Let’s have some fun!

Last March, when we all started working remotely, some teams dived straight into team building activities and/or adding a fun item to meeting agendas. Recently, the leaders I have talked to have mentioned that a lot of these activities have gone into hibernation over the winter months, along with their team. People are tired of working (and playing) remotely. They are burned out and bored.

If this is the case, here are a few gentle, fun activities to try. See if you can allocate 10 minutes to them at the beginning, middle or end of your meeting and they may just nudge your team out of a negative space and into the light of spring.

‘All Sorts’

Learn a bit more about each other by ‘sorting’ your team members. Start by asking everyone to turn off their cameras and then ask a question like, “Are you an oldest, middle, youngest or only child in your family?” Then ask just the oldest children to turn on their cameras. Then ask them a question, such as “What it is like to be the oldest child in your family?”

Other questions you could start with are “Coffee or tea?”, “Indoors or outdoors?”, “Are you an introvert, an extrovert or a combination of both?”

Carry on through the “sorting” until everyone on the team has had a turn.

‘Beat the Intro!’

Another great way to get people to relax and unwind is to bring some tunes with you to a meeting. Maybe even pick a genre, artist or decade based on the musical tastes of the team.

Open up the group chat and then play the first 5 seconds of a song. The first person to type the name into the chat gets a point.

After the meeting, it’s fun to share the playlist of songs with your team.

I know you may feel a bit ‘out of tricks’ at the moment, but why not try one of these activities to ease you back into more meaningful and enjoyable interactions with your team.