Adapting to the Hybrid Workplace Model

 

One of the most frequent questions I get asked is, “Michael, how do you engage, inspire, and motivate people when they work from home or even in another city and you don’t have the same level of interaction with them as your other onsite employees?” There’s no question, it’s a challenge engaging people who you rarely see in person when clearly face-to-face conversations trump all other forms of communication. Maintaining a feeling of team camaraderie and unity when the team is scattered across the country or even the world can feel like a hopeless task.

Since the start of the pandemic this question has become even more commonplace with more and more offices adapting to a hybrid workplace model, where it’s become a challenge to connect “the homers” with “the officers.” And this challenge isn’t going away any time soon, with many companies saying they will forever more encourage and support a substantial percentage of their employees to work from home.

Here are a few ideas to help you bridge the gap, break down those pesky silos, and even add some fun for those employees working remotely.

 

165+ Ideas for Leading Remote Employees, Adding More Fun & Humor to Your Virtual Teams

1. Be extra intentional about upping your level of communication to bridge the divide without overdoing it.
2. Set office hours. Encourage people on both sides to set regular office hours, so remote employees know when they can reach key members of their team, and the office folks know when they can reach their remote counterparts. Maybe it’s a half day window a few times a week, or specific hours everyone commits to. Schedule one-on-one calls/virtual meetings with each member on a regular basis at a time and schedule agreed upon by both parties.
3. Do regular check-ins. Regular check-in points are crucial when dealing with remote employees and should be considered a non-negotiable time slot blocked off on your schedule. Leaving remote employees all on their own is akin to abandon them! A Deloitte study found that 40% of employees feel the greatest sense of belonging at work when a colleague simply checks in with them – so do not discount the importance of checking in, however recognize there is a difference between checking in and checking up on someone!
4. Trust your employees. Check what words and behaviors might be helping you build trust vs. erode trust. One of the #1 complaints remote employees have is that their boss doesn’t trust them and are micromanaging them.  Managers keep asking me, “But how will I know what my employees working remotely are up to all day?” My response is: “Did you know what they were up to when they worked in the same office as you all day? Probably not!”  Have an open and honest discussion around the topic of trust, expectations and responsibilities.
5. Measure output not time. In the new hybrid reality, leaders need to adapt their management style and focus on measuring output, not hours worked.
6. Include remote employees. Keep the remote employees up to date on what’s happening at the office, including social things such a birthdays or baby announcements. One CEO records a short weekly video that airs every Friday to remote employees to help them feel included on what went down that week.
7. Prevent jealousies from springing up. Have a frank discussion about how employees on either side of the working divide might feel resentful about the other employees. Talk about those uncomfortable emotions people might experience. Give employees a voice. Be proactive to try and mitigate the concerns one group may have about the other.
8. Set communication ground rules/guidelines. How do team members prefer to connect? Email, phone, text, video…interpretive dance? Is it okay to text your boss? Is it okay to email someone on the weekend or after work hours are over?  If you receive an email Sunday afternoon, when  are you expected to respond to it? Have an honest conversation around preferred tools and expectations for response times etc.
9. Choose the right communication medium. Choose the right vehicle for the right messages. E-mail is great for short, factual information sharing, but be aware, studies show that 50% of all e-mails have a tonal issue: Half the time the recipient of an email isn’t quite sure how to interpret the tone of the incoming email, so when communicating with remote employees be extra diligent about practicing good email etiquette. The most effective form of communication with any remote employee is by phone or video conferencing.  (A Gigaom report found “87% of remote employees feel more connected to their team when using video conferencing.”
10. Invest in training to learn how to make the most effective use of Zoom, Google Hangouts, Slack etc. and ensure everyone understands the basics when it comes to etiquette  when using any of your communication tools.
11. Not every meeting has to be on video! People burnout on video much faster than in face-to-face meetings, and many employees are complaining about “Zoom fatigue.” So remember, you can always go “retro” and have an old-fashioned phone call from time to time!
12. Stand up for better phone calls! A small but important tip: When having difficult or important phone conversations stand up! You’ll breathe easier, have more power in your voice, and be more confident.
