Virtual Team Bonding is Not Difficult
I enjoy participating in events and I LOVE organizing them even more.
I used to organize events during my schooling days and conduct development camps for teenagers. But of cause the Covid wave swept us off our feet and a part of me just yearns for that delightful conversations when meeting someone new or old.
After listening/reading Adam Grant’s podcast on “Combating Loneliness” and Andreessen Horowitz’s article on “It’s Time to Build”, I was motivated to help myself and also my batch-mate colleagues to get together virtually.
The initial idea is just a weekly 1-hour virtual session to catch up and play games, and as of right now since the nation is opening up, we are transitioning to a once a month frequency instead.
In this article I just want to distill the essence of our sessions so that you may do the same for your team or family.
Games to play:
- Skribblio
- Drawful (Paid)
- Werewolf
- Spyfall
- Saboteur
- Escape Room Games
- Trivia night (with the help of Kahoots)
- Code Names
- Monopoly (Covid edition)
- Haxball
- Poker
- Among Us
- Gather Town
- Car crash (simple and short warm up game on calling numbers)
Flow of event
- Chit chat as people come online (5 to 10 minutes)
- Game time til end of the 1 hour
- Post-game catch up for whoever want to stay to talk
Q&A
Q: Should there be a theme/topic of discussion?
My stance is no because it is an impediment to some from joining and its superficiality doesn’t bring participants closer together.
Q: Who should conduct the sessions?
For our situation, I’m usually the host and there is another person being the game master. The game master can be rotated to give everyone a chance at leading sessions. It is also a nice way to get to know different individuals when they are in the spotlight.
Q: Should I test the game beforehand?
Definitely! It is to avoid any technical issues, and also achieve alignment between the Game Masters on the rules of the game. To me, this is similar to the UAT/Production environments we have in the IT field, you don’t want to push out a new feature without even testing them!
Q: what videoconferencing tools are you using?
For us we tested Toasty but have decided to fall back on the company videoconferencing solution which is Google Meet. Take note that if you are using company equipment, certain games/sites maybe blocked. This goes back to the question on top on running a test before the session.
Q: Is 1 hour too long or too short?
Based on our survey feedback, 100% feels 1 hour is just nice.
Final thoughts
As we transition out of lock-downs, the frequency of online sessions will reduce and become less necessary.
However, anecdotal evidence suggests that some businesses are getting more international with employees in various geographies, and some families are across the globe.
Being highly intelligent creatures, our brain crave intellectual stimulation and emotional connection with others. Thus my personal opinion is that online team bonding still holds value in the long run.
