In recent years, remote work has taken over the working populace worldwide at the pace of a storm. Almost half of the professionals perform their official tasks and responsibilities from within the confines of their homes. The approach has both its positives and negatives. Reduction of travel hassles and protection from COVID-19 are a few of its advantages. However, the lack of face-to-face meetings is its most significant disadvantage.
When people cannot meet each other and read the message conveyed by the other person’s experience, a gap in communication occurs. It results in incomplete interactions and a decline in team building.
Nonetheless, remote team-building games exist to solve the issue. They deliver all the aspects and fundamentals of it. They include comradeship, communication, joint effort, peer help, value and morale sharing, etc. The activities make it possible to bring together all members of a remote team. It allows them to understand each other. It helps them work as if they sit together in an office right beside their colleagues.
Games solve multiple challenges that can arise during remote work. They create and sustain the basis for developing a reliable network or relationship and a sense of closeness with peers. They decrease the standard of social interaction and allow individuals to make the most of virtual meetings.
The following are a few reasons why games can serve as a solution to remote team building:
Games Deliver the Concept of Teamwork in a Low-Risk Environment
The members of a remote team would inevitably get expected to collaborate and cooperate. They would have to do so to complete a project or an assigned task. However, it could lead to detrimental consequences if the involved individuals cannot carry out adequate and appropriate teamwork during times of need. They may even neglect their responsibilities. It can happen if they try to learn about the elements and methods of the collaborative effort during any official work. In worst cases, the members can perform irreparable mistakes that can put the entire team in an undesirable situation.
Thus, games are exceedingly helpful. They create a suitable platform or circumstance where a remote team can learn about teamwork and all its aspects. Through the activities, the members can understand each other’s likes, strengths, dislikes, weaknesses, working styles, etc. It helps them communicate better with each other and work together. In turn, it allows for team building indirectly.
Games also allow individuals to run through more teamwork situations and scenarios than in the real world. Furthermore, they are risk-free and do not affect any work or tasks. Hence, a remote team can engage in them without fear of any consequences.
Games Allow Individuals to Share More About Themselves
It is a fact that the office is no place to share anything personal about oneself. However, the exchange of personal information is necessary to build the elements of teamwork and collaboration. This opportunity gets provided by different and distinct kinds or types of remote team-building games.
Such sports or activities help create a setting or environment. Here, the members of a remote team can share any information about themselves. They ensure that the individuals can do so without feeling embarrassed, awkward, or shy. This self-disclosure and vulnerability that a person creates about themselves allow others to understand their personalities better. It aids in building trust and sustaining it for a long time.
Games Diminish the Social Barriers
A remote team needs to engage in frequent video conferences to plan their work schedule, distribute their tasks, and decide how to move forward. In other words, they have to discuss various matters over an online platform. However, during such calls, many individuals may stay on mute and keep their videos off. They may not interact at all and share their opinions and point of view. The lack of participation can decrease the morale, teamwork, and motivation of the entire team.
Games help bring in those individuals and lower or even break down their social barriers. They create a comfortable atmosphere where they can get involved effortlessly and conveniently. It may be because everyone participates or anticipates the prizes. Additionally, games bring fun and enjoyment to the monotonous lives of the working populace. It gives them something to look forward to whenever they engage in such events. The excitement can draw in all the members of the remote team and promote team building.
Games Encourage and Promote Active Attention
Games require the constant and undivided attention of all the participants. It may be to learn about a rule, register the specifications, or plan out their approaches. The active engagement stands in contrast to numerous virtual meetings where almost half of the involved individuals do not pay attention.
The skill of active attention that the members of a remote team acquire during their games get carried forward to their meetings and work. It allows the individuals to pay the same amount of focus they put during face-to-face conversations. It gives a boost to teamwork and cooperation.
However, active attention for extended periods can result in extreme exhaustion. Hence, brakes, adequate spacing, and an appropriate frequency or regularity of use get advised.
Games Aid in Overcoming the Decreased Dependability of Virtual Meetings
A face-to-face meeting can deliver a significant amount of information through various means. It can be via the speaker’s body language, facial expressions, breathing style, etc. However, the deliverance of such data gets considerably curbed in a virtual meeting. The substantial degradation and decline of verbal communication can lead to a gap in communication where the other party does not receive or understand half of the conveyed message. It may lead to the meeting becoming solely transactional with not a trace of team-building in it.
Games can help overcome this issue. They allow a remote team to understand their peers’ mannerisms and styles in a causal virtual meet. If it continues for a long time, they start understanding the small gestures even across the screens. Such an approach can reduce the conversation errors substantially.
Also Read: The Future Of Virtual Reality Gaming