13. Reduce Zoom burnout.  A Harvard Business study report suggests 3 simple ways to reduce Zoom fatigue. 1. Allow participants the option, at least from time to time, of turning off their video cameras. 2. Keep backgrounds decluttered to minimize distractions. 3. Avoid multi-tasking. Encourage everyone to be 100% present.
14. Be considerate of different time zones. If you have employees across different time zones, try your best to schedule at least an hour or two where everyone’s schedule overlaps to facilitate easier scheduling. Be aware that some employees may have to get up early or stay late to attend a meeting.  Consider holding q and a drop in sessions a couple time a day to accommodate different time zones. Award a small prize for the “earliest” or “latest” attendee. And don’t be “eastern-centric” by quoting times ONLY in EST.
15. Random coffee dates. To bridge the gap between the homers and the officers, use a random name generator to schedule Friday morning coffee dates to randomly connect a virtual employee with someone working out of the office. I am a huge fan of these regardless of where people are working – they are a great way to break down barriers and encourage people to connect who might otherwise not do so, plus companies report spikes in innovation when people “cross fertilize” from different departments.
16. Hold regular “Zoom” office hours, where you let everyone know you will be on your Zoom channel for two hours each week (or however often you wish) and people can login any time to see you.
17. Hold library hours. Remember going to study at the library for the ambience? Or working at a coffee shop just for the energy and noise around you? Some companies are holding “library hours” where people can log in and work quietly on their own stuff, but with the presence of their colleagues working in the background.
18. Use the “Wheel of Change” to guide a great conversation.  To help everyone adapt to the hybrid workplace, periodically hold a meeting where you ask the following four questions: “Is there anything we collectively need to start doing, stop doing, continue doing, and just learn to live with?”
19. What have we learned?  Another great conversation framework to try out is asking everyone what they have learned since moving to a hybrid reality? What have we learned we can live without? What have we learned about our values? What do we want our culture to be moving forward?
20. Support each other.  Ask your teammates: “Is there anything I could start doing or I should stop doing that would make this work situation easier for you?”
21. Recognize bridge builders. Create a fun monthly award to honor the employee that best acts as a bridge builder between the “officers” and the “away team” – the person who does the best job at making all your remote teams members feel unified.
22. Get trivial. Hold a weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly virtual trivia contest with your entire team to keep the social element alive.
23. Bobble heads! One company in California creates small bobble head dolls of every virtual team member (you can find several sources online) so that everyone has mini-avatars of each other to remind everyone, in a fun way, of the human faces behind the e-mails and telephone voices. However you choose to do it, do make sure you create visual reminders of your remote team or employees.
24. Connect at a personal level. It can be even more important with virtual employees to get to know your employees at a personal level: What are their children’s names, ages, and interests? What are their hobbies? What do they like to eat, read and watch? To build trust with remote employees you need to make an extra effort to get to know them.
25. Video intros. Have everyone create a one minute video that introduces everyone to their family members, living space, pets…whatever they wish to reveal about themselves.
26. Practice positive praise. Because your touch points may be less frequent with remote employees, commit to regular praise. Remember the power of emailing or phoning someone with a simple thanks without any  other agenda.
27. Practice the power of surprise by mailing employees something fun at random times: a funny note, a funny thank-you card, a small office toy, or novelty item.
28. The object of the game. Ask everyone to bring an object found in their home to present for “show and tell.”  There are a few options you can consider for parameters. It could be an object that has some sentimental meaning to the person, an object that best symbolizes their attitude toward life, or the quirkiest household object they can find. Of course, you can try each one of those and then you’ve got openers for three upcoming meetings.
29. Leave an inspiring or funny voice mail message for employees at the start of each week to help them kick off the week on a positive note.
30. Send a weekly “Kick Starter” e-mail out to the team as inspiration, including an inspiring quote and one best practice tip.
31. Top-3 challenges of the week. Have everyone send a short e-mail each Monday morning that highlights their top 3 challenges of the week ahead.
32. Top-3 wins of the week. Have everyone send out an e-mail at the end of each week with their top 3 highlights or wins for the week.
33. A quick meeting opener question: Ask everyone, “What’s 1 thing that went right since we last met?”
34. Feedback Fridays: Send out a survey question once a week and report on the results as a way of keeping a pulse on things.
