Speaker 1: Hey everyone, I'm Hedy, so glad you're here. I'm an innovation trainer and founder of innovationgym.consulting and this video is about virtual team building activities. Three virtual team building activities we'll cover in this video, all about 5 to 10 minutes and they make a huge difference. So let's get started. Oh wait, before we actually get started, please subscribe to my channel and hit the bell so you get notified each time I post a new video. So we've got this covered, major things happened within the last decade, lots and lots of changes considering teamwork, whereas like 10 years ago you were almost crazy to have a virtual remote team, today it's totally normal, but the challenges that come with it, I think are not so easy to tackle because you are not in the same space and therefore you need some activities to really get the team momentum going, to foster the team trust and at the end of the day establish a team culture or an effective working team. And again, these three little activities, they will help you to really foster this team trust or one identity, if you will. And I've used these techniques the last decade and I found that they really, really make a difference. Some teams sometimes even say like, when they've done that, like these five minutes that really, really made their day. They first were in a super grumpy mood and then they were in a totally different state and therefore the team meeting, the virtual team meeting actually made sense and had a great outcome. So the first little activity that I want to share with you is simply create a team name. Why? Because a team name creates an identity and I've had teams that printed the name on their t-shirts so even though they were not in the same space, they had this kind of team feel and this like, check out, we're all in the same boat feel. How do you do that? Simply brainstorm quirky, funny team names that fit to you. Maybe you also want to use the first letter of your names. So yeah, at the end of the day, you have one conglomerate of all of your first names, maybe. That's cool. How do you do that? Brainstorming, as I said, you need somebody who documents it in a virtual document or you just put it into the chat. Very, very, very important is no judgment, no discussion, no comments whatsoever. You have like two to three minutes where you just keep like the ideas rolling and then afterwards decide on which of these names are really appropriate and cool for you. What I also recommend is that for the voting process that you don't just say, okay, I like this, this, this name, but you have it structured as well so you are in the five to ten minutes. How do you do that? You will, first of all, write down silently which names you like most, three votes, not more. And then you go through the list and then you tick, you write down after each name, any scores you have on each of them, if that makes sense. Yeah. Okay. So your team identity makes a huge difference. I highly recommend it. Do it and let me know in the comments below how that goes. Activity number two, one of my favorite things to do in the whole wide world, ask for how are you, but not like how are you in that sense, but in asking what kind of, like a metaphorical question, I give you examples. What kind of a drink are you today and why? It's perfect to kick off any virtual team meeting because then you know where each one is at and also if the team needs to cater to somebody's, yeah, needs or bad mood or somebody just, I don't know, had a terrible night because their children were sick. You never know. So do that before a meeting, before you actually start doing the meeting. And then you have like this five to 10 minutes where you check the mood in a metaphor. So one example, as I said, what kind of drink are you? And then ask why? And then they would say something like, today I feel like a green smoothie. And then you ask as a team, wow, interesting, why? And then they say something like, because I feel super healthy, I feel super empowered and very, very much looking forward to this meeting. That's fantastic. You clap, but you also want to watch out for the answers that are not so positive. And for instance, you might hear like, today I feel like a lukewarm, half empty cup of coffee. I don't drink coffee, so that's already really disgusting. But like, it's lukewarm and it's really not enough in there anymore. And then you ask empathetically, okay, why? And then they might say, well, because I had terrible nights because my, I don't know, my children are sick, as I said, or like, because it happens often to me. So yeah, anything that really is personal or related to work, but that bothers them and keeps them off focus really off of the team meeting. So then you have a third question. So first is, what or who are you today? Why? And then thirdly, if there is a negative answer, or like a concerning answer, not say negative, but concerning answer, ask, okay, what would you like to be today? And then they might say, well, I would love to be like a full glass of beer with lots of foam, sparkly, and really like a lot of me, yeah, a lot of energy. And then you ask another fourth question, which is, how can we help? So this is the actual process of, yeah, creating a team, a team, I would say, creating a team that cares for each other and looks and watches out for each other. And then they might say, well, just acknowledging or hearing me out or listening to me already made a huge difference. I'm already almost a beer, a small beer. So thank you very much. But this and this and this you can also do in order to help me. And that's a fantastic way to start off a virtual team meeting. You can also have like other metaphors, for instance, like what kind of animal are you? And then somebody would say, well, today I'm a lion. I'm very, very confident that this is great. And then another person might say, well, today I'm feeling almost like a sloth. And then you watch out and be like, okay, why? And then what would you like to be? And then they would say, I'd love to be a cheetah. And then you ask again, okay, how can we as a team help you to become more of a cheetah? Okay. Let me know what you think about that in the comments below and how you will use it. Very curious to know. Team activity number three is very, very simple. Again, use emojis for checking also the mood at the beginning of a meeting or as kind of a feedback at the end of this meeting. How? You simply ask, okay, how do you feel right now at this moment? Either draw an emoji if you have a virtual whiteboard or use the chat to just post it in there. Or if you just over a phone, connect it over a phone, if visual doesn't work, you just describe it. It also works. Also have done that really works. So then you can again ask what if you do it as a kickoff and you have like not so positive or like challenging emojis in the pool, you ask how, well, what would you rather like to be? Why are you that way? Listen, listen, listen. And what would you rather like to be and how can we help? Same procedure as before. But if you use it at the end of a virtual team meeting, like the last five to 10 minutes, you can also ask, okay, after this meeting, how do you feel about the outcome that we've accomplished? And then you have sort of a feedback system and then ask, okay, if they're not so positive emojis, you can ask, okay, what can we do in order? What can we iterate on? So next time you have a smiley face instead of a grumpy or bored face. All right, everyone, three team building activities that hopefully inspire you, hopefully work for you. Let me know in the comments below how you're going to go forward and how they work out. Give me a thumbs up if you like it and see you soon and have serious fun at work. Bye bye.