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Positive psychology is needed in the world of work to ensure that every employee has positive emotions, cares about their well-being, and that these positive factors can contribute to their meaningful life. The positive psychology concept can be applied to almost every aspect of work life so that each individual can improve their interpersonal relationships, reduce stress, and reshape workplace dynamics. One method that can be done in the office related to positive psychology is engaging in gratitude activities. These activities and practices will train employees to cultivate and express appreciation and gratefulness. Is gratitude an activity? Yes, because gratitude is something that helps us to manage stress and have tough emotions. Practicing gratitude makes us learn about appreciating what we already have. Gratitude is not only feelings, but our actions too. By getting used to gratitude in the workplace, employees can increase their well-being, improve mental and physical health, self-esteem, and relationships with coworkers. What are the benefits of gratitude? There are many health benefits of gratitude when it becomes habitual and part of the employee's thought process. Taking time to be grateful may reduce depression, less anxiety, relieve stress, increases mental strength, enhances empathy, building relationships, increases productivity, overall psychological well-being. Teaching gratitude activities will make employees have good and positive habits that can be used to have a positive impact on work life or everyday life. Top gratitude activities for employees The purpose of thanksgiving activities is to increase employee engagement and performance. If employees can have stronger relationships with other people, then team building will be easier to carry out. Let's see what exercises employees can do to appreciate the work environment and everyone in it. Gratitude wall A gratitude wall is created specifically for employees who want to write down what they are grateful for. This is the most effective way to teach gratitude, because every employee has the opportunity to write down their opinions and whatever they feel. Set up the dedicated space using wall space, chalkboard, whiteboard, or corkboard. Encourage employees to write in the notes and hang on the board. Once it is full of employee writing, you can schedule a day to read out the notes and share them with the team. Thank you notes Thank you notes include gratitude exercise which is good for employees. Each individual can write a thank you note to the team, to the coworkers, or higher-ups as a great way to show gratitude. Teach every employee not to be embarrassed to say thank you directly to coworkers or higher-ups, because every positive action will bring something good to yourself. 12 Employee Shout Outs to Give Thanks to Your Coworkers Encourage each team player to send thank you notes to each individual in the team, so that each employee feels recognized by each other. Daily reflections Every employee will have negative thoughts about work which makes them have job dissatisfaction and stress. To overcome this, every employee needs to be trained to carry out daily reflections to offset work stress. This activity can start with reflection at the end of the workday, giving workers a few minutes to list three things they can be grateful for from the day. Give each employee a free journal to write their reflections. At the end of each week, give employees time to highlight anything in themselves that needs improvement. The team leader can deliver major team actions that can be appreciated during the week. Milestone celebrations Celebrating personal and team milestones will teach every employee that their work will be appreciated and always monitored. Every employee will feel happy when whatever they do is noticed by higher-ups, because they can also get praise or feedback about their work. Make sure you hold celebrations by inviting employees to lunch or dinner, while showing what good things the team has done up to this point. You can encourage employees to determine celebration themes and prepare special gifts for teams that have reached certain milestones. Paid time off Paid time off will seem simple, but has a powerful effect on employees. Paid days are effective because many employees are still struggling to balance family, work and play. You can give time off to employees so they can hang out with family and friends, or simply go for a movie. There is nothing more gratifying than receiving a “take the day off tomorrow” higher-ups after the team has worked hard and achieved positive results for the company. This simple act can be a means for employees to recharge and feel more grateful after they return to work. Office equipment upgrade Why is equipment upgrade included in gratitude activities? Because it is a sign that the office always cares about the needs of its employees inside and out. Upgrading work or non-work equipment is a gesture from the company to show its gratitude for employee performance. You can conduct a survey about what updates in the office employees want, or surprise the employees with a remarkable upgrade. For instances. You can buy a coffee machine or mini fridge in the work area for employee comfort while working. You can also ask employees to take part in the new layout after the equipment upgrade. Surprise gift deliveries Deliver gifts to the team members' home while they are at work. For example, you can give gifts in the form of wine gift sets with thank you notes, hampers, fruit baskets, or grocery shopping. So that the families of workers who are at home can notify those who are still in the office if there is a surprise gift from the office. They will feel grateful because the office secretly gave them a gift, and let them ask what event the office has going on to hold such a surprise. Wall of fame A wall of fame is created to display pictures of well-performing workers. Every employee can get the same opportunity, so that they can compete to compete in a healthy manner, and provide mutual support for employees who have a good attitude and performance at work. Encourage each employee to post gratitude notes around the employee's picture. A wall of fame will make the entire company realize the importance of hard work. Every hard work will be appreciated, and become a new enthusiasm for other employees. Field trip Organizing a field trip outside of working hours not only appreciates workers, but also makes an effort to foster team relationships. You can invite employees to go hiking, local museum, botanical garden, winery tour, or activities chosen by brainstorming results from employees and create new memories among them. The trip doesn't have to be expensive, but you need to think about what activities can foster employee's relationships. Lunch treat Food is one way to show gratitude from the company to employees. You can offer workers to choose where they want to have lunch, offer lunch for a week, or give workers a box of snacks that they can share with their family at home. A lunch treat is a suitable opportunity for higher-ups and employees to gather, while having fun together discussing things outside of work. With lots of activities to gather and discuss things outside of work, employees will feel closer to everyone without any gaps. Surprise breakfast Prepare the management to arrive early, and you need to invite the CEO to fill the event as a form of expression of gratitude for the team's specific achievements. During the breakfast event, higher-ups can immediately announce what good performance they have done so far, while teammates can express their gratitude for each other. Before breakfast, give each team member the opportunity to share the reasons why they are happy to have a team and the aspects they like about their workplace. Charity donations If you have employees who support a particular charity, you can support this and make charity donations. You can make a sizeable donation and request employees to support the charity. Making donations will grow the company's social responsibility profile and also elevate the company's reputation. Apart from that, employees also bond more with each other, do something that can benefit the surrounding environment and appreciate what they have. Employee gratitude activities will ensure that each individual carries out positive activities, creating a great company culture and strengthening employee and higher-ups relations. Pointing out every good thing about employees, appreciating fellow co-workers, making the work environment comfortable are the goals of doing gratitude exercises. You will be happy that your team is more solid than before, and every employee will act for the good of the company. If you need other information regarding business progress tips, business licensing, legality, or anything related to SME, you can visit the SMEBrother site and get what you need. SMEBrother is your SME BRO, focused on the progress of your business while supporting every step of the business you want to take.