35. Group video messages. A fun way to say ‘thanks,’ congratulate someone, or send them a happy birthday greeting is to record a group Zoom video message featuring the entire gang all on one screen at the same time. You can have different people deliver one word of the message at a time or have fun with everyone trying to sing or say the message in unison!
36. You’re still with us in spirit. When holding live, in-person meetings with the rest of your team at your office, use place settings or empty chairs with avatars to represent the employees that are working remotely and not able to be there in person.
37. Matching babies. Hold a virtual “match the employee to the baby photo” contest.
38. Change it up! Have everyone turn off their cameras for 20 seconds and ask them to change one things, subtle or not-so-subtle, about their appearance. Then have everyone reappear and guess what everyone changed about their appearance.
39. Break the ice! Open virtual video meetings or teleconference calls with your team with a short, fun icebreaker, the way you would with an in-person meeting. Create your own or read on for more of my ideas throughout this list! Share the duties – have a different person be responsible for a new icebreaker every meeting.
40. Social time before the meeting. Since virtual employees don’t get the usual dose of “water cooler chat,” start virtual meetings ten minutes earlier than the actual formal meeting start time to allow time for personal conversations.
41. Smiles-on-a-Stick. Here’s a great gift item for your teammates to help them smile during these challenging times: A Smile-on-a-Stick. You can purchase them in bulk and they come in a variety of skin tones and themes. They’re a simple and silly way to add some fun to your virtual meetings. You can use them to vote with, show your appreciation or encouragement for an idea, or just to add a little random levity.
42. Create virtual moments of happiness. The business software company Jobber has created what they call Virtual Moments of Happiness – things they can do to encourage virtual interactions. One recent VMH had everyone on their team place a pin on a virtual Google map showing where their hometown is, while offering up a fun fact about their home town. It was a fun way for colleagues to get to know each other a wee bit better.
43. Hold a drinking game during your video meetings where everyone must take an exaggerated sip from their coffee/tea/water every time someone uses a certain phrase, word or acronym.
44. Create some regular prizes that you award at the end of each virtual meeting, such as best quip or comeback of the meeting, best use of jargon, or wackiest idea of the meeting.
45. Name in the virtual hat. Every time someone says something particularity wise, pithy, memorable or funny, their name goes into a virtual hat for a draw at the end of the meeting.
46. Get animal. Yup, you can now invite a goat or llama to attend a portion or all of your next video meeting, https://www.sweetfarm.org/
47. Assign a “meeting ref” who overseas any video meeting “violations” in a fun way.
48. Invite special guests. Have a special surprise guest, whether they be a customer, suppliers, employee family member, someone from another team, or heck, even a celebrity (check out www.cameo.com).
49. Enlist the help of a roving reporter. For those of you working in a hybrid situation, assign a “roving reporter” who can interview folks (from a safe distance) and provide some fun color commentary from the office for people that are still working remotely.  It doesn’t have to be fancy! Short, authentic, fun, home movie-movie-style videos from the front lines could go a long way towards helping people feel more connected.
50. Check out www.WheelofNames.com.  The Wheel of names is a great way to add some fun to your virtual meetings. You can use the wheel to give out small door prizes, to randomly assign who must answer a particular question or offer up and idea. You can even put images onto the wheel, and use it in creative ways to turn it into an interactive game.
51. Rotate the role of the meeting chair. It can be particularly challenging for virtual employees to gain new experiences in workplace roles, so be intentional about looking for opportunities for them to take on new roles and assignments.
52. Send a message through color. Create a clothing color theme that reflects certain moods or energy levels, so when people log in for the video meeting everyone on the team get an instant read (and hopefully a chuckle) based on the color people are wearing.
53. Celebrate holidays virtually. Xerox is one of many companies that holds virtual employee holidays, Thanksgiving, and Halloween parties. So why not give it a try? A few wide-angle interactive camera setups and strategically placed screens as a starting point, and you’re good to go!
54. Virtual singalongs! Some companies hold virtual karaoke parties with great success.
55. Virtual charades. Try a round of virtual charades as an icebreaker or social event.
56. Meeting icebreaker question: The cast of characters from the last TV show you watched is who you are going to be quarantined with for 14 days – so who will you be quarantined with?
