In today’s world where many employees can work from anywhere, it’s more important than ever to have a stash of easy team building activities at the ready.
40% of remote workers want more casual face-to-face gatherings with their colleagues. Beyond that, 41% struggle to feel integrated into the company’s culture. It’s much harder to connect with people when you don’t see them in-person regularly. Without those casual run-ins you lose the water cooler chat. But there are ways to recreate it.
Let’s check out some easy team building activities that strengthen company culture whether your team is remote, hybrid, or office-based.
Ice breakers
I’ve always hated ice breakers, but sometimes they can be effective to, well, break the ice.
The worst part is always the start of the ice breaker, before anyone speaks. Then, people’s anxiety plateaus as they start talking and realize they have plenty of things to discuss.
What eventually changed my mind about ice breakers was actually a YouTube short I came across by accident. It was making fun of ice breakers. For instance, the one where you talk one-on-one with someone and have to find something in common.
Many of the comments defended ice breakers, saying that they broke down connection barriers.
So, if you’ve got a new team, or a newly merged one, consider getting members to speak to each other one-on-one and find something in common with the person next to them (or on a call with them).
One-on-one conversations like this, rather than everyone introducing themselves to a big group, break the ice far better. People get to have a two-way conversation rather than just talking about themselves into what feels like a void, especially when it’s done online.
Using ice breakers at the beginning of meetings or events is a super simple option when it comes to easy team building activities.
Unconventional book clubs
While I love discussing books, I’ve always found it hard to read when I feel like I have to. It takes the enjoyment out of it. It may even mean I end up reading something I just can’t connect with but feel obligated to slog through. Sometimes you have to be in the right frame of mind to get the most from reading a book.
That’s why my friend and I have set up an unconventional book club. We bring a book we want to talk about, then share why we love it. That’s it. Minimal commitment but everyone comes away with a new book for their To Be Read pile.
For busy employees this is even better, because they don’t have to read a set book by a specific date. And they won’t be quizzed on the book after. So it’s one of the easy team building activities with both a low barrier to entry, and a low commitment level.
Ask a question on Slack/ Teams/ Workrowd
Asking a fun question on Slack, Teams, or Workrowd is a small thing to do. Whether a team is remote, hybrid, or in-person though, it helps them find things in common.
Simple shared interests, like their favorite sports team, help employees connect on mutual ground beyond work. This can help foster better team dynamics.
The questions don’t have to be—and frankly shouldn’t be—complicated or require too long to respond to.
When asking a question, it’s often better to require a low commitment from the first answer. Then they can always expand on their answer if someone asks.
Questions that lend themselves to easy team building activities might include:
- What’s your favorite food?
- What sports do you follow?
- What’s your favorite ice cream flavor?
- What are you reading right now?
- What are you learning right now?
- What do you plan to watch on TV this evening?
- How are you spending your weekend?
Away days
Away days allow employees to fully immerse themselves in conversations and activities without getting caught up in the minutiae of their everyday jobs.
These could be purely for easy team building activities, or also used for some business planning sessions. You can structure it based on the needs of your organization or team.
Trivia
Trivia doesn’t just test our general knowledge; it can help us bond, too. It helps strengthen our memories and can be a good way to laugh with colleagues. Plus, it can help you find out other people’s strengths and interests that might even be useful in the workplace.
For instance, if you’ve got a math question and someone can work it out in their head, that’s a useful skill for sales calls.
You could pit different teams against each other, or split people up if you want to increase connections with people outside of the colleagues they work with every day. Hosting trivia lunches or happy hours is a fool-proof add to your list of easy team building activities.
ERGs
Employee resource groups enable your employees to meet with other, like-minded team members.
As well as helping them with networking opportunities and a sense of belonging, these groups can help grow employees’ skills and increase cooperation between departments.
Workrowd makes it easier to manage your ERGs so you, and your employees, can get more from them. Get in touch to find out more.
Team lunches
Free lunch is a sure bet when it comes to easy team building activities. Food is always a powerful way for people to bond, and team lunches are no exception.
They work well as they don’t eat into people’s morning or evening activities, and almost everyone will eat lunch anyway.
Be sure to send around a poll asking for venue suggestions or dietary requirements. That way you can cater to as many people’s needs as possible.
Networking with a speaker
Networking events where you host a speaker who’s interesting or useful to your employees can help break up the work day and attract remote workers into the office.
It gives them something to talk about, expands their skills, and is a classic way to offer professional development.
You could do this via a breakfast, a lunch, or even an evening event.
These tools can also be a powerful way to nurture prospects if you offer them an exclusive invite to an interesting speaker/discussion. So beyond easy team building activities, this can also directly impact your bottom line by increasing sales.
Conclusion
Easy team building activities don’t have to be entailed, but they should be interesting and varied between low and high-commitment. The less effort someone has to put in beyond their work duties, the more likely they are to want to take part in other easy team building activities like away days. They’ll already feel like a part of the team and will want to spend more time with their colleagues.
If you’d like a tool that can make it easier to market, manage, and measure your easy team building activities, get in touch to find out more about how Workrowd can help.