Office needs do not only focus on income, work needs, and also paying according to employee rights, but with employee wellness in mind. Every employee wellness program is important in many companies to attract top talent, keep them happy and healthy, and increase their productivity. In fact, companies with wellness activities will carry out work with enthusiasm, employees feel cared for and engaged in every activity they do. Thinking about what can be done for employee wellness is not easy, because you have to keep it fun. If you can't engage your team, then any wellness program ideas won't run smoothly. So, this article will explain how we choose wellness activities that can attract employees to do them together. What is an example of wellness? Wellness is everything related to physical health or mental health. If a company wants to hold an employee wellness program, they must think about activities related to exercise, social connectedness, mindfulness, and improving nutrition. Every activity must have an impact on physical or mental health. If done on a weekly basis or daily basis, employees can reduce their stress, achieve optimal wellness, and have positive social interactions. What is the meaning of wellness activities? Whatever activities are carried out by employees to achieve wellness. Whether are physical activities to stay healthy such as exercise, meditation, or mental activities such as stress management, icebreakers, charity, etc. The activities are expected to maintain or improve well-being for employees, so that they can maintain their top performance and always be in good shape. 10 wellness activities that team will love If you want to start an employee wellness program, you must have a list of activities that you can do and that your employees can do with fun and enthusiasm. Whether you are a startup or a large corporation, let's start thinking about some employee wellness programs to boost your team and company. Company retreat or offsite One of the best activities for employee wellness is retreats. You can fill company retreats with lots of fun things to do and are the right time to brainstorm new ideas to advance the company.   12 Company Outing Ideas For Team Bonding   You can invite all employees to dinner, together at the camp, or to the villa after work hours. Offsite or company retreat will provide a new atmosphere for employees so they don't get bored with the office layout, as well as stress relief if they are having a tough day. Rewards for healthy eating habits Getting used to eating healthy is something that is difficult to do at home or at the office. But you can twist it by giving rewards if your employees can maintain their eating habits while in the office. Employers can provide provisions such as creating a nutrition challenge which will provide rewards for anyone who tries to have healthier eating habits. Taking employees to nutrition seminars, giving presentations about managing healthy eating patterns, will intrigue your employees to take part in the wellness program and aim to get the prizes you promised. Encourage walking or biking to the office You can create a program on certain days to tell employees to walk or bike a certain distance from the office. You can use live location to check each of your employees so that no one is cheating, and not only employees, but also higher-ups to show that everyone in the office supports the wellness program without exception. If the weather is not favorable at that time, the office needs to accommodate employees for their commuting costs when taking a taxi or online platform. Schedule yoga day Buy each employee a yoga mat and tell them to bring appropriate clothes and pants for doing yoga together in the office. Hire a yoga instructor for one session a month or once a week, to get employees used to doing yoga together. Yoga is a light exercise activity that can stretch muscles, improve blood circulation, and temporarily relax the brain. Doing yoga activities together with colleagues will bring fun and joy, especially if you can plan it regularly. Acknowledgment and gratefulness meeting Sometimes meetings just discuss important things in the office and focus on the company's progress. But this time, you need to hold a special meeting to be held at the end of the week, to congratulate employees for this week's achievements, acknowledge what achievements the employees have achieved, and be grateful for what the company has achieved in the same week. This will teach employees that their performance is always monitored, and higher-ups will provide praise if employees work better than their expectations. Change attire to casual Sometimes employees will also get bored with them having to prepare every morning to dress neatly in heels, suit and tie. You can tell employees to wear something casual, according to the style they want. Dressing casually will make employees more productive, they will be happy because they don't have to be strict about the dress code, they will feel more comfortable in the office because of the different atmosphere with different costumes. If you look deeper, having a dress code in the office will not have any effect other than showing your office identity. So this will not affect office productivity. However, if your employees are happy because they are free to get dressed, they will feel totally free and will be more productive on that day. Visit a local farmer’s market for shopping and lunch Visiting the local farmer's market will give each employee time to relax, as well as offering to pay for every organic produce that employees choose. Figure out how to transport to reach the local market, whether walking or by vehicle, then let employees choose the organic goods they will buy. Because each employee can only choose organic products, you indirectly make your employees think about cooking according to what they buy. You can also make your employees eat healthy food at their home. Survey your employees to find out what's working and what's not Employee satisfaction at work can be seen from what they do. Don't waste your employees' time and energy by allowing a program that doesn't produce much, but you force it because you think it's good. Ask for feedback from employees to create wellness initiatives, until they can find something that is beneficial or engaging as a whole. Give employees time to discuss what programs should remain in place, what parts should be improved, and what programs should be discontinued. By giving authority to employees, they will be more satisfied with their work, because they feel they have a stake in the overall progress of the company. Offer flexible working arrangements Correct working hours will provide more productivity time compared to long work hours. You need to have discussions with employees about their productive time, starting from the time they come in until the time they go home. For effective working time and ensuring that each employee works with full energy, it is 6 hours. Moreover, employees will not be able to fully focus because they need rest, want to stabilize their mind, and time for cravings or eating. If you do a productivity survey, you will see that your employees are much more productive when their working hours are flexible, compared to when they have to work longer and strict hours. Go enjoy nature together For some employees who are stressed because of their work, you need to take them out of the office to enjoy nature such as beaches, hills, mountains, lakes, or other natural beauty. Accommodate all employee needs from food to transportation, and let employees relax and be one with nature. Enjoying the quiet atmosphere and beautiful natural views will be a place to relax and relieve stress drastically. Deliberate with employees about the right place for them, anything with a natural theme. Ensuring employee wellness is one of the office's obligations to ensure employees continue to provide their best performance, and the company cares about their physical and mental health. Create an employee wellness program and do it immediately in your office, and get the benefits for some time to come. If you need other information about how to thrive your business from small to medium business scale, licensing, legalization, leadership, or SME, you can visit SMEBrother and get the information you need. SMEBrother is your business bro to meet all your business needs, because we have experience in advancing any business sector you have.