57. A remote, virtual version of Pictionary is easy to do – especially if you have an interactive whiteboard.
58. Drawing conclusions. Have a quick “Everybody draw their best version of _______” and then have everyone show their work after two minutes and vote on the winner or most creative masterpiece.
59. Fun with food. At your next meeting have everyone describe where they were born using only food items.
60. The voice – home office version. Hold a “guess the voice” contest – where managers or employees have to match the voice to the employee.
61. Telephone tag. One office does a virtual version of the “telephone game,” where everyone whispers the start of a bland workplace memo or report, whispering it along from person to person until the last person repeats back what they heard – usually something ridiculous funny.
62. Show and tell. Everyone must do a one-minute show and tell presentation with an artifact from their house/remote office that reveals something personal about themselves or their location they are currently working from.
63. Recess! Hold a virtual “recess” every Friday morning for people to gather and socialize or play a game.
64. Alter ego names. Assign everyone an alter-ego name for the meeting based on this simple formula: You alter-ego name is:  Your First Pet’s Name as a Child  + Your Mother’s Maiden Name = Your New Name.
65. Rock star names. Same as above, only using everyone’s “Rock Star” name as generated at the website: Rock Star Names
66. Country western names. Same as above, only using everyone’s “Country Western” name as generated at the website: Country Star Names
67. Anagram names. Same as above, but using everyone’s anagram-generated name, as created at the website: Anagrams
68. Create your Burlesque Alter Ego Name to use for your next meeting. Take the first syllable of your first name and multiply it by two, then add a “la”, and then add the last thing you ate. So, using my name, my burlesque name would be: Mi Mi La Taco!
69. Pandemic name: How you are feeling right now + the last thing you ate.
70. Dragon Name: Your first name spelled backwards + your current mood + “Hoarder of _____ the last thing you ate.”
71. A penny for your thoughts. Pull out a coin and read the date, then have everyone talk briefly about their top memory of that year and where they were and what they were doing that year.
72. Winner for a year! Super quick icebreaker: “The last thing you bought is what you’ve won a year’s supply of. So what did you win for a year?”
73. Mighty-minis. An icebreaker (or middle-of-the-meeting-breaker) for virtual meetings: Have everyone bring a small household object and give everyone a turn to show just a small portion of the object. The rest of the participants then try to guess what the object is. I’ve done it a few times on virtual meetings and it has always generated uproarious guffaws (my favorite kind of guffaws, incidentally).
74. Warning labels. Ask everyone “If you came with a warning label, what would it read?”
75. Video kick off. Open with a short fun video, such as the Fun dancers video on the home page of www.HumoratWork.com
76. Jump start each meeting with a question. Ask everyone an unusual, fun, or thought-provoking work-related question. Starting the meeting with this tradition not only can be fun, it encourages everyone to participate and you can learn some interesting things not only about your colleagues, but about your organization that might help you succeed. For a list of potential questions, you can purchase the e-book “Inspiring Questions for Inspiring Workplaces” at Inspiring Questions E-Book or try the following questions on for size:
    1. 1. What celebrity would help our organization the most and why?
       2. What was the worst job you had, and what specifically made it so bad?
       3. Have a meeting icebreaker where everyone draws the name of an exciting movie from a “virtual hat” and they have to explain it in the most boring terms possible. (For example, for Groundhog Day: “Man turns of his alarm clock 3,764 times.) “
       4. What TV show or movie title best describes your workplace culture?
       5. If you could change one policy or rule in your workplace, what would you change and why?
       6. If you could change your job title to better reflect your role and responsibilities, what would you call yourself?
       7. What’s your most annoying workplace buzzword or jargon phrase?
       8. What’s one thing we could do to make the workplace more fun?
       9. What’s one thing we ought to be doing for our customers that we’re currently not doing?
       10. What’s something we need to do more to foster more ideas in the workplace?
       11. Who’s the most creative person you know and what makes them so creative?
       12. What’s the best movie you’ve seen recently?
       13. What’s your favorite TV sitcom of all time?
       14. What’s the worst job you ever had?
       15. What’s the number one place you want to visit in the world?
       16. If you won the lottery tomorrow, what would you do?
       17. If you could play a musical instrument you currently don’t play, what would it be?
       18. What other language would you most like to speak fluently?
       19. What was your very first job?
       20. What is your favorite season?
       21. What would your “last meal” request be?
       22. What are you most looking forward to in the coming month?
       23. What’s the funniest thing that has happened to you recently?
       24. What’s the funniest thing someone has said to you recently?
       25. What are you most looking forward to in the coming year?
       26. If you could start your own country, what would it be called, where would it be located, and what’s the first law you would pass?
