In the past few years, a lot has changed both in our personal and professional lives. The coronavirus pandemic has had workers riding every form of emotion a human can feel. Quite unexpectedly, we have gone from working in an office surrounded by our colleagues, laughing and generally enjoying ourselves to working from home, following social distancing.
A nine-to-five job is now a thing of the past. Lately, professionals can choose their space, be it a home or a cafeteria with WiFi, to work, and virtual sessions for a multinational company aren’t just limited to interactions over Skype or Zoom. Whether you’re fully or partially remote, knowing your co-workers is important as it helps create a successful and motivated team. And if you work at home you can enjoy things like the central park obelisk.
Successful team-building exercises help employees to open up. Some activities can also involve your staff’s close friends and immediate family. When co-workers open up about their surroundings, likes, or dislikes, it creates a sense of trust and community.
If you’re a startup and find it difficult to manage staff in different locations, maybe it’s time to hire a company that can bring your workforce together.
Keep reading to find out the benefits of virtual team building
1. Connect workers
Teams consisting of employees who are connected tend to work better together. It saves time for ice-breaking as the participants already know each other. The members can simply get started with work.
Recruiting employees for a virtual position where no one is physically there to nurture them might give you the jitters. But a team of mentors that can connect in-person as well as online with remote workers for the first few weeks makes a world of difference. Learning about the company’s seniors, mentors, and work culture can be a powerful experience and aid in assimilating new hires. Several activities may require the workers to connect at an individual and group level, separately.
2. Build collaboration
Like in-person team building, virtual team building can bring or keep every recruit on the same page. Every individual gets a kit containing all the essentials for task completion. A participant can’t proceed with their assignment without an understanding of the team members, job descriptions, and goals.
Employees work like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. Only a thorough understanding of one’s task as well as others’ can prevent any ugly overlaps or loopholes.
3. Inclusive
Stephen Hawking once wrote, “Disability need not be an obstacle to success”.
There are different types of disabilities, some visible and some invisible. Recently, new tools are opening pathways for technology to be usable by anyone, regardless of their ability. Organizations have realized the importance of maintaining an unbiased work culture and retaining talent.
Virtual teams can create an awareness of certain disabilities and train the able-bodied to stop patronizing disabled employees. Inclusivity can encourage the differently abled to not shy away or feel unwanted.
4. Communication
A sense of community is essential to a workplace that aims to thrive in the current times. Every person in a company should know where the organization is headed. A virtual team-building platform keeps communication constant.
Routine company-wide emails, newsletter, or important updates is an effective way to provide information to remote employees of the organization.
5. Use of real-time applications
Remote working doesn’t necessitate a delayed response. Real-time apps respond faster and more efficiently to user input than colleagues or mentors in a traditional office environment. Instant exchange of information is always preferred when following strict deadlines for submission.
Virtual teams generally include a combination of in-office and remote members. Real-time applications are needed because disabled individuals may not be able to visit headquarters too often.
Conclusion
Although highly encouraged, industry, company, and department decide on the use of virtual teams.