Human resource management is needed by every organization to help improve the effectiveness in the work environment. HR management ensuring high performance standards, improving company morale, resolving any employee conflicts, maintaining company budgets, and many more. Before you apply for a human resource management position, you must understand what HR skills you need to have. Human resource management plays a key role in business, such as reinforcing, developing, and changing an organizational culture. If you want to learn what it takes to become HR in a company, read this article to the end. What does a HR do? HR departments exist to provide objective guidance to all employees on people-related matters. Simply, the HR department is looking for the right talent or guide people to do the job and keep them content and productive. There's a lot of HR do, including recruitment, compensation, benefits, training, and development. Human resources work as supporters of employees to get training, education, health and their well-being. Good human resources are the key to employee morale and satisfaction. Why is HR role important? HR matters more than other departments because it plays a crucial role in creating a positive workplace that is engaging, productive and inclusive. Human resources handles many tasks and is responsible for the company's progress. Almost all aspects will be supervised by HR, because HR departments help to develop teams throughout the company. What are HR skills and competencies? Being a human resource must have skills and competencies. HR skills are the ability to help others in achieving interpersonal skills, effective communication, and selecting the best talent through recruitment. Being a human resource is a difficult position because the company's progress depends on how HR oversees the department. Let's see what skills are required for HR as well as their competencies. 15 best HR skills that every HR professional needs Have several key competencies below to become a human resource professional. Interpersonal skills This is the most important HR soft skill. As the name suggests, human resources is focused on humans. HR officer's job is interacting with employees. Sometimes HR staff are the first people every applicant meets during the hiring process, and they must show a positive impression as the face of the company. The HR department becomes the voice for the organization and as an employee advocate. HR staff have a great influence on company culture, and help employees feel welcome and safe while in the organization. One important skill to have is being able to chat with coworkers about anything outside of work, but not too deeply into colleagues' personal lives. HR professionals need to show social skills, because interacting with coworkers is a major part of being HR. Confidentiality Being an HR professional you must be able to maintain confidentiality. The human resources department has sensitive information such as employee's details and personal records, payroll information, and performance evaluations. Employees sometimes talk about their personal problems such as unstable living situations, medical problems, or family disputes. Whatever conversation occurs in the HR department is private, and no one should know. All information must remain private, and it is the job of HR professionals to build employees' trust and confidence by guarding their secrets. Emotional intelligence This is an ability to accurately respond and identify to emotions. HR departments must have this skill because it is the most valuable skill for better understanding with employees. Acknowledging and recognizing employee's feelings and experiences makes HR staff trustworthy. Workers don't easily talk about what they really feel, or maybe they have told the story but no one recognizes it. HR professionals who have emotional intelligence can pinpoint the emotional drivers and get straight to the root of the problem quickly. Emotional intelligence makes a person more aware of how they behave with coworkers, thinks about the reactions and feelings of the person they are talking to, and helps the individual to respond to the situation calmly. Event organizing Organizing skills are useful for becoming an HR professional. HR staff are often appointed to be in charge of employee engagement campaigns, such as holiday parties, health fairs, outings, recruitment fairs, trainings, staff appreciation days, onboarding, etc. HR staff must be able to organize vendors and materials, build solicit signups, design a schedule, and run the event. After the event is over, HR will gather feedback from post-event staff to improve the next event. Active listening Listening skills are crucial if you want to be in the HR department. HR staff are the ears of the organization. They hear employee's complaints, questions, and ideas. Human resources gather feedback from staff through meetings or engagement surveys. HR council is a place for teams or individuals to experience and resolve problems. The two most important reasons why human resource staff must have active listening skills is because listening to what employees say makes them feel heard and valued. Also HR needs to pay attention to write detailed reports by listening carefully to every document conversation. Conflict resolution Resolving company disputes is one of the main functions of the human resources department. The department provides employees with a safe place to work by mediating arguments between team members and working through issues together.   Hong Kong Human Resources Services | 香港人力資源服務   The HR staff needs to solve problems calmly and reduce tension in the room, listen to each problem clearly, negotiate compromise, and direct the conversation until a solution is found. The human resources crew acts as a mediator on every issue, giving each party time to convey their point of view. Communication Communication is an HR competency needed to be a bridge for all members in the company. HR staff must be good at communicating, starting from the interview process until new employees learn company rules and carry out orientation. HR professionals not only deal with individuals during recruitment, but also conduct presentations and workshops. Good communication skills will foster the ability to be good at conversational, written communication skills, and public speaking. Every HR professional understands how to communicate with the person they are talking to with warmth and empathy. Recruitment HR professionals have an important role in recruitment. They understand how to create job postings, select qualified candidates, conduct interviews, and hiring decisions. Good HR staff collaborates with any department to adapt to the team's criteria and needs. When carrying out recruitment, HR professionals will have many considerations such as how good the candidate is in terms of their attitude, technical skills and culture fit. They understand how to start an interview, find out information about candidates according to the office's needs, and what if someone makes an offer. Analytical ability Human resources need to learn about analytical components. HR needs to collect and analyze what the office needs, such as anticipating hiring needs, monitoring employee needs, and company conditions. HR managers must be able to analyze what the best steps are for the future, whether staffing needs or adjusting the budget. The data needed does not have to be numbers, but human resources must understand how to measure employee satisfaction and optimize their performance. All of these tasks require the ability to collect and analyze information. Critical thinking Each individual has their own thoughts to solve problems, but sometimes causes strong emotions and tension in a workplace. If there is conflict between team members, they will feel they are right and others seem wrong. As humans, we sometimes put forward