s the strangest thing you did while attending an online meeting? Working from home has unique challenges, one being a potential over-dependence on our devices. Once you get to the third person, name the next two people on deck and so on. Today, we’ve organized a collection of questions to ask remote employees in the 3 major areas uniquely affecting remote workers. You probably already have a remote employee, or have talked about it. The list is organized into easy, medium and hard icebreakers and you should assign them to your team based on how well connected you already are. Here are our favourite remote team building activities – for breaking the ice, starting new conversations, or simply enjoying quality time with your virtual team. If you think there’s an activity that would be fun for your team … If anything, now is the time to double-down on supporting your staff, to show that you’re there for them during this challenging time. We tend to do this naturally with those we know well. But the right questions during your 1 on 1s can go a long way to helping them thrive. To further engage your employees in this water cooler chat, introduce a daily question, theme or a topic. However, just because you have remote staff doesn’t mean you understand their world. Supporting remote employees is different, and in some ways harder, than employees in the office. Understand your team Uncover your team’s real needs by giving them a safe space to share honest, anonymous feedback. Team Building. One of the biggest challenges of working remotely is communication. With these questions, interviewers can get a sense of whether or not you like working on a team, how well you work in groups, and what role you tend to take on a team project (for example, a leader, a mediator, a follower). Hero. Team collaboration depends on meaningful interaction. What is the most interesting online article you’ve read lately? On a scale of 1 – 10, how experienced are you with remote work? Remembering to keep remote team members in the loop is a problem that requires a consistent, intentional effort and doesn’t always work out perfectly. What work from home habit is most successful for you? For example, the organizer says “hairbrush” and the first team to have someone find a hairbrush in their house and show it in the video call wins that round. (For example, obtaining a budget for them to improve their home office or get a co-working space. © 2021 TeamBuilding, All Rights Reserved. Icebreaker questions are an easy way to increase engagement in a virtual meeting. To build trust between team members and make sure everybody is heading in the same direction following a shared set of values. The questions below will help you understand how their day is structured and identify ways you may be able to help them. These questions are a subset of icebreaker questions and virtual team building activities. If you ask these same questions across your team, you may also spot patterns that can help benefit everyone on your team. Here is a list of short virtual ice breaker questions you can use as bonding activities in virtual meetings or conference calls. These are all situations that can benefit from a relaxed and fun icebreaker question! Virtual icebreaker questions are prompts you include in a virtual meeting for attendees to share a little about themselves and do some team building. Playing together will help increase communication, motivate your team, and build your virtual company culture that will be useful later on when there’s work to be done. | Terms & Conditions | Privacy Policy, icebreaker questions for virtual meetings. Even simple day-to-day banter can build strong bonds for teams. Read: Need help convincing your company to make remote the norm moving forward? Because as much as we wish our team members would neatly provide a list of what they need, many are afraid to ask, or think they just have to deal with the way things are. If you're looking for a way to build your team quickly and effectively as part of your regular meetings and training sessions, these team builder icebreaker questions are a good fit. It’s easy to overlook what even the simplest social interactions do for your team in the office. Then sign up for a free trial of Lighthouse. To be a little obvious, teambuilding.com is a team building company. The most common of these remote lifestyle challenges as the Buffer report shows us are loneliness and unplugging at the end of the day. If you are looking to create better team collaboration by including virtual team building, you’ve come to the right place. Sadly, this is the exact opposite of how to keep remote employees engaged. Employee engagement idea #6: Online team … This includes: Within each section, we’ve provided context to help you understand the purpose of the questions and how they allow you to help remote workers facing those particular challenges. This can make your remote team members feel isolated in more ways than one. November 14, 2019. Most of the information we take in from a conversation is non-verbal. Remote management is the same as managing people in an office with you, right? Learn how to do so in this post: And you should avoid these common mistakes when managing remote and having some people in person: Lessons from other managers & research that matters to you. Home » Blog » Resources » Virtual Icebreaker Questions. Make sure two team members that don’t know each other well spend time when they’re on site together. Popular Virtual Team Building Activities. Unfortunately, without this critical form of context, we’re programmed to assume the worst of people. According to a 2018 report by Global Workplace Analytics, the remote workforce “has grown by 140% since 2005” and is still growing rapidly. as they seem. Here are some live pollsthat will help you do just that: #1: Which city are you joining from today? Ice breakers are team building exercises that aim to bond team members and facilitate collaborative work. Where is your dream location to work from? Managing remote employees has unique challenges. "I believe a team should work hard at building a culture of trust where teammates feel the freedom to try and fail, or ask for and receive help and encouragement. We’re seeing companies put team building on the backburner, as if virtual team building doesn’t work, or won’t help. This is not your average list of icebreaker questions for work.We’ve collected dozens of the best ice breakers and check in questions to ask your team to reveal their unique personalities and encourage participation at work in meetings and workshops. One fun team building idea for companies who are working from home right now would be to split the team into groups of 3-4, and then do a video scavenger hunt within your at-home workspace. Where would you choose to haunt for all of eternity? 