       27. If our organization/team/business was a t-shirt, here’s what it would say…
       28. If you could be the Big Kahuna for a day in our company, how would you spend the day?
       29. If you were the Big Kahuna for a day, what one rule would you create or eliminate?
       30. What was the best job, besides this one of course, you’ve ever had?
       31. If you had a magic wand, what would you change instantly about your job?
       32. What famous person would you get to narrate your life?
       33. What scares you the most?
       34. What would your debut recording album be called?
77. Celebrate the wacky theme days. Recognize whatever fun, offbeat theme day or holidays it happens to be, such as “Talk Like a Pirate Day” or “Blame Someone Else Day.” You can simply announce the day’s theme at the start of the meeting and/or post it on a whiteboard or flip chart for everyone to see. Check www.mikekerr.com for a listing of the wacky theme days.
78. Kudos. Recognize someone on the team by sharing and praising a positive piece of news about them.
79. Pass the praise. Have each person pass along a piece of praise to another person, going around the “room” until everyone has had a turn praising and being praised.
80. Spread the news! Share a good news story that has happened in your organization or industry.
81. What does your name mean? A meeting icebreaker where everyone has to assign an adjective to each letter of their first name that describes them (Mike = mischievous, impish, kind and energetic!)
82. And the winner is!  A quick meeting icebreaker: Imagine that everyone will win a year’s supply of the very last thing they bought! Then, go around the (virtual) room quickly and ask everyone what the last thing they bought was to see what people will be winning for an entire year!
83. Create a weekly challenge. Thank you Bren de Leeuw from the Excellence in Manufacturing Consortium for passing along this idea. It’s a weekly challenge that gets passed from person to person via email so that remote/field workers can feel connected to the main office employees and everyone can learn a bit more about one another. Whoever leads the challenge on a given week chooses who takes the lead for the following week. The weekly challenges have included, “Best song ever?”; “What games do you like to play?”; “Share a photo of yourself from high school” and “Most watched TV show?”
84. Value your values. Many organizations with a strong safety culture open their meetings with a “safety moment,” so try a spin on this by opening with a “values moment,” where you talk about one of your organization’s core values, relate a story that demonstrates how someone lived the value out loud or go around the room and have everyone talk about something they’ve done recently that reflected that core value.
85. Fun facts. Share a fun fact related to your business – some weird statistic, strange historical fact, or offbeat piece of trivia.
86. Quote of the day. Share a quote of the day with the team – something funny or thought-provoking, or better still, both! There are hundreds of great sites on the web for quotes, and you also can find great quotes in the archived issues of the Humor at Work e-newsletter at: Humor at Work Archives
87. Hello, my name is ____.  Open the meeting with a “Meet ______” segment, where you introduce someone new to your organization complete with some fun, personal facts about the individual.
88. Stupid human tricks. Yes, open with a segment of stupid human tricks wherein you encourage anyone to step forward with any weird skill or talent they possess, be it ventriloquism, touching their tongue to their nose, wiggling their ears or simply arching one eyebrow in dramatic, “Spock-like” fashion. Award a small prize for the best stupid human trick as voted on by the meeting participants.
89. Public praise. Read out a rave review customer letter or raving comment by a customer.
90. A moment of gratitude. Have everyone share 3 simple things they are grateful for. Or open OR close each meeting with everyone sharing one simple gratitude.
91. Brainstorm something fun or silly to fire up the creative juices, focus people in the present, and to remind participants of the basic rules of a good brainstorming exercise (no blocking, listen to each other, leap frog off each other’s ideas, go for quantity not quality).  Potential topics include:  come up with the most number of uses for a paper clip, create a new superhero that reflects your best business practices,  come up with 10 alternative uses for a stapler, 20 ways to add value to your customer service, or alternative names for your meeting rooms…
92. Scale of 1-10. Go around the room and have everyone say (or write in the chat box) how they are doing on a scale of 1-10. Option b, have them not only say their number, but why they chose the number they did.