biases, feelings, and assumptions. But to be an HR professional you have to put all that aside, because there must be fairness for all employees and think objectively. HR professionals must have critical thinking not to jump straight to conclusions and make judgments from what each individual says. Human resources must be a neutral party and avoid favoritism. Research Human resources staff must continue to learn new things to adapt to standards as society and corporate culture evolve. They must have research skills and the desire to continue learning new things. Human resource professionals need to keep updated on shifting regulations and industry trends. Higher ups will ask the HR department about what needs to be changed, and what parts need to be improved to keep up with the latest developments. Connectors HR staff not only care about each individual, but also serve as connectors for the team. Human resources use team building skills for team bonding, planning fun team activities, and opportunities to foster team relationships. Each individual has their own skills and ways of communicating, but there is HR who has the task of transforming from a solo player to a team player. This is different from the task of project managers who see team members on an individual basis, because HR has an important role in making each team member feel there and needed. Sometimes HR can be a coach to unite the team. HR experts can be good leaders to form a better team. Wellbeing evangelism HR professionals have an important role in ensuring that each team member is healthy, happy, and productive. HR staff will listen to each employee's complaints and what they want for them. HR staff will talk to higher ups regarding the same problems, and look for solutions to increase employee retention. Being an HR must have the skills to support wellbeing initiatives, making the organization an excellent place to work. This will have a good impact on employees, because they feel heard and try their best to achieve achievements and advance the company. Multitasking The many responsibilities that human resources have require each staff member to have multitasking skills. Preparing interviews, training programs, guiding new employees, and other tasks requires having the ability to multitask and good time management to maintain good performance. Human resources professionals will remain calm even when working under pressure, whether the pressure comes from any conflict, employees with concerns, or there are problems in event progress. HR staff as much as possible do not leave their work neglected, by multitasking and remaining on good quality. Change management The HR team must understand when employees are not comfortable with their position, or managers lack chemistry with their team members, which has an impact on the results of task completion. Not everyone can get along with other people on the same team because there are many factors. The task of human resources is to select and place employees in appropriate divisions so that the employee's best potential emerges. HR professionals always take part in more organizational changes, starting from changing team personnel, modifying policies, to creating new regulations for the company. Human resources are a crucial position for business because there is a lot that can be gained for the company's progress, starting from a solid team, a comfortable work environment, ensuring employees get wellness, and analyzing how the organization should run in order to get its best potential. Everyone who applies to become human resources must be prepared to have several competencies and skills. That's all about Human resource skills and competencies. You can see articles from SMEBrother for other amazing tips such as how to advance your business, important knowledge about licensing, leadership skills, finances, etc. Immediately visit the SMEBrother site and get information about businesses ranging from small-sized to large businesses.

Team building is an activity and method that is needed in every organization. In general, team building will help you to identify and develop talents. If there are employees with good skills, they need to adapt them to their team. Team building lets workers see their coworkers in action. While showing their individual skills, each employee tries to adapt their performance to the team, trying to achieve the goal together by utilizing each individual's strengths. Before we apply team building activities to our business, we need to know about team building objectives and goals. What are team goals and objectives? Many people think team building goals and objectives are the same thing. But no, team building objectives are the wider results a leader wants to achieve by implementing a team building program and applying it at an organizational level. While team building goals are team-specific immediate outcomes desired from team building activities. Examples of team activity goals are developing relationships and fostering creativity, and examples of team activity objectives are uniting a virtual workforce and breeding loyalty. A company that can achieve workplace objectives and goals can calculate risks and lead to innovation, because their team will support collaboratively and leads to better outcomes. List of team building objectives Here is a list of the various team building objectives in an organization. Share company culture Company culture is critical for the organization. Missions, values, and priorities tell customers what they can expect from your brand, and workers will expect from the organization as an employee. Each individual must have the same objectives and be in accordance with the company culture, because an employee or manager can derail the company's goals intentionally or not when they do not implement the company culture. By initiating team building activities, you can direct the team on how you will design the organization. For example, if the manager can show integrity and innovation to the team, team members will have the same aims to continue a good thing in the company. The company culture can be a positive asset for the team's progress, because even though your team will one day change personnel, the culture will remain in the organization. Breed loyalty Team building events will show employees about appreciation. Several factors such as entertainment, meals, and prizes will help employees feel valued because they have the opportunity to feel relaxed, enjoyable, and fun in their standard work routine. Even though team members are not yet aware of the importance of team building activities, some of the things you do can inspire employees to stay and work harder with the company. By making commitments to employees with various team activities, companies demonstrate to employees that dedication is also shown to employee wellness. Team building alone may not be strong enough to maintain employee loyalty, but if combined with good management practices, team building can be a suitable tool for fostering dedication and enacting mutual respect among employees. Foster employee bonds Employees who have positive and close bonds with their coworkers will be more engaged and engaged, have a higher level of job satisfaction, and better quality of work. Employees will feel calm when they are in the work environment, because they can exhibit workplace enthusiasm and high performance. Employees will be happy every time they are in the office, more productive, and highly conscientious. Team building activities will invite employees to care about coworkers' wellbeing and the company's progress. Team building will help promote compassion, trust, and respect among others. Save money If you look at the long-term effects, you will see that team building activities provide long-lasting benefits that outweigh the initial costs. For example, team dinners, company retreats, motivational speakers, and escape rooms are some entertainment and education that are not cheap, but can increase employee satisfaction and reduce staff turnover. Every employee will not hold back from showing their best performance, because they know that the company has facilitated them in education, fun activities, and room to grow. Not only employees can save money in the long term, but each individual can gain a positive reputation which can increase their skills and overall teamwork. Build skills Team building exercises will add new skills to each employee. Individual skills are different from team skills. Team building will teach each leader and team member to evaluate and improve colleagues' collaboration skills. These activities will teach participants to improve persuasion, listening, and delegation competencies.   