COVID-19 was certainly something not on anyone’s radar. With the nationwide government shut down and social distancing practices being conducted, it has left people adjusting to the new normal of digital life and working from home. While social distancing is the reality right now, slide up to the virtual water-cooler and #GroupForward with your coworkers to keep in good spirits and maintain excellent relationships.

Interacting Via Social Media

Whether there is a pandemic or not, interacting with coworkers via social media, such as Facebook, is a great way to build working relationships and establish a fun business culture. You can use group chat sessions to contact everyone at once and have a healthy mix of both personal and business mingling, which is known to improve overall morale. Whether it be bonding games, lighthearted post campaigns, or just chatting, it will help remediate feelings of workplace isolation.

Slack

Slack is a popular team collaboration platform that allows people to come together, communicate, and get things done. It is much more engaging than regular emailing sharing, which is why it is essential right now with everyone at home. It is diverse in communication channels, consisting of both group and private, and is able to organize data/files all in one accessible place.

Chat

Chat is the simplest way for remote teams to stay in touch. With slack, you have the opportunity to add full channels dedicated to staying social while social distancing. Whether they’re company wide water cooler chat channels or built for specific teams, they’re a simple and effective way to keep connected. Plus, adding these social channels is a great way to #GroupForward without having to block off scheduled times, each team member can pop into the channel and join the fun in their schedule’s downtime.

Calling

Calling via voice and/or video is one of the most common ways to stay connected while physically occupying different spaces and slack offers an excellent solution for that.

Group Calling

One of the best features Slack offers call wise are it’s group calls. It provides high quality group calling and keeps up well with the flow of conversation. It handles both video and audio just as well as the Video Chat giants like Zoom and offers the ability to launch your calls right from chat.

Microsoft Teams 

Another powerful software that you can try out with your coworkers is Microsoft Teams. This is a handy tool, delivering chat rooms, video sessions, data storage, etc. that gives people at home the ability to feel involved and stay connected with their peers. Everyone can come together to get work done or to simply kick back and chat. Remember, team building is not just about working; it is about communication and building trust, so having a reliable software that allows for better connection is key. 

Fun Ideas to Try While Connecting Virtually 

While utilizing software, talking, and staying connected are all fundamental things you need to do, here are some ideas that you can try implementing within virtual sessions to really bring everyone together. 

• Play Pictionary or office trivia 
• Picture sharing
• Simulate problems to brainstorm
• Host the work equivalent of a Zoom Happy Hour, Virtual Coffee Breaks on the team platform of your choice
• Play “2 truths and a lie” or other fun ice breaker games to kick off a meeting
• Recipe sharing 
• Host a game night with your coworkers
• Discuss business ideas you would like to see happen
• Host a fun social media game like #MemeOurTeam

Though social distancing is still in full effect, that does not mean you have to sit back and allow yourself to become segregated from your peers. Take advantage of the technology available to you and use it to stay connected, build up the team dynamic, and keep the “team” in “remote team”. Not only will this strengthen you all as a whole, but you are actively helping the wellbeing of each person, which is something quite valuable during this time. 

However you choose to #GroupForward with your co-workers, GroupTools can help you organize it! Survey your team on which activities and ideas they’d like to participate in, create events, invite your team, and more. Getting started is easy, just login or register today and you’re on your way to creating great virtual team events.