93. Picture this. Have participants share a photo or picture they drew before the meeting that best represents what is on the top of their mind right now.
94. Celebrate your virtual rock stars. Hold a contest related to their home work arrangement, such as, “best home office” setup, “most creative” home office setup,  or cutest pet “coworker.”
95. Create fun awards. The Ha Ha Award to whoever keeps everyone laughing during a challenging time; The Houdini Award for whoever made a big problem magically disappear; The Survivor Award for the least likely to be voted off the island…
96. Guest stars. Include a special guest, such a client or another senior leader in one of the virtual meetings.
97. Get your nerd on. Have a nerd theme meeting where everyone dresses like a nerd for your virtual meeting.
98. Ugliest shirt theme.  Have everyone wear the ugliest shirt to your virtual meeting and vote on a winner, er, loser?
99. Mini-work-trivia. Have a five-minute trivia challenge game with questions related to your industry or organization. This could easily become a tradition at every meeting.
100. Mini-trivia. Have a five-minute trivia game NOT related to your business.
101. Book reviews. Open with a book review of a work-related book that someone read. This could become a rotating tradition where someone new each meeting is called upon to provide a synopsis and review of a book.
102. In the news: Share some interesting news articles or opinion pieces from the news that relate to your industry.
103. Stress-busters. Open with the “stress-busting tip” of the day. This could become a tradition along the lines of the “safety moment” but instead focusing in on stress management and overall wellness topics.  The tips could run the gamut from how to get a better night’s sleep to nutrition tips; from how to prioritize your workload effectively to how to tap into your sense of humor.
104. The joke’s on you! Open with the joke of the day. Keep it clean, and of course stay away from any sexual, ethnic, religious, or political humor.
105. What’s so funny? Ask everyone or anyone to share the funniest work-related anecdote that has happened to them since the last time you met.
106. Imaginary guests. Introduce the special guests attending your meeting in spirit only: To add some fun to your meetings and to help your team brainstorm from some different perspectives, try creating a few stock, exaggerated imaginary characters who attend all your meetings. Make one an imaginary superhero – someone who represents your company values in an outrageously exaggerated way. When you brainstorm or debate a new decision, you then get to ask, “What would Super Dave do?” (Of course, I’m confident you’ll come up with a wittier, more descriptive name than Super Dave.)  Then create a character who represents your most ideal customer, and a character who represents your most powerful nemesis (perhaps your main competitor), after all, every great superhero requires a super villain! Flesh out their attributes, then use the characters as points of reference in all your planning, brainstorming, and communication efforts. Remember, the entire planet is depending on you!
107. Open each meeting with a Top-10 list. It could be funny or merely interesting facts or tidbits about your industry. A simple one to try is a “Top-10 Reasons We’re Having This Meeting,” then create a list that intertwines the humorous with some serious reminders as to why the meeting is important.
108. Announce the “Meeting Rules of the Road,” but since the idea is to set a positive tone make sure they are fun! You might consider announcing, for example, some fun penalties for meeting infractions, such as: Whoever is caught texting or answering a cell phone call will have to dance an Irish jig or pay a dollar into the social fund committee.
109. Announce a “word of the day” for your meeting. Define what the word means, use it in a sentence, and then encourage people to weave it into as many conversations as they can.
110. Announce the “weasel word” of the day for the meeting: a word or phrase that you are trying NOT to use in your workplace. Fine people a dollar every time they use it in the meeting.
111. Open the meeting with a wacky sound that becomes your official “start of the meeting kickoff” signal: a gong, kazoo, or bagpipes would all work fabulously. Except for the bagpipes.
112. Have everyone wear name tags revealing a word that reflects their energy level or mood.
113. Have each person around the table take a moment to thank someone, as a way of reminding people how important it is to regularly praise employees in your organization. The person doesn’t necessarily have to be present at the meeting, it could be a simple public recognition of someone that serves also as a reminder than after the meeting everyone present at the meeting should take the time to acknowledge the individual in person.
114. Fun dance! Have everyone stand and do the “fun dance” for one minute. And yes, you can do this virtually. For instructions, watch the video posted here: A Simple Guide to Fun Dancing
115. Acknowledge any birthdays, anniversary dates, or special occasions happening in any of the meeting participants’ lives.
