What are some fun ways to motivate my team?
I have a few remote, part-time workers. We don't have the opportunity to work together often and mostly connect over email. I am thinking I should try to set up a few team activities for us to build stronger personal relationships. What are some fun things others have done that have worked well?
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Dec 9, 2019
- Parties
- Pot lucks
- Icebreaker inside games
- Casual Fridays
- Random gifts
- Random appreciation
- Quarterly award ceremonies (Best blah blah)
- Asking anonymous genuine feedback on standards and practices and follow up on improving under that person's advisement
Oct 23, 2015
Hello Kate,
When i read your question remote position is very crucial point i think you should work upon. Plan a meeting or an outing at a common place over weekend will be a good options.
You can also play some online games and challenging tasks like team building activity.
Oct 15, 2015
We have done many things in order to improve the teamwork and confidence in individuals feeling they are respected and build the team to be as strong as possible...how we would fly in the remote workers every quarter, have an all day meeting with breaking off into various teams have lunch catered and then go for a team building exercise outside of the office like rock climbing which you have to depend on and be confident in your team member...then a nice dinner....I am available to also speak to motivate as well...
Oct 10, 2015
I am being doing this when I was regional manager and I need to motivate those managers in different countries so that they can deliver works with their team. The challenges increased when culture and languages differences added in.
On top of standard weekly conference/video call, we have individual call very regularly to understand them from work and personal life. Normally, I find understanding them motivate them the best.
Moving forward for some fun activities, sometimes I will specially design tasks in such a way that different team in different countries will do different specific work which is part of the whole. All the teams know that they need to depend each other to complete the whole piece of work and started to work closer to each other (more communication + more understanding of each other needs) even though many of them never see each other before. This increase the bonding + more productive approach at the same time, well some "fun" in some ways :).
hope this help
Oct 9, 2015
Socializing activities, encouraging comments ,praise and accentuating the positives.
Oct 9, 2015
From my point of view you should arrange a get together meeting which will definitely improve you and your team to motivate ..
Dont discuss about work on the meeting, it should be casual.
Oct 9, 2015
The main question is that how big is your team? If your team is small then give them cash rewards depending upon the money you have at your disposal and if your team is big then give them gift vouchers again it will depend upon you .
Money is the biggest motivator for any team.
Oct 8, 2015
if all your team members use smart phone, you can try to downloadb wechat, and establish a group chat yourself to add all mumbers in group, every one can share message of words pic. and noice. immediatelly, and chat eachother
Oct 8, 2015
Oct 8, 2015
Try to schedule some down time and talk about kids and whatever life throws at you.
Oct 7, 2015
Hi Kate Have you ever come across the Fish Philosophy? 4 simple beliefs: to have fun, make someone's day, be there for someone, choose your attitude.
Could you take those statements and ask them what they could do in order to fulfill those beliefs on a regular basis and share with the group? If you google Fish Philosophy you can see where it all started about 20 years ago. I was talking to someone who was in that fish market only last month and they are still motivated by these same beliefs.
There is also a new company been set up called School of Babel who are providing some great ideas that could help you.
Wishing you every success Carol
Oct 7, 2015
Since your team is working over email , the missing part is get together with some activities as you are thinking , organize parties or picnic or to meet at certain place for dinner or any kind of activity which strinthen oersonnel relations which may support working issues , of course it will positively reflects better results .
Oct 7, 2015
I have similar type of remote teams, at times, i just know their names and email, Since i live on other side of globe in most of the cases, some options i have tried are:
1) Try to accumulate and document as much personal information you can - Example their family members & their of work activities etc, Try to find their very personal occasions which they remember to make them happy.
2) Start to call them up once in a while (say month or two) and try to speak a word or two on those personal incidents (Yes you have to have couple of your own stories handy to relate and share with them) - This would bring them closer to your thought process, inturn better understanding of individuals for you.
3) Make a note of key discussion points to continue from there for later communications. avoid any kind of written communications on personal matters (Unless you chat with them), as not every one would understand what you write and what you mean. best is to call them.
I use many other ways, including supporting them in their personal goals, personal likings, at times I give them surprise visit, if I am around their place or Take them for a party (or outdoor), These methods are suitable for a smaller team like you mentioned.
M Anis
Oct 7, 2015
If you are able to get everyone together, The Go Game is a lot of fun and is a great team building activity: http://thegogame.com/team-building-san-francisco
Oct 7, 2015
If you're just trying to build better personal relationships then think about the ways in which you do this naturally when you work in the same office as other people. We all get to know each other by talking and having coffee together.
Jacqui has already mentioned the virtual coffee idea, which you can all do at the same time as well as on a 121 basis. If you connect together on social media you can link up through chat rooms, etc and talk as you normally would. You can also throw in topics to get people talking if you have to but it's best to keep it casual, if you force it, it just won't work. If you do this the same time each week then it quickly becomes part of the way you work.
You can slip in quizzes written by different team members to help then share the things they enjoy or are interested in.
You can then build upon this with monthly/quarterly get togethers which are a mix of business stuff and social engagement and because you talk regularly with each other you get past the awkward bit at the beginning where you do the big catch up. Depending on what is going on within your business you can use this time to help with team building, communicating business vision, etc.
If you're looking to improve productivity or increase employees engagement then there are others things that you can do but the ideas above are a good place to start.
Oct 7, 2015
Apart from spending a lot of money in terms of travel you will need to adopt key online technology. Simple costs like providing a good home working environment, covering effective internet and providing additional monitors and ergonomic tools are important. It doesn't cost a lot, but shows you have dedication to their work performance and comfort.
A virtual 'retreat' is another add on - literally find a way to drop tools for a couple of days and use Business Skype/webex (WITH VIDEO) to generate ways to create interaction. Set up some fun tasks which require input earlier. Do these for up to 3-4 hours in a day for a couple of days. Any more is too much online.
Oct 6, 2015
This is an interview I've done exactly on that subject that is worth watching, check it out...
http://www.rebelspatch.com/team-how-to-attract-superstars-and-build-your-winning-startup/
Oct 6, 2015
I would say recognition (publicly perhaps) is one of the top motivator for people. Not fun but efficient.
Oct 6, 2015
Kate: I used to manage a small team that was dispersed across the U.S. In addition to virtual activities like weekly video round tables, once ever 6 months we used to get together as a team for 2-3 days in a city of one of the team members (who got to act as a host (also transportation coordinator) for that city) for a semi-annual strategy session and team-building exercises. I let each of the team members submit ideas for activities as well as meal preferences. For example I had one team member that followed a vegan lifestyle while one was a pure meat-eating carnivore. I tried to work out a balance that accommodated everyone - no easy feat. Team building activities that were top rated by my team included a wine-tasting and food pairing with a sommelier (the team had to pick the right combinations and then vote with their palate - it was really funny when they got it wrong -- I wish I would have had video rolling at the time but didn't), competitive indoor karting racing at a place called Pole Position Raceway, and competitive indoor Whirlyball at a place called Mad Mad Whirled. We had little prizes that we gave away but mostly it built camaraderie and allowed us to celebrate successes from the past 6-months and discuss strategy and tactics for the semi-annual period ahead, face-to-face. I think it was well worth the investment in time and money.