You’re managing a distributed team. What are the most effective virtual team building tools?

Giving your team the opportunity to get to know each other on a personal level is a cornerstone to effective synergistic growth. This is a deposit in your teams effectiveness and should be a consistent practice.

Icebreakers and games are some of the most effective virtual team building tools to use when trying to improve a disturbed team. These tools can be very impactful in the virtual space. In my experience doing ice breakers really livens up the mood and gets the ball rolling as far as team connection. Playing games as a team really builds up the bond of the team members and gives them memories they can always share together.

Using Icebreaker for an effective introduction is my favourite. If introduction is genuine, the connection will be genuine. An effective introduction should not include personal details such as your name, age, gender, qualifications, position, or location. Instead, it should focus on revealing who you are, what values are important to you, your passions, preferred activities, and your definition of success for this particular meeting. Reading it loud , breaks many walls instantly.

Ice breakers and games is one of the most easy way to build relationships and bond amongst teammates because it is the zone of convenience for team members to relate without being bothered. Icebreakers and games is most efficient when there's no division based on rank, degree or achievement. During game times, team members are more relaxed to relate with one another and spark conversations.

In my experience, we did this at least monthly for our staff meeting. All of the staff was spread out, so getting together with fun games, helped the teams to forget about work for a minute and engage. Without the personal office camaraderie, these meetings are so important.

Having collaboration tools is very effective for virtual team building when trying to improve a disturbed team. Collaboration helps your team work more closely together. By collaborating ,your team has the opportunity to work with and get to know other team members.

Have feedback tools that are user friendly and those can give confidentiality to respondents. Do not compromise confidential responses that are shared. Feedback is also helpful to gain insights on what activities teams can engage in as well as the appropriate day and time slots. This helps the remote team own the team building process.

While referenced as Collaboration tools, I prefer to define them as Communication. Collaboration goes well beyond sharing product files and information. The Greatest success is gained when teams or partners may experience "constructive conflict " no matter the time or distance. Few will ever gain this level without a proper software platform.

Asana makes life easier by helping to organise tasks, assign responsibilities and track progress collaboratively . Working with Asana each day helps in exploring it more to learn its different uses.

Microsoft teams is great for meetings and regular client check-ins. However my favorite collaboration tool works for internal and external accountability. I love to use RAILs, Rolling Action Item Lists, with enhanced tabs for management, operations, finance and technical. These RAILs can be used for increased awareness and accountability of all parties involved. It can be shared and built collaboratively through Excel. Simplifying it with drop downs and color coding helps to visualize the key elements to focus on too.

Canva has become my secret weapon for creative presentations. It's so much easier to whip up beautiful slides with their vast library of templates and drag-and-drop functionality. Plus, collaborating with teammates in real-time makes it a stress-free process. Now, I actually enjoy presenting my work!

Tools that involve artistic work can help boost the creativity of remote teams. This also helps the teams to express themselves creatively while making the bonding experience more memorable. Some team members may also have hidden artistic talents that help reinforce awareness of capabilities within the remote teams.

Learning tools can certainly be effective virtual team building tools to use when trying to improve a disturbed team. When using learning tools your investing back into your team development.

I used Coursera to gain my Project Management skills, and I loved it .The level of expertise among their faculties , the depth of knowledge they provided, their method of knowledge transfer , and the degree of challenge created to pass the test are really appreciated.

A crucial component of employee engagement is skill development. Online learning tools and open courses enable team members to add skills that are aligned to their personal development goals. Availing these tools to your team members breeds trust and a feeling of appreciation when it comes to career development.

Udemy, LinkedIn learning, and even Adobe has a learning platform. Set the tone with leader boards and competitions to learn, with additional recognition of learning, and possibly even awards or prizes for completion. It is incredible what can be achieved when peers are recognized for their efforts.

Wellness tools can be effective virtual team building tools to use when trying to improve a disturbed team. When working virtual some team members may suffer from several things. Even though remote work sounds like a breeze there is still work that has to get done and responsibilities that must be met. Even though it’s virtual it’s still a job and still has the same pressures as teams who have to go into the office everyday. Having wellness tools can help with the different stressors and issues team members face.

Having regular one to ones and also team chats are great ways to get a feel for the teams wellbeing. Team members will feel left out if they’re not communicated with regularly. Isolation will centrally lead to a very individual culture and ultimately devide the team. Best practice is commonly shared in group conversations.

Wellness is crucial towards helping alleviate effects of burnout within remote teams. Wellness covers the physical, emotional and mental aspects of people. Have open communication lines where team members can raise their concerns or disappointments without judgement. Motivational and self help video links and tips can be shared for knowledge acquisition. This will also compliment the available wellness toole been used.

I am a big fan of having a regular non-business online meeting, like a virtual coffee break. Once this becomes a habit, team members get to know each other much better.

I prefer to convene a distributed team for face-to-face meetings at least biannually. Establishing personal connections among colleagues significantly enhances digital collaboration. These gatherings should encompass not only professional discussions but, crucially, ample opportunities for social interaction, such as collaborative cooking, attending a sports event, or skiing.

Great tips here, team building is key to create a safe space for all your team members. One tool I find very useful is the fast teaming passport where you share a few personal and work preference questions with your team members, ask them go share more about themselves so their colleagues can understand their values, preferences and communication style. When I deliver Global DISC to a team I create a fast teaming passport for the team integrating a picture of each team member and their answers to the personal and professional questions. Teams found it very helpful to learn more about one another and this can also lead to deeper questions between each other and as such greater understanding and cohesion. ??

A distributed team is the reality of working in the present day environment, we need to factor in some of the points: 1) Have stand up meets and be agile. 2) Ensure that the stand up meet cuts across all the time zones that you have your team members are included 3) Make it a habit to join those calls 4) Take this opportunity to utilise your leaders time to share your pain points while delivering a task. 5)The team's dynamic should be such that asking for help should come naturally and unashamedly . 6) It helps in creating a safe space for team members who are new. 7)Taking leaves should be encouraged 8) Being upfront about the fact that work is just a part of your life and not your life. 9) Empower your team to own their deliverables

If your team is distributed but with groups of people living close by (i.e. a few in San Francisco, some in Sydney, a couple in London, etc) there are some very fun virtual/hybrid team building activities you can do. Have people from each city meet in a location and connect to the other groups via your preferred video conference tool. If some participants aren’t able to meet in person, no problem, they can join one of the other teams virtually. This hybrid solution provides a much appreciated opportunity to connect with colleagues in-person while staying in contact and bonding with other colleagues around the world. I’ve used this method with many groups and it has been very effective.