Virtual Team Building Resources

What if you (and your team) “hotwired” technology… Zoom, Slack, Hangouts, Skype, email, text, and more, for intentional team building in this challenging time? Check out the activities below to spark your imagination and to help you be intentional, generative, positive, and resilient as a person, a team member, and a leader.

Rockstar for a Day

Assign a day for every person on your team to be awarded as “Rockstar” of that day. Throughout that day every other team member sends a group text, email, slack, etc. and/or joins a video call that includes: words of affirmation for all this member adds to your team, words of thanks, time to remember (spotlight) accomplishments and successes, etc. If you’re on a video call, end with a toast (alcohol optional…) 

Judo Flip Brainstorm

Uncommon challenges require uncommon solutions. What if you intentionally engage your team in an extreme brainstorming session that is as radical as a judo flip. Make a list of what you’ve done in the past, and what is common practice in your setting, tribe, organization, industry. From there, ask the question… “what is the polar OPPOSITE?” In other words, what would it look like if you ‘Judo-flipped’ the traditional approach into something that is a 180-degree departure from the norm? Choose, adapt, act, and iterate an action step based on what your team co-created. https://joshlinkner.com/creativity-keynote-speaker/the-top-9-most-powerful-brainstorming-techniques/

Assertiveness/Active Listening Communication Exercise

Assign partners. In this exercise each person will share one request of something they want more or less of while the other person practices (reflective) active listening. Choose a category like team communication or team decision-making as a focus area. Make sure you give the freedom for the person sharing to ask assertively. Assertiveness is the ability to express your feelings and ask for what you want. Describe how you would feel if the need was met or the wish fulfilled. The person sharing should start with “I need or I wish…” The listener then lets their partner know they are heard by responding with “What I hear you saying is… and goes on to repeat, summarize, or paraphrase what you heard and how the speaker feels about it. In your next virtual staff meeting, ask what people noticed and learned that might inform healthy team communication going forward.

Ritch Hochstetler, President and CEO at ULEAD

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