10 Fun Five-Minute Team Building Activities

Team building activities help foster a healthy remote work culture. The idea is for the team to get to know each other better and build a foundation of trust, respect, and meaningful connections over time. This is a good way to loosen up before engaging in serious business. They also boost team morale and foster group thinking.

A study revealed that employee satisfaction has increased by 50% when workers develop a friendship with each other. Therefore, friendship and employee satisfaction are intertwined.

The following list is a tested short team-building activity that will prove enough to break the ice.

1. Have you Heard?

Small talks about the latest showbiz news, world news, latest trend, gadgets, etc.

2. Guess Who, Guess What

Members have to correctly identify the worker or thing being pertained by a statement

Guess Who — gather information about each member beforehand; after the leader introduces the game, all members will be asked to gather information about their workmates. Members can take turns throwing guess-who entries next time.

• The team leader will start the first entry.
• Statements could be about the leader or a member.
• Try to tap a worker’s experiences from the previous in-person work set up so the team can reminisce good memories.
• Guess who spilt coffee on my white shirt minutes before a business meeting?
• Guess who eats fries from inside a drawer?
• After guessing who’s who, talk about it for a while.

Ask members to submit three facts about them beforehand, so they can repeat the activity several times.

• Members can also be asked to do a background check and social media hunt on their workmates to gather information for their guess-who entries.
• You can also use your worker’s baby/teenage pictures, their kid’s picture of resemblance, etc.

Guess What — gather information about something and ask members what it is, where it’s from, or what its purpose was

• Team leader and members can take turns
• Guess-what items can be anything from a clip or a screenshot from a movie or a popular movie line

Try searching for pictures of old stuff which are no longer used today. Then let them ask what it’s called, where it’s from, and what its purpose was. Let’s see how different generations would answer.

• Dial-up modem
• Old flat iron
• Casette tape
• Rotary telephones
• Pagers and beepers
• Floppy disks
• Video Home System (VHS)
• Overhead Projectors
• Portable CD players
• Metal playpen cages for babies

3. Raise-a-Hand

Easy to play and wouldn’t take much time; the statements you’ll use will indicate the fun meter

4. Random Questions

It’s a classic short ice breaker but tells a lot about the workers

5. This or That Fast Talk

A simple game that tells more about the worker’s preferences based on two choices.

More icebreaker questions in this article.

6. Grab and show

Gives an idea about the worker’s work environment at home.

• Instructions will be given rapidly to avoid the team from cheating on the game.
• Start pitching by saying, “Grab and show me what’s…..”
• You can end the game by having a short ‘work table reveal’ from the team.

7. Virtual Games

Most software has split-screen functions so playing actual games with the team is possible.

• Virtual games may take more time than the others in the. Connection problems may happen.
• If you’re to play virtual games with the team, make sure to have them prepare for it.
• Schedule when you’re having a virtual game so they can have their devices ready.

Virtual games are available on several websites. If this is what you prefer, ask the team to check out the website and watch video instructions, if any, before the schedule of your virtual game.

• My Free Bingo Cards — free games for up to 30 players.
• Random Trivia Generator — website for hosting trivia games.
• Random Word Generator — pictionary games for multiple players.

8. Fast Trivia Quizzes

Game for a team who loves a good challenge; ask questions about anything under the sun

• Trivia games are both fun and informative. There are countless topics you can choose from.
• You can play one at a time or answer altogether as a team. You can even group the team into two or three and compete with each other.
• If possible, make the game more rewarding. Be creative.
• A group with the least points will be the last to get off after the video call.

Trivia questions can also be about the company, especially if it’s around for a long time.

• Who’s the founder of the company?
• How many years are we in the business?
• How many computer units do we have?
• How many marketing partners do we have?

Thinking about trivia question can take time. But there are websites generating trivia questions and answers.

9. Virtual Vacations

Travelling around the world with the team but on-screen

• It’s been stressful the past year. Although a good vacation would be perfect to unwind, the pandemic made it difficult and inconvenient.
• Good thing technology made travelling around the world possible while working from home.

Browse websites for virtual vacations.

• Virtual Vacation — has walk-around features, live cams, flying tours, and travel hub to tour you around 400+ cities from different countries
• AirPano — provided a 360 view of tourist spots around the world
• These websites may take longer to load with a poor connection. You can also try YouTube travel channels.

10. Start at the End (Song Riff-off)

Not only applies to good singers but for music enthusiasts as well; perfect for the team who misses karaoke night

• Pre-made a list of songs you can use or pick any song which comes to mind.
• Brace yourself because you’ll have to start it off. Sing a few lines of your song choice.
• After a few lines, stop at any word and choose a member who’ll sing next.
• The next worker will have to think of another song that starts with the last word of the song.
• The round ends when a worker fails to think of a fitting song and will be eliminated.
• The riff-off ends when only one member is left, or whenever you feel the game has already lightened up the atmosphere.

But why in only five minutes?

Five-minute team building activities aim to build rapport, foster camaraderie and unify team members both professionally and personally. It’ll be quite a challenge to come up with virtual team building activities which actually builds rapport but these are essential to creating a comfortable working environment and a positive team spirit.

An excellent team serves as a support system for every member. Every worker must intend to make it work, for it to actually work. The success of these activities lies not only on the workers but first on the team leader.

Are you thinking about your next team bonding activity? Check us out for some inspiration

Originally published at https://onsite.fun on April 27, 2021.