116. Open with an interesting “This Day in History” fact (Google “this day in history” to find examples). Bonus points if you find a few that are not only interesting but also relevant to your industry.
117. Anagram challenge. Have each participant come up with as many anagrams for their name as possible in one minute.
118. Have each person stand and spell their name using only the movement of their hips.
119. Another alter ego name generator, this one for your Benedict Cumberbatch name: Benedict Name Generator
120. Theme name tags. Rather than have everyone wear name tags with their names on them, have everyone wear a tag with a word on it that best describes their work situation since you last met. Or their middle name. Or their dream travel destination. or their favorite sitcom.
121. Stand proud. Open with the question: What’s one thing you have done since the last meeting of which you are most proud?
122. Funny questions. Open with the question: What’s the funniest thing someone has asked you since the last meeting.
123. Thanks for the help! Name one person who has helped you since the last meeting.
124. Hold a “stand up, sit down” meeting where everyone stands for every other agenda item, as a way to change up the energy and encourage some movement/exercise.
125. Surprise, surprise! Start by having everyone share one thing everyone would be surprised to learn about them.
126. Superpowers. Ask everyone what their unique super power is?
127. Rate the virtual background! Hold a virtual background contest where you award fun prizes  for whoever has the neatest, messiest, funkiest, brightest, darkest, weirdest or most fun virtual background. Get creative and create your own categories!
128. Assign an office buddy. Pair up every remote employee with an office employee who serves as a guide/link to the central office.
129. Recognize your bridge builders. Award a monthly “Bridge Builder” award to an employee who does the best job at uniting the office and remote team, the employee who goes above and beyond when it comes to playing a role in uniting all the remote employees.
130. Bingo!  Play virtual team bingo: Create bingo cards with categories of phrases or actions that align with typical conference calls:  “Who just joined in?”, “Can everyone remember to mute”, “Sorry my dog is upset”; “Sorry, was having connection issues”; “How do you share the screen?”;  “Sorry, I was on mute!”  etc. etc.
131. “Love it or loathe it?” Run through a series of rapid-fire, non-controversial issues and get people to vote on whether they love it or loathe it. Use signs, thumbs up/thumbs down, or whatever creative means you can think of to register the votes. If you’re not on video you can always use the chat box. Topics might include things like, “Pineapple on pizzas?” or “Star Wars movies?” or “Brussels  sprouts?”
132. Changing faces? Have everyone take a few seconds to have a good look at everyone on their cameras, then have everyone turn off their cameras for 10 seconds. During those 10 seconds everyone must change just one thing about their physical appearance. Turn the cameras back on and go quickly around the virtual squares person-by-person to see who can guess what’s changed.
133. Laugh-Off!  Hold a laughter contests and award prizes to whoever has the craziest laugh, most maniacal laugh or most contagious laugh.
134. It’s a Rap! Have everyone create their alter ego rap name to use for the meeting using this simple formula: Add the word “Lil'” to the last thing you bought OR ate.
135. I Need More!  A super quick meeting icebreaker: have everyone Google the phrase “I need more…” and then share what the predictive text comes up with.
136. There’s Something Different About You.  For small groups have everyone spend a few seconds looking at each on their video cameras, then have everyone shut their cameras off for 10 seconds during which time they must change just ONE thing about their physical appearance. Turn the cameras back on and go person-by-person to see who can first spot the change in each participant.
137.  Love it or hate it! ). As a quick meeting ice breaker have everyone fill in the blanks:  “When we’re in a meeting/on Zoom I LOVE it when _____ and it drives me CRAZY when ________.”
138. Create a fun way to register votes from online participants. For example, have everyone use a bent arm as a meter to gauge support for an idea, or have different color-objects to represent different votes (Red = NO!, YELLOW = Maybe, Green = Yes!)
139. Online chorus. Record a Zoom call of everyone singing happy birthday OR have everyone sing the birthday person’s favorite song!
140. Create a chat box shorthand code. For example, ask everyone to type in “A” for applause or “!” to indicate they are excited by something someone said. Or create your own funny shorthand code language to use!
