“To me, a team is a group of people who may have different things in their hands, but they run with the same heart. They’re also out for one another’s success!”
Jesselyn, Marketing
During this period of time, you may find it hard to feel connected with your team. Whether that be because of the lack of social interaction or activity variety in general, working from home may feel different for each team member. Some may find it peaceful and productive yet others may find themselves missing the chance to turn their chair around just to share a quick joke with their colleagues.
To create opportunities for your team to have a collective experience to share and laugh about during this circuit breaker, we’ve curated a list of creative ways to rekindle and maybe even strengthen company culture during this wild time. Since we have to work from home, why don’t we make the most of it?
Source: Giphy
Online Interactive Games
It’s recommended that you and your team are on a video conferencing platform together while playing the following games. That way you can all see each other laughing or try to read answers off each other’s glasses’ reflections.
Gartic
Let your inner Picasso shine.
Source: Google Play
Website: gartic.io
Time: 15+ minutes
Themes: Drawing, Guessing, Speed
What You Need: Laptop or Computer, Stable Internet Connection
Description: Create a virtual room just for your team and select a category for the game (e.g. food, tools, League of Legends characters, etc.). Take turns to draw your prompt (chosen between two options provided to you by the site) and be entertained as your teammates take a crack at what you are drawing! Points are provided to the fastest guessers of each round with a cumulative score produced at the end of the game. You get to customize up to how many points your team would like to play until.
Scattergories
All you word-game lovers out there will thank me for this one.
Source: Pinterest
Website: https://scattergoriesonline.net/
Time: 30 minutes
Themes: Word, Categories, Same Initials, Speed
What You Need: Laptop or Computer, Stable Internet Connection
Description: Create a virtual room for you and your team and select numerous categories to play with (e.g. things you find in an office, things you do on the weekend, etc.). You get to select how many rounds you would like to complete with your team and each turn is prompted with a letter, you then have to think of a word or a short phrase that goes along with the topic on the page. An example would be a page with the prompt letter “N”, you would then think of “things you find in an office” and “things you do on the weekend” that begins with the letter “N” (e.g. notebook and not set an alarm). The round ends when someone completes the entire list of prompts first, you then go through and grade each others’ answers (some of which will inevitably be hilarious)!
Heads Up!
Remember all the things you learned in Drama Class back in the day? Yeah, me neither, but let’s pretend we all do!
Source: 9to5Toys
Time: 20 minutes
Themes: Act It Out, Word Clues, Guessing, Fastpaced, Timed
What You’ll Need: Heads Up! App (FREE)
Description: Split up into two teams and choose one person on the team to hold up a phone on their head with the screen facing their teammates. Choose a category and the remaining teammates will either act out or give clues to the prompt seen on the phone screen. The person chosen to hold the phone will then take guesses until the time is up. Tilt the phone up to pass and tilt the phone screen down if guessed correctly. Teams take turns to go and there will be a cumulative score at the end.
“To me, having a team means I’m surrounded by individuals
who constantly drive one another to achieve a common goal.
They are the people who motivate each other through tough times.
They work hard, and play hard together”
Wendy, Marketing
Wellness Tips & Tricks
It’s highly recommended that you and your team are on a video conferencing platform together while sharing these moments of stillness together. Encourage only the team member who is playing the audio clip to unmute their mic if you have selected a guided meditation as your activity.
Meditation & Yoga
Inhale, I am alive. Exhale, I am love.
Different Ways To Host:
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7-Days Challenge (30-Days is available too):
Duration: The number of days you select as a challenge for your team (e.g. 7 days or 30 days). The duration each day is determined by the duration of the video or audio selected for your team.
What To Prepare: Yoga mat or a comfortable place to sit
How It Works: Select a short clip that guides your team through meditation, yoga, or both. Some options to start with would be Yoga with Adriene on YouTube, Stop, Breathe & Think on the App Store, this quick clip on a 5-Minute Meditation You Can Do Anywhere, and a 10-Minute Meditation For Anxiety. Once you’ve committed to a video or audio, commit to doing it for at least 7 days together (virtually). Pull up your team-favorite video conferencing app, have one person screen share as you carve out 5-10 minutes a day to be still together.
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Tag, You’re It:
Duration: 10 - 30 minutes
What To Prepare: Your own meditation script
How It Works: The fun thing about meditation and yoga is that it can and should be customized to every individual. That’s why for this activity, people will take turns curating their own meditation script and guiding the rest of the team with their script! You never know how individuals may connect with the very words you have been craving to hear. So sit down, get a pen and a paper, and note down the words and affirmations you wish to hear. Share that with your team as a guided meditation. Think slow, think pauses, think soft. Team members will take turns guiding (e.g. one person per week, one person per day, etc.) At the end of one session, tag the next person who will be guiding. That person will then have a day or a week to prepare depending on how much time you have allocated between sessions.
Source: Nuo-Si Lei
"A team for me is a diverse and cohesive group of people
who all appreciate, embrace and uphold the common goal of
achieving the mission of our company - simply put, a group of believers."
Michael, Co-Founder
Face Mask Party
What better way to celebrate your 7 or 30-Days Challenge than with a Face Mask Party?!
Source: The Chriselle Factor
Duration: What your skincare routine recommends (most face masks range from 10 - 30 minutes)
What To Prepare: Your favorite face mask product, browse this list for inspiration, or use my personal favorites (Avène Calm Soothing Mask and Avène Soothing Radiance Mask for sensitive skin types)
Potential Topics To Discuss:
How do you feel after completing the challenge?
Which was the most challenging day(s)?
Will you continue on with the challenge? Why or why not?
Do you feel any changes within yourself? Physical or mental? How so?
How is your face mask feeling?
“A team is like a family to me. You learn and grow together.”
Jacin, Founder
Lifestyle
More things to do together!
Bingo
We’ve all seen those “Social Bingo”s circulating around social media. We wanted to create one of our own and you can too!
Source: Culturally
What You’ll Need: All you need to do is create a Bingo sheet or feel free to use ours (shown above)!
How It Works: Of course, you may choose to reward your team when they get a streak on Bingo, but Bingo is actually a great way to connect through stories. To talk about that one time you fell in love with Rome or that one time you fell in love in Rome. Companies consist of teams, teams are made up of people, and people are a continuation of their own stories. Be curious about your colleague’s sheet and ask away!
B.Y.O.M.
Bring Your Own Meal.
The great thing about this time is that it allows us to s l o w d o w n and we’ve all seen people share more cooking-at-home videos than we’ve seen all year last year! Unless you live on YouTube like me and can get lost in the rabbit hole of cooking videos, then this activity will be perfect for you!
What You’ll Need: A simple recipe you’ve decided on trying with your team (it can be a link, video, or a team member’s ol’ family tradition recipe - that they’re willing to share of course).
How It Works: Before a virtual team meeting, get everyone to make the dish specified on the recipe (don’t be afraid to add your own twist to it)! During the meeting, everyone will be eating the recipe at their own home but together! This will be a great way to feel like the team has a shared experience to discuss and explore together.
“A team to me signifies a group of individuals who feel like home,
they challenge you intellectually yet have your best interest in mind.
You wonder how you ever thought the bigger picture was achievable without them.”
Nos, Business Development
Thank you for making it all the way to the end of our article! We hope you found some things you can take away from it and share with your own team or company. We talked a lot about different ways to make this time fun for you, but don’t forget to check-in with yourself and others with a simple “Are you okay?” from time to time, it may go a long way.
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At Culturally, we offer customised hands-on cultural experiences for you and your loved ones to enjoy and have fun whilst learning about other cultures!