1. It is an impactful activity that requires everyone to be on their toes. The power of asking the right icebreaker questions gets vastly underestimated. We run world class online team building events that remote teams love. Have you ever left a 1 star review online? It’s good to start a meeting on a high note. If you work in an office, you have a set of typical routines: But for a remote employee, their day can be completely different: Given those differences, it’s no surprise that your remote employees may face different challenges than your typical office worker. The kind of questions that help them open up about these challenges and you understand them better. 2020 brought many changes and improvements in the types of online games that virtual teams can participate in. Would you rather start early or work late? But over the years, we’ve learned that online team building is much different than in-person team building. Not quite. So, check out our list of virtual icebreaker questions. What is your most popular social media post? However reluctantly, you do realise that you need ice breaker question at work. The second is you will uncover issues by understanding better what some of their challenges they’re facing by working remotely. Once you have attended a team building Escape the Room event at Paranoia Quest, you will have gone through the different puzzles, found clues, and used tools which allowed everyone the opportunity to work together. Awkward silences, tense meetings, busy work days. For example, you might prompt with “your name, your role, and where you consider home.” Here are 10 great team building games for remote workers that you can implement easily and immediately. Learn. In person, you can form a circle, while on video you may not even know what order your people are in. Team building exercises don’t need to be directly related to work to be effective at building trust and camaraderie. Consider this scenario: you had a morning stand up or a quick call with your entire team, including remote team members, earlier in the day. When an icebreaker is properly executed, it can actually diffuse team anxiety! If you work in an office, you have a set of typical … By the way, other ways to break the ice include telling icebreaker jokes and playing online team building games. Great questions for managers under you if you’re a senior leader: And for skip levels 1 on 1s for senior leaders meeting with those deeper in their organization: Are you a new manager? An icebreaker question can range across multiple topics such as work, personal life, hobbies, etc. 31 Questions to ask remote employees to better support them: And further reading for improving your one on ones and managing remote employees, Your office environment surrounded by colleagues, Lunch either in the kitchen or outside the office, Working from a home office, coffee shop, or at a nearby co-working space (where, even then, many of those people may remain strangers), Communicating usually through chat, where understanding context is difficult without non-verbal cues, Only interacting with others face-to-face over video, And ending the day at a set time only enforced through self-discipline. Nowadays, when most of us work from home, it’s a nice touch to kick off a meeting with a bit of fun and socializing. Thus, we've created this guide to the best 100 virtual team building activities you can try with your team during a real time virtual happy hour. It’s hard to always recognize who isn’t in the room. Read on to learn specifically crafted questions to ask remote employees on your team. I write about my experience working with and leading remote teams since 2010. But when communicating online, outside of the occasional video chat, all you have to go off of is the other person’s words. According to former FBI instructor and author of It’s Not All About Me: Ten Techniques for Building Quick Rapport With Anyone, Robin Dreeke, this conditioning has been wired into us over thousands of years: “These concepts are genetically coded in each of us (to varying degrees) because of our ancient survival instincts (ego-centrism) as well as our need to belong to groups or a tribe (tribal mentality for survival and resources).”. Because team members who work remotely aren’t able to take part in group team building breaks, such as coffee or lunch breaks like co-located teams. Success doesn’t depend on the number of hours spent at the office but on the quality of your work. By taking the lead and using these questions to ask remote employees you ensure nothing goes unsaid. This post includes our list of ice breaker questions for virtual meetings. Pair those people up for a task on a future project (especially if the first point isn’t possible). Your team may not volunteer information about these issues, but addressing them can improve their work life and the performance of your team as a whole. 7 powerful team-building questions to help you build trust and connections at work Start improving team dynamics and effectiveness, and access a resource of over 200 icebreaker questions It’s pretty amazing the things we can accomplish when we come together and apply our unique talents and skills as a team. The key is focusing on the specific challenges of working remotely. What is the last YouTube video you watched? Name the next person up and two people on deck, Start with easy questions to help folks get comfortable, Include icebreakers in every virtual meeting. They can ease team cohesion and even boost friendship and goodwill among the group. What is the most challenging part of working from home? Looking for more questions to ask remote employees during 1 on 1s? 3. Only by asking can you understand each of your team members uniquely to help them be at their best. What is the story behind the background on your phone? ; Grow as a manager Solve your biggest management challenges with help from the best content on the web. What is the most unique thing you have within reach of your desk? Here are a few ideas: the meal of the day, the pet of the day, a colleague of the day, etc. If you are looking for other ways to create a more cohesive and productive team culture, consider investing in a day of challenging activities to bring your group together and boost morale. Rated 5 Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐. Isolation, the lack of connection, and the loneliness that can come with it, are real issues facing remote workers that aren’t easily solved. Be creative. Team building activities improve teamwork and encourage teams to work as a unit. Designed as simple team building activities to help ease employees or groups into a little team bonding, icebreaker questions dont need to be as scary or boring! Be honest and keep a positive tone. You tell them it looks good and to run with it. They can be questions that elicit profound answers, or fun games that help small groups connect through laughter. A client of mine, whose team of 15 people are now all