With many facing a new mandate of working remotely, its unnerving for many bosses and employers to ensure that their teams are continuing to work to their full potential. Energizers are fun activities that you can use to engage a group of people to keep those creative juices flowing. Below are a few ways to keep your team members engaged and energized as we all work together to figure out this new, and non-traditional way, of forging forward.
Do You See What I See?
Have everyone take a picture of the shoes they are wearing (or an object on their work area at home, what they are eating for lunch, etc). Send it out on a group chat or a group email and allow people to comment on what they see. It’s a great way to incorporate some humor into conversation.
What’s For Dinner?
What’s everyone’s favorite meal, or a meal they recently made that they loved? This is a great way to find people's culinary interests, and at a time while we are stuck at home, it’s a great way to share some new recipes. Everyone has to eat, so we may as well talk about it!
Where in the World Is…..
If you have a geographically distributed team, find out the (approximate) locations of the team members beforehand, and make a map. Show the map during the digital meeting (or share online), and ask your team members something simple, like "what’s the current weather in your city?" or "what is the vibe in your city?".
Encourage them to take a picture of what they see out the window. This gives other team members a clear visual as to other work settings and sparks interest and conversation between team members.
You Too?
Team Members have the objective to find something about themselves that no one else has in common. Maybe it's a place you've visited, a food you've tried, or a quirky thing about you. Each person has to say something they think is most unique about themselves and others will chime in if they have it in common. At the end of the game, you will learn some pretty interesting facts about your team, and see who has more things in common than you originally thought. This commonality between co-workers may spark a good partnership to work together on a future project.
Give a Little, Take a Little
Some people are skiddish of ice breakers, so this is a good way to engage those people. Either via email or chat, ask team members what “gifts” they feel they bring to the table of the company (whether it be their skills, knowledge, etc.), but they also encourage them to relay their hooks -- things they needs in order to remain fully engaged and productive within the team setting. Team members distribute this to their members which sparks good conversation on how to achieve goals with one another.
Don't spend too much time on these, but use them more as a break in the action, one to keep everyone's heads in the game and help inspire some new creative direction or topics for discussion. You may be surprised what you learn from one another!