Remote team building activities and ice breakers
Building trust between team members is the best way to build an engaged, self-motivated, and collaborative remote team. Without trust, ideas won’t be shared, issues won’t resolve, and tasks won’t delegate effectively. Basically, your team will be out of equilibrium, which is why building strong relationships and maintaining open communication helps remote workers succeed and avoid coworker’s jealousy.
Plus without fun inside jokes there will be way fewer memes in the group chat.
Building relationships by getting to know each other is the fastest way to trust. How do you “build” relationships? Well, you go through stuff together. And along the way, you make sure you’re showing your true selves – not just your favorite color or ice cream flavor, but what makes you tick and what you’re proud of (and not). Being vulnerable, helping another person without expecting anything in return, owning mistakes, taking risks, showing gratitude… These are activities that build confident, remote leaders, whether they are a manager or an individual contributor (IC).
There are many ways to create space for magical, spontaneous moments between teammates, as well as more structured team-building activities. These thrive when managers apply effective communication tips to avoid the risk of your team getting fatigued from work. Get inspiration from this list, and if you have an idea, share it with us.
| Activity | Description | Time | Best paired with |
|---|---|---|---|
| One Good Thing | Everyone shares one good thing in their life that happened that day or previous week. A reminder to start meetings with gratitude. | 1 minute per person | Pre-meeting icebreaker |
| Personal Questions | In "personal questions", you pick a broad question like "what's a great night you recently had" and everyone writes a 1 sentence answer that doesn't reveal personal details. The newcomer has to guess who each answer belongs to. Then everyone goes around the table and shares the full background story. | 20 minutes, 4 for laughter | Welcoming new team member |
| Two truths and a Dream | Similar to "two truths and a lie," but each person shares a dream they have for their future instead of a lie. The group has to guess which statement is the dream. | 5 minutes per person | Team building activity |
| Home Office Tour | Rotate having people showcase their home office and explain the stories behind the objects and photos. | 8 minutes | Pre-meeting icebreaker |
| One Word | People can say one word that describes how they are feeling that day. Piqueing curiosity is intended! | 5 minutes | Pre-meeting icebreaker or daily standup |
| Virtual Escape Room | Create a virtual escape room with puzzles and riddles that teams must solve together in a set amount of time. | 20 minutes | Team building activity |
| Remote Trivia | Divide participants into teams and have them compete against each other in a trivia game on a specific topic, or... person. | 5 minutes per question | Team building activity |
| Virtual Scavenger Hunt | Create a list of items for participants to find in their homes, and have them take photos or videos of the items to share with the group. | 5 minutes per item | Pre-meeting icebreaker |
| Remote Mind Meld | Have participants gather in small groups, and give each group a specific prompt or question to discuss. | 10 minutes | Workshop breakout |
| Team-Building Workshop | Bring someone in to talk about communication, problem solving, or goal setting, and have participants work through exercises together. | 1 - 2 hours | Workshop |
| Team Cooking Challenge | Have teams work together to create a dish or meal using a provided recipe, and have teams present their finished dishes to the group. | 1 hour | Team building activity |
| Talent Show | Have each participant share a talent or hobby with the group, and have others vote on their favorite. | 1 - 2 hours | Team building activity |
| Virtual Game Night | There are tons of virtual team gaming options like Jackbox games. | 2 hours | Social |
Submit your idea
We’ll add it to the list and credit you!