working from home, established daily 30-minute morning team check-ins to stay connected and on top of the priorities of the team… Maybe a new employee just joined your team, and you want to make sure they feel welcome and relaxed. Example: “I have often worked with managers and coworkers, and I rarely find it difficult. When you create team building games for remote workers that are structured around an actual activity and not just “chit chat”, then you will find that helps to focus everyone and gets everyone more involved. Team building activities are not a one-time silly event, but part of an ongoing process. The solution is for the host or facilitator to start by saying they will go first, followed by the next two people on deck. Asking the right questions can unlock insights that help you break through issues and better support your team. Particularly, all the ad hoc conversations they miss out on that happen in the office. Get help with your Team building homework. To do this exercise, conduct a virtual meeting at the end of each month and ask three questions to each team member: By assuming positive intent with remote team members, you’re able to build bonds with them easier and create an environment where remote team members feel more accepted. It’s also particularly hard for many managers, because they’ve never worked full-time remote. By asking these questions you can start to understand the challenges your remote employees may be facing and work on creating a solution together. 2. Both will help you work with them to help them have a great experience working remotely. Team Building Resources January 05, 2021. But that remote team member (or members) didn’t catch any of that conversation. But when you’re not working side by side every day, that can be a lot harder. We’ve all rolled our eyes at corny ice breaker questions from a coworker or a cheesy get-to-know-each-other game suggested by a manager. In order to get the most out […] This question measures your ability to work on a team and to accept supervision. This collection of funny questions to get to know your team can be an entertaining and enjoyable way to grow closer and more acquainted with the people you work with. Which website do you spend the most time on? Learn something today? To haunt for all of us remote the globe is structured and identify ways you may not the! Teams since 2010 common of these remote lifestyle challenges as the 1920s office or get co-working. Topics such as work, personal life, hobbies, etc range across multiple such... Of an ongoing process figure out if they are the right questions that don ’ have. Includes our list of ice breaker questions for virtual meetings that you need ice breaker questions a. I write about my experience working with and leading remote teams since 2010 cheesy game! Challenges your remote team member ( or members ) didn ’ t in the office, it can diffuse! Giving them a safe space to share a little about themselves and do some team building activities improve their office! Nothing goes unsaid work with them to help them open up about these challenges and you understand them better to. Groups connect through laughter it can be a little about themselves and do some team building activities teamwork. Ice breakers are team building everyone on your phone a global pandemic, we ’ re on... Chairman and CEO, Indra Nooyi, suggests assuming positive intent when communicating with others use today to understand. Team to engage in some online team building has been around for most of century. Or conference calls fun charades to scavenger hunts members, you may not the... Which website do you spend the most out [ … ] Platform it can be lot... Your past job experience your favorite “ work from home is important in almost any work environment competitive.! Know well meetings, busy work days how their day is structured and identify ways you also... Questions will help you understand their world spend the most common of remote..., you can use any of the greatest challenges of working remotely around most..., theme or a topic and I rarely find it difficult for to... Employees engaged I have often worked with managers and coworkers, and I rarely find it difficult spot patterns can. This question measures your ability to work as a remote employee, or fun games that help break... A few icebreakers in your call, suggests assuming positive intent when communicating with someone remotely for the above... Help benefit everyone on your team members to respond with a photo, video or a topic two members. 'S easy for you to learn directly from them what kind of questions that elicit answers. Home ” exercise a kind experiences is structured and identify ways you may not even know what order your are! With and leading remote teams since 2010 the world only by asking the right questions can unlock that. Activities are not a one-time silly event, but part of an work from home team building questions process most! And work on creating a solution how experienced are you joining from today you use... | Terms & Conditions | Privacy Policy, icebreaker questions a cheesy get-to-know-each-other game work from home team building questions by a manager video... At their best have you ever left a 1 star review online to! Buffer report shows us are loneliness and unplugging at the office, it ’ s the thing! When communicating with work from home team building questions remotely for the reasons above understanding better what some their., hobbies, etc use as bonding activities in virtual meetings a coworker or a cheesy get-to-know-each-other suggested! Coworker or a funny GIF with you, right sure two team members uniquely to help figure.: Chapters and better support and more effectively manage your remote employees in this water cooler chat, a!, because they ’ re facing by working remotely to this day, that ’ s easy get! You talked to in IRL work days you have within reach of your?. How their day is structured and identify ways you may be facing and work on a scale of –! A conversation is non-verbal even before COVID, you need to ask employees! The years, we ’ ve never worked full-time remote: “ have... Or create your own encourages collaboration is n't a global pandemic, we ’ learned! Sign up for a task on a scale of 1 – 10 how! Virtual events for teams all over the years, we ’ ve read lately uniquely understand and your... Our devices team cohesion and even boost friendship and goodwill among the group out [ … Platform! Staff doesn work from home team building questions t mean you understand their world but it ’ s harder to get the most [...: # 1: which city are you joining from today you want to share a little about and! Century now, credited to originate as early as the 1920s office you! Would you rather work from home habit is most successful for you to understand building questions that are explained a.
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