Team Building Asia invited the team at the British Chamber in Shanghai to participate in one of their popular virtual team building programs, Go Remote. The staff of the British Chamber Shanghai have been working partly remotely since the lockdown end of January 2020. Some of the team have been going to the office occasionally while the rest of them have been working remotely since day one. Therefore, they were keen to connect through a unique and professional digital team building activity.
The BritCham Shanghai chose to do a full-day program during their regular working day. The program ran from 11am to 4pm with a short debrief at the end. The team downloaded an app on their smart device (smartphone, tablet, etc.) and took part in team or individual challenges. At the end, they were listed on a leader board and the winner was rewarded with a nice pack of chocolates.
OBJECTIVES
- Reconnecting the team with a structured activity
- Boosting morale and lift spirits through a light but engaging activity
- Enhancing communication
- Improving productivity through decision making and problem solving
- Rewarding the team for their hard work
CHALLENGES
- Making sure everyone is focussed and connecting everyone throughout the game. As everyone is working on their own, organising their own schedule, work is an easy excuse to not participate 100%.
- Avoiding the distraction of the game during the working day and being able to focus fully on job obligations.
SOLUTIONS
- There are various stages and checkpoints in the game in order to engage each type of individual. Creative, active, brainy, interactive, rhythm and music, you name it. There's something for everybody.
- Some stages of the game are focussed on collaboration, they demand participants to ring a colleague and do an activity together such as a virtual high five. Another activity engages participants to work together with the whole team. These small tricks help us to engage everyone, even remotely.
- To avoid being distracted by the game throughout the working day, Team Building Asia had made multiple proactive efforts. The game has checkpoints that are activated when desired and that can be skipped when necessary but once 30 minutes have passed then the game automatically ends.
RESULTS
- Getting out of the comfort zone. During the debrief, the team at the BritCham Shanghai explained that some of the team members are usually rather shy and that has complicated things in the past, so they were curious to see how it would go. They were grateful that the creative and interactive elements of the game enabled every team member to come out of their shell.
- The self-controllable balance between work and play enabled the participants to be more productive and engaged. Knowing that they were allowed and trusted to play with purpose, their team bonding and at the same time work focus increased.
- After the game, the team of the BritCham Shanghai put forward that they appreciated the 50-50 balance between competition and collaboration.
- And of course, this day was a huge highlight and memorable activity after many weeks of remote and virtual teamwork.
RECAP OF THE DAY
The team day started at 10.30 with a short briefing of the game by our facilitator and teams were given some time to read the instructions, download the app and game, and prepare necessary (household) items. Everyone made sure they had a good internet connection. As the team had a low number of participants, they weren't put into teams but competed/collaborated individually. The game started at 11 am and included multiple checkpoints each with a different amount of points upon completion, this way we ensured there's little chance of a tie.
During the day, participants did their daily work and take a couple of minutes per hour to complete a checkpoint. Some checkpoints asked them to collaborate with their teammates, so they rang each other up, other checkpoints required them to do a dance or create something with paper and scissors in order to receive points. Some points were awarded by the facilitator, so everyone tried their best. The game finished around 4pm, before the end of the working day, so the participants could still finish their daily tasks after the game. There was a short debrief with the facilitator and the winner was announced!
WHAT STOOD OUT THE MOST
Team Building Asia listened to the feedback of the BritCham. We'd like to share what stood out the most to them. James, the Executive Director of the BritCham Shanghai, vividly recalls the fun and team engagement of calling up his staff to collaborate. For example, the alphabet challenge had him ring up his staff and take turns going through the alphabet naming a country or city
Janet, the winner of the game, said she enjoyed the music and rhythm activities. The clapping dance was a memorable activity for her. It's an activity that challenged her to be creative with her body parts, got her up and going, activated her and helped her let off some steam, consequently it improved her work focus afterwards.
THE GAME
Go Remote is our pioneer virtual team development activity. It was developed using the award-winning, trusted Go Team platform by Catalyst Global. Participants receive a QR-code to download the game and then enter with their team. Throughout the game, there are various checkpoints to be completed: Go Active, Go Creative, Go Think. There's something for everyone. Go Active has interactive and active challenges like doing a dance or an exercise, Go Creative engages participants to use their creative hemisphere, and Go Think has easy brainy challenges to bring about the feeling of success.
In the Go Team app, most games are available in different languages. The participants can individually choose their preferred operating language. Thanks to technology, the options are limitless.
For more information about Go Team, click here. For more information about Go Remote, click here. This activity also has an express version, a 30-minute active game, get in touch with us.
MORE INFORMATION
Team Building Asia has developed various digital team activities for remote workers. Each activity addresses a diverse range of focusses on skill development and objectives. Remote team engagement issues like communication, morale and productivity are tackled in a virtually innovative way. If you'd like to learn more about our remote activities, check out this page or get in touch for customised experiences.
