Mar 02, 2021 04:06 PM EST By Ernest Hamilton, UniversityHerald Reporter

You might have heard the term "virtual team building" before. It's a way that you can use a digital learning environment to help get your workers on the same page. That's particularly useful if you have lots of employees doing remote work during the pandemic.

Virtual team building is something that's probably here to stay since some companies don't even have brick-and-mortar locations anymore. If you have a business model that doesn't need a physical space, that can be very helpful since you no longer need to pay to rent one. However, if you're doing away with the brick-and-mortar office space, it becomes critical that you have virtual team-building exercises.

In this article, we'll talk about four of the better virtual team-building exercises in which you can engage.

The Virtual Troubleshooting Session

When you look at virtual team-building strategies, the virtual troubleshooting session has to be at the top of the list. If you have many remote workers, there might sometimes be miscommunications and misunderstandings. If all of you are working toward specific goals, these can definitely hinder you.

A virtual troubleshooting session lets your workers air their grievances and talk about anything that is bothering them. You're trying to address any challenges as a team, and you should encourage your workers not to hold back during these sessions. If everything's out in the open, then you can address it rather than letting it fester.

If your team members know that they can safely bounce ideas off each other and talk about anything that's bothering them, that encourages comradery. You want the team to always feel that they are working toward a common goal, and this is one way to do that.

The Group Online Training Course

Regardless of your business model details, it's highly likely that you'll need your workers to learn some new skills as time passes. New tools come out, and you'll want your employees to know how to use them. They also might need to because of oversight or regulation.

You can set up a group online training course that everyone can take together. You might hire someone to teach the course if it already exists. If it doesn't, then you can create one.

When everyone learns together, it's more likely the new skills will catch on. Everyone can ask questions at the same time. That way, if one person is nervous about bringing up any one thing, it's likely someone else will raise the topic.

Group training is a way to hold everyone accountable. You're liable to get more engagement, and you can foster company unity.

Recurring Catch-Up Meetings

You can also have catch-up meetings once a week, or however often you require them. You can take the time to talk about the courses you're teaching, or you might recap the group's performance. You can speak about areas where you'd like to see improvement, and you can praise some individual performers as well.

If you have an R and D team, this might be their chance to talk about new products they have coming down the pipeline. You might have a financial report if you feel like that should be a company-wide discussion.

You can track both individual and group progress this way. You might also talk about future plans if you're going to expand, pursue a merger, or you're planning an IPO.

Web and Video Conferencing

This is also a great opportunity for your employees to acclimate to web and video conferencing. There are some different platforms that offer it, but if you have a mostly or wholly remote worker model now, your employees need to be ready to interface through web or video conferencing at a moment's notice.

You'll need to figure out which learning management system allows you to connect easily and quickly. 

You can have pre-recorded videos if you have something else to do at that time, or you can do live team-building exercises if you want to be there to field any questions and concerns that arise.

If you don't have video capabilities, you might not be able to tap into your team's emotional needs as easily. It's helpful to see the people you're addressing, even if you're not actually in the same room with them.

Virtual team building is something that almost every company is trying out these days, but for many, it is already commonplace. If you haven't tried it yet, you'll likely find that it gives you better individual and overall worker performance.

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