12 Unique Culture Building Activities for Employees   Each employee will have unique skills, but still requires teamwork techniques. Team building allows team members to collaborate, stay focused on individual skills, and learn to adapt to the team to fill in strengths and weaknesses to make the team more dynamic. Prevent conflict and resolution The best teams are having problem-solving approaches, diverse, consisting of different backgrounds, combination of ages, skill sets, and perspectives. Some differences will increase the possibility of competition and can lead to conflict. Every team must learn how to prevent and resolve any conflicts. Team building games will teach team members to listen, compromise, and communicate to achieve team goals. The activities will build bonds between team members and help promote peace. The goal is to create group harmony even though there is disagreement between team members. Team building teaches members that there is negotiation and empathy to avoid conflict and not harm team dynamics and team productivity. Encourage communication Even though each individual has good intentions, there is still a high possibility that each team member will fail to communicate. Differences in background, perspectives, and skill sets can create misunderstandings between individuals, and can trigger conflict. Team building activities will teach employees to receive information from coworkers, learn the character of each individual, and be able to understand what friends say without explicit instructions. The team games will challenge employees to instruct, discuss, listen, clarify, and compromise in time-sensitive environments. The events give every employee the opportunity to feel more comfortable initiating conversations. List of team building goals Here are some common team building goals that leaders hope to achieve through team building activities. Foster creativity If each individual has a brilliant idea, then when collaborating they will create a prototype together and create a masterpiece. The creativity of employees will get insight from each team member, so that even small ideas can become big because of input from coworkers. Teams act as sounding boards to expand concepts and ideas by adding different insights and perspectives. Team building can create inventive thinking, making ordinary ideas extraordinary. Every idea submitted by team members will be an inspiration for others to express their opinions. Workers feel comfortable to convey their new ideas even though they are risky, because there is a team ready to polish them into great ideas. Improve productivity Productivity has a reinforcing factor in every organization. Lack of recognition, an excess of meetings, lack of belonging, and toxic coworker relationships will cause low productivity. But strong team building can prevent all these negative factors. When teammates trust each other, employees feel safe because there is a support system around them. The team can be a stress relief and safety net. Respectful team creates a positive and healthy work environment. Each individual's performance becomes better and productivity improves. Teammates can praise their coworkers when they do great work, even the leader can recognize their accomplishments. Develop relationships Many workplaces only prioritize performance compared to work relationships. But studies show that lonely employees will impact work performance. At least one in ten lonely employees will underperform at work. But with team building, each individual is required to communicate with each other and establish good relationships with each other. Socializing with coworkers will be a great opportunity to reduce the possibility of employees being lonely, value other teammates and feel valued by them on multiple levels. Employees feel appreciated for everything and make them care about the overall company welfare. Boost morale Morale boosters are needed in every organization. Sometimes employees will feel tired, fed up and stressed because of the difficulty of their work. But with team building events, employees can have a moral booster and have a prosperous work environment. Every game and activity will rejuvenate workplace energy and raise employee morale. Team building exercises are enjoyable yet educational. Employees can relax and play, even though teamwork activities require decision making, conflict resolution and problem solving. Rest and amusement allows employees to refocus, recharge and re-energize, helping them to tackle any problems and completing tasks with enthusiasm. Apart from being entertaining, team building sparks team spirit. The morale-boosting effect will be overlasting and become a good habit for team members in recognizing peers. Enhance engagement Unengaged employees will lack of motivation, wasted company time, high job errors, worker turnover, and many other things that can have an effect on the company. Disengaged employees only focus on collecting a paycheck, without caring about the results of their performance. With team building events, employees clock in to make a difference. The activities build individual performance better and become part of a larger effort on a team. The team experiences will change from passive order-followers to active contributors. Team bonding will give employees the opportunity to share. They can engage with each other by complimenting each other, giving advice if something is lacking, and encouraging teammates to take a more active role. By making every team member heard and seen, each teammate feels needed instead of replaceable and encourages them to engage in the work.     Now you know how important team building activities are, and differentiate between team building goals and objectives. If you want other important information about business, licensing, and tips about small-business to medium-sized businesses, you can check the SMEBrother website. SMEBrother provides complete information about how you can survive in business or gives you tips for scaling up your business to the next level. Immediately check our site to start earning more by learning more.

Recognizing and appreciating the efforts of employees is crucial for maintaining high morale and fostering a positive work environment. In every organization, acknowledging individual and team contributions through employee shout-outs plays a significant role. Such gestures not only lift spirits but also contribute to a culture of appreciation and kindness within the workplace. Shout-outs can take various forms, including public announcements, in-person commendations, private meetings, or even through gifts. Whether it's praising fast workers, celebrating big winners, acknowledging those who work steadily, or simply recognizing effort for no specific reason, each shout-out adds value to the team. Employers can choose from diverse methods, such as social media posts, nominations, birthday celebrations, or breakroom shout-out boards, to express gratitude. By implementing these employee shout-out ideas, organizations can enhance morale, create a positive atmosphere, and motivate their teams to achieve ongoing success.

