Running a remote team is good work, but time zones make it hard to keep people in touch with each other. An office throws in the watercooler chat for free. Remotely, somebody has to put that on the calendar on purpose.
Why bother with remote team building?
A distributed team runs on trust, and trust needs contact that is not a status update. Regular remote team building activities cut down the isolation of working alone at home, and teams that talk easily tend to get more done.
1. Virtual coffee breaks
Book 15 minutes with no agenda and a hard ban on work talk. People end up trading hobbies and weekend plans, which is what they would be doing near the kettle in an office anyway.
2. Online escape rooms
These games hand the team a set of puzzles and a clock. Nobody gets through one alone, so people have to explain their thinking out loud and follow somebody else’s, which is harder than it sounds.
3. Home office tours
A quick look around your desk tells colleagues more about your working day than a job title does. It also makes the voice on the call feel like a person, which is most of the point.
None of this is complicated, and you do not need all three. Pick one, put it in the calendar, and see whether people turn up again next week.