141. Funny hats. Give everyone 30 seconds to return with the funniest hat they can find.
142. Lend me a hand. Have everyone draw an outline of their hand, then use the hand drawing as a means of visually putting up your hand or getting people’s attention in a video meeting.
143. Hello! Ask everyone to say hello to someone in the chat box that they haven’t met yet OR haven’t spoken to in a long time
144. Bigger or smaller? Using the chat box, present a series of facts involving numbers, then ask people to guess whether the real number is higher or lower? It could be the height of the Eiffel Tower, the population of Uruguay, or the distance between Toronto, Canada and Sydney Australia. Or make them work related, so they are relevant to your profession or workplace.
145. Myth busting. Present a series of statements then ask people to put either a “T” (true) or “F” (false) in the chat box. Again, make some o them work-related: True or false, did Joe once get bitten by a shark while snorkeling in Australia? True or false, did Diana once work as an undercover spy?
146. Movie recaps. Draw a random movie title from a hat, then challenge participants to recap it in the shortest way possible – the fewest words wins!
147. Roving reporter. If you are in a hybrid situation, assign, on a rotating basis, a roving reporter who interviews people in the main office and provides fun updates on what’s happening in the workplace for those folks that are working remotely. (Be careful no to make them jealous!)
148. Hello, my name is Hal. November 20th is official name your PC day, but you can do this anytime; have everyone come up with a name for their computer and either type it in the chat box or rename themselves on their video using that name.
149. One word summaries. Have everyone summarize their past week using only one word.
150. Either/or. Using the chat box, go through a series of either/or questions: Coke or Pepsi? Star Wars or Star Trek? Dogs or cats? Toilet roll over or under?
151. What’s your new job? Have everyone explain what their new job is – based on the job of the last fictional character they watched on a TV show or movie.
152. Name acronyms. Have everyone turn their first name into an acronym and share what it stands for.
153. I need more! Have everyone share what the Google predictive text fills in when they type in I need more…
154. Alter ego rap names. Have everyone share in the chat box their alter ego rap name using this formula: Add the word “Lil'” + the color of their shirt + the last thing they purchased.
155. Blind chat. Have everyone close their eyes then attempt to write their names in the chat box.
156. Pizza party. Arrange for pizzas to be delivered to your teammates, then hold an informal virtual pizza party luncheon.
157. Draw your mood. Give everyone 30 seconds to draw a picture that best represent their mood and share it with everyone.
158. P.I. Alter ego name: Have everyone share their private investigator name based on: Their middle name + the first car they ever drove.
159. Snack n’ learns. A twist on “lunch n’ learns” that are perfect for the virtual world. Bite-sized, mini-training sessions held my your employees on various topics that only last the length of a coffee break.
160. Guess who? Have meeting participant submit to a facilitator 3 things that people probably don’t know about them, then play a game where people have to match the traits to the teammate.
161. Funny you should say that. Ask everyone to write down their favorite funny-sounding words in the chat box.
162. Where are you right now? Use the whiteboard function on Zoom, and draw a line representing a scale, then have people mark where they feel they belong on that scale.
163. Armchair traveling. Have everyone put a travel photo as their background image and share where the photo was taken and why they chose it.
164. Camera voting. A simple, fun way to register votes with a smaller sized group is to just have participants turn off and on their cameras to vote.  (On means yes, camera off = no).
165. Virtual lip-syncing. Hold a lip-syncing competition. Spotlight one person at a time, give them 20 seconds, and assign points based on accuracy, theatrics, and fun.
166. Virtual scavenger hunt. Give everyone 30 seconds or one minute to find something blue, something funny, something sweet and something impressive (and of course you can create your own categories).
167. Show and tell survival item. have everyone bring one object that was a life saver for them when they worked from home. Something that  they couldn’t have lived without! (And if you’re worried everyone will bring bottles of wine, you can always set some parameters!)

Michael Kerr is a Canadian Hall of Fame Speaker, highly in-demand international keynote speaker, and the creator of the Culture Leadership Online Academy. Michael is also the author of 8 books, including:  The Humor Advantage: Why Some Businesses Are Laughing All the Way to the Bank;  Hire, Inspire, and Fuel Their Fire; and The Jerk-Free Workplace: How You Can Take the Lead to Create a Happier, More Inspiring Workplace.  www.MikeKerr.com