Every company competes to get the best industrial talents and retain them for the company's progress. But what companies don't pay attention to is that they think more about selecting the best talent than about getting existing employees to show their best performance with recognition in the workplace. We know that employee recognition is crucial, but how we recognize employee performance is a challenge. This article will discuss employee recognition examples and how you can implement them in your company. What is employee recognition? Employee recognition is an act of acknowledgment and appreciation for employees for any accomplishments and contributions to the business that links to the company's mission, purpose, and values. The form of acknowledgment can be formal or informal, individual or team. What are the 4 types of recognition? Recognition is a vast and complex world of responsibilities. Before we get into employee recognition examples, let's learn about the 4 key types of recognition. Public recognition When an employee gets an achievement, the manager or supervisor announces it in front of others and celebrates it. You can announce it immediately during a meeting, a few minutes before work hours start, or be featured in a company newsletter. Private recognition Tis is one-on-one recognition. Coworkers don't know when you convey recognition to the honoree. This includes direct messaging, email, and thank you notes. Private recognition can be more meaningful for certain employees, because sometimes there are people who don't want their achievements to be shared with coworkers. Talking one-on-one will make a special impression in the hearts of employees, because you can convey gratitude and recognition personally. Promotion A promotion is next level recognition by giving new responsibilities to individuals, giving new positions, or new projects. Giving a promotional reward will give individuals the opportunity to continue to develop and trust their team to take on more. Monetary reward Anything related to giving money to employees who excel. Bonuses, pay raises, company trips, or anything with fiscal offerings or compensation. 10 Employee Recognition Examples to Implement at Your Business Recognition and appreciation are two crucial things that must exist in every organization. If you want to get employees with maximum potential, let's dive into several employee recognition examples below. Create customized award You can make employee awards as unique as possible, because there are no limits. Customized rewards are your opportunity to provide creativity in your employee recognition and provide rewards in accordance with the company's core values.   14 Proven Morale Boosters Ideas for Employees and Staff   Maybe you can provide special nameplates on employees' work desks, a unique parking space in the office for employees who excel, or special clothes that say employee of the year. Customized awards can be encouraging for employees and raise loyalty levels. Give employee a day off Giving employees days off on weekends is commonplace. But it can be great if you give a day off on weekdays to decompress and celebrate employee's accomplishments. Sometimes heavy projects and difficult milestones will exhaust employees. Give one or two days off to employees as a form of gratitude because employees have tried their best and made improvements. Employees will thank you because they can regain their focus and enthusiasm after several days of hard work to achieve an accomplishment. Dinner on the company Invite your team to dinner with the company that pays for everything. This is one kind of employee recognition, because it brings the team to eat the best food in town while discussing how well they have performed recently. Dinner on the company will show employees that their hard work is always noticed, and can be a fun discussion at dinner with office officials. Employee care package A care package is a sign that someone is thinking about you. Care packages can be the right choice for employee recognition gifts, because employees will give positive feedback and feel lucky to get self-care products. You can fill in bath soap, shampoo, scented candles, handbody, lotion, or anything that can care for everything from the face to the feet. Meetup with remote teams With many offices starting to use remote work after Covid, it might be difficult to build strong work relationships due to distance limitations. You can create an event to meet with remote workers at a cafe, restaurant or coworking space to spend some good quality meetings together. The power of face-to-face interaction can be impactful for teamwork in the future. Send employees on an adventure Difficult projects have been passed, every employee has demonstrated their skills for the progress of the office. It's time for the office to give recognition gifts in the form of gifts of experience. Invite employees to go on an adventure to explore the beauty of nature such as hiking, kayaking, picnicking on a wide hill, or exploring the lake. This gift will be more meaningful and memorable because it can be a means to get closer to coworkers and have fun outside the office. Seeing the beauty of nature will be a powerful stress relief for employees. Spread words of affirmation Some projects or weeks can feel harder than before. Words of affirmation can make your employees feel recharged and appreciated. Give a few words of praise and recognition to increase employee morale. A simple 'good job' and 'thank you' can bring many positive things in the future. Employees will feel pumped to maintain their best performance, understanding that each of their work will be meaningful for the office. Career based rewards Offering career-based rewards can be perfect for employees and benefit your company. Send employees to take courses, seminars, leadership training, or let employees choose the online classes they want to take. Sometimes employees don't have to take several classes that are related to the current job, but it can be an investment for their career. The benefit of this reward is that it shows employees that their manager cares about the team's self-development. Invest in employees’ health and well-being Showing appreciation can be shown through how you genuinely care about employees' health and well-being. Hire a yoga instructor to lead a yoga class in the office, or give a gym membership to each employee and do the gym together. If employees have a particular hobby in sports, you can provide facilities such as playing futsal together, playing badminton, tennis or swimming. Encourage continuing education Self-development can be done by helping employees to pay for their next education. Show you appreciate them that you want employees to continue to grow in their career. Every employee will want to improve themselves in terms of career and knowledge. By providing opportunities to continue their education, employees will be more enthusiastic about achieving and showing their best skills according to their work. Every employee has tried their best for the progress of the company and also improvement for themselves. A good company will recognize employee's hard work and understand how to show gratitude to them. SMEBrother has prepared many articles on how you can advance your business by showing appreciation and recognition to employees. Check out the SMEBrother website for tips and education on how to advance your business, from thinking about employee wellness, to licensing, finance, leadership, and much more.

Office work can sometimes increase tension and stress among employees. If you are in a small group, of course you can see and feel the effects of high tension from employees and this can affect their performance results. Icebreaker games are needed to reduce employee stress and restore their work focus. Gathering employees to do something fun can be a relief even though their work is full of difficulties or problems. But what are some fun icebreaker activities, games, and ideas for small groups? Read this article until the end. Why do we need icebreaker games? Icebreaker games can build relationships between employees, create a team or organizational culture, relieve stress, reduce tension in the work atmosphere, and make employees re-focus on what they do. Icebreaker activities can be a tool to help participants spend time interacting with coworkers and learning about each other.  12 Best Team Building Events for Work Whatever the current work environment, icebreaker activities are the key to making conditions more comfortable. You can do it during a meeting, before starting work, or before work is over. What is a fun icebreaker activity? Fun icebreaker activity for small groups is any activity that can involve all participants, so that they can interact with each other. Let employees help you in preparing icebreaker activities. Prepare icebreaker ideas using equipment you have purchased previously, or using items you have in the office. Or you can receive suggestions from employees about what icebreaker games they know. If you are still confused about what activities are suitable, you can see some of the best icebreaker activity ideas from us. 15 fun and unique icebreaker games for team Icebreakers for small groups can be made as exciting as possible and provide valuable lessons for all participants. There are many types of games that you can use, such as indoor team building, connection games, small group games, problem solving, etc. Here is the list. Classic riddle Have you ever heard of the classic chicken, wolf, and grain riddle? This riddle is very suitable for icebreakers in small groups. Tell the group about the story: "A farmer was traveling with a chicken, a wolf, and a bag of grain. They had to go through a river to cross. The boat could only accommodate one chair for the farmer and one other piece of luggage. The farmer could not leave the chicken with a bag of grain, or leaving the wolf alone with the chickens. How can farmers get them all across the river?" Team members have to think together about how farmers can move the loads one by one without anything getting lost. Here is the answer for the riddle: The farmer brings the chicken first. The farmer returns to take the wolf, and after crossing the river, the wolf is put down and the chicken is taken back. After returning to the starting point, the farmer put the chicken away and took out a bag of grain. When you cross the river, a wolf will be with a bag of grain. Last step is the farmer retrieve the chicken. Speed networking Speed networking is an activity that makes it easier for teams to know each other. Pair your team into groups of two. Give each pair an icebreaker question, and five minutes to answer as many questions as they like. After five minutes is over, switch up the pairs. After switching up the pair, you can give them time to chat for a while to discuss what questions they had with the previous pair. Because you are doing it with a smaller group, you can cycle through the pairs more than once. This activity will give employees time to chat about some information and how they can answer as many questions as possible. Achievements under 18 This icebreaker activity is very suitable for small groups because each participant must convey what achievements they have had until the age of 18. These accomplishments can range from personal, academic, and hobby. Every employee will remember any moment they have from their childhood, and can lead to questions about personal triumphs. This activity is a fun way to grow each employee's self-confidence again, and a great way to get to know each other. Jenga questions You and your team can play Jenga and also answer questions. Give a number to each piece of Jenga, and write questions according to the sequential number. As each participant successfully draws a brick, they must answer a question. This activity creates an easygoing and spontaneous way for employees to share information about themselves. While they have to stay focused on balancing Jenga blocks, they will also have fun answering the questions that have been prepared. Creativity of a brand manager Ask your team members to imagine themselves opening a business. Each group must decide how they market their new brand. Let the group determine the logos, slogans, and products they choose. Share and vote for which group has the best marketing strategy. This icebreaker game will foster creativity for the team, and you can see several individuals who have good talents in certain fields, and we can know what they are passionate about. Six word memoirs Six word memoirs are a suitable activity for team building and spark discussions. Each team member needs to brainstorm about six words that summarize their life, and they need to share their six word memoir with the group. Each team member needs to choose the right words to explain it to the group. Each six words can be a question and explanation, while we can find out interesting insights about each other. Time heist Have you ever thought about what you would do if you could go back in time? This game is inspired by the events of Avengers Endgame, with time heist as a game for teams in what would pull it off if they could time travel. Ask your team to write down their time travel plans on paper, and place it on an opaque container. Then pass the container around and each team member draws a paper and discusses what is written on the paper. Time heists can provide an amazing way to learn about each other, and how creative they are as a team. The marshmallow challenge The marshmallow challenge is a fun team building game for work. Split your team into pairs and give each group 10 sticks of dry spaghetti, three feet of string, three feet of tape, and one marshmallow. Each pair has 10 minutes to build the tallest structure with the marshmallow on top. This activity requires communication, teamwork, and innovation. After the challenge is complete, you can gather the team and discuss which part of the game is the most difficult, which structure is the best, who failed the first, how they overcame it, and what they think about other designs. 10 things in common Divide your team into pairs and instructions to discover 10 things that they have in common. After the pairs find similarities with their partners, they can switch pairs to find other 10 things in common. This game can speed up the time in finding out about each other, as well as what things they like together to add excitement to the conversation. Who am I? Who am I is a fun game that requires some preparation. Choose some well-known real people, and some fictional characters. Write the individual names on paper and tape a paper to each person's back. Each participant goal is a figure out who they are. They have to ask coworkers to find the answers. Answerers may not mention their names directly, and can only answer yes or no. The game ends when all participants can guess who the name on the paper is. To make the game easier, you can create a theme. For example, you can give a clue to all participants that the theme this time is Hollywood actors. Word association Word association is a quick and easy game to learn how teams think. Make a list of ten words, and you can change the number based on your needs. Next, each participant writes one word through ten on a piece of paper and reads each worn. Let employees think about what sentences come to their minds after listening to all the words from coworkers. After the lists are complete, teammates will share the response to each word. This game is interesting because we can understand how employees make connections and their logic. Superhero wars Divide the room into two to four people per team. Every person must choose one superhero, such as Iron Man, Katniss, Gandalf, and take on their powers. Teams now go to battle verbally. You can see how excited they are to defend their superheroes to keep winning, while the creativity of each employee creates good stories. The group leader decides which superhero team wins the war. Talent show Every employee has the opportunity to show their talents in front of coworkers. The talents might be anything, starting from singing, card tricks, stand up comedy, or teaching new skills. The more random, the better icebreaker will be. Song scramble This is a unique game that can be played for small groups. Each participant will choose a song they like and sing it, then they stop suddenly at one word, and appoint a coworker to continue the word with a song of their own choice. Continue the game until there are only two players left who can continue one word to the new song. Would you rather The group leader points to one of the participants and asks a question such as "would you rather eat at the restaurant or fine dining at the hotel?" After answering the question, that person points to other participants and asks the next question. Let each participant prepare fun questions, so that the office atmosphere becomes cheerful and lots of conversations go on. Icebreaker games, activities and ideas are needed to help employees reduce stress, tension, restore focus, or prepare before they start work or meetings. Icebreaker activities for small groups can be a means to strengthen relationships with coworkers and create a positive culture in the organization.   If you need other information about advancing your business through team building, leadership skills, or problem solving, you can check our site. SMEBrother has all the important tips for advancing businesses from small to medium scale. Check the website out to get lots of important information about finances, licensing, or ways to take your business to the next level.

You may have heard the phrase that someone is a born-leader. They are people with high charisma, are innately extroverted, and know how to be leaders. But being a good leader is so much more than that. There are 20 qualities of a good leader in this article. Whether you are a first time manager, or a seasoned leader who wants to hone your leadership skills, you are in the right place. The best leaders can strive people around them to achieve success, as well as themselves. Even though each leader has his own characteristics, there are several core competencies that you need to know about some effective leaders. What it means to be a leader? A leader is someone who is able to guide, coach and inspire others. Leaders will motivate their team through challenging times and guide everyone as their career progresses. Being a leader means not only thinking about themselves, but also about the common interests and success of the team. They must keep their teams aligned and work according to the same goal. Leaders must be able to create a collaborative culture and inspire others to become the best version of themselves. Why good leaders are so important? Leadership is important in every organization that helps to direct employees to improve efficiency and achieve any company goals. Effective leaders can guide, motivate, and provide clarity of purpose, so that employees can understand what mission they must carry out. Perfect Guide About Management vs Leadership For You Becoming a good leader doesn't have to start when you become a manager, but you can start learning it from now. Regardless of your position, understanding the role of leaders can help you achieve accomplishment and contribute more to the company. Top 20 qualities of a good leader in a workplace Leadership skills are crucial in every organization, because they can make significant changes for each individual to reach their full potential. Team success can be seen from how leaders motivate and inspire others to achieve common goals. Keep reading to discover the top 20 qualities of a good leader and how you start to develop that skill starting from now. Integrity The highest quality of leadership is integrity. Without integrity, a leader will definitely fail. leader with integrity stands by their principles, is respected for his honesty, and encourages team members to do the same. A lack of integrity makes team members have trust issues, which will lead the team to result in failure. Effective communication Any communication is considered effective if everyone can clearly convey their ideas and create mutual understanding between them. Leaders must be great communicators to be able to convey their thoughts, but must also be able to become active listeners for team members. Leaders with poor communication skills cannot direct team members to get clear goals, and make them confused about what to do and lack of alignment. A good leader can understand how to communicate with the different characteristics of team members and can modify how they deliver the message according to the person they are talking to. Vision Every leader needs to have vision. They need to have various strategies and be able to function efficiently in business. If leaders have good vision, they can set the company in the right direction. Good leaders always have new steps to keep the business growing, but there still needs to be additional ideas and opinions from team members for perfect implementation. Collaborative Every leader must be able to unite their team to achieve success together. The main leader's task is to direct team members to keep on track on objectives and business goals. The leader's task is to foster trust between team members and make it easier for them to communicate and collaborate. Leadership is a collective process from leaders who direct their teams to work together and make accomplishments. Accountable Leaders must be reliable when there are errors in the project. A good leader will not just blame his team when a project fails, but they can look for the main problem and solve the issue. The leader will be responsible for completing the project according to the specified time, while resolving issues between team members wisely. Flexibility Each leader will work with a team with distinctive individuals, set of skills, and different walks of life. Leaders must be able to be flexible in dealing with each team member by changing their personality traits as needed. Leaders will embrace team members with different perspectives and motivate them by providing them with a place to grow. Emotional intelligence This is one of the abilities to manage one's emotions. It's simple, but it can have a lot of influence on your life as a leader. Leaders must be able to understand, perceive, control their own feelings, even under the stressful conditions. Emotional intelligence allows you to provide a friendly environment, promote team cohesion, and direct team members with a collaborative trait. Positive attitude A leader who is optimistic about all situations, remains hopeful no matter how difficult the situation is, and stays calm when facing problems will be an inspiration for team members. A positive mental attitude will teach team members that good things will happen eventually. Leaders who have a positive mindset will make team members optimistic about the world around them. Focused Being focused is one of the good qualities of being a leader because they can easily achieve long-term benefits for the team and business. Good leaders can focus on the good performance of the team, and encourage their team members to stay on the right path in achieving goals and achieving their best capabilities. Adaptability Leaders must be able to guide their teams even though the team faces crises, constantly changing environments, and new strategies. Good leaders must be able to think quickly about new strategies and make action plans to adapt to existing conditions that involve uncertainty and risk. Leaders need to invite team members to always adapt to new circumstances, so they can continue to advance in market competition. Risk taking Although leaders don't have to be big risk-takers, they need to be open to new ideas and be able to take the risk while estimating potential benefits. Good leaders can identify potential risks that could affect the project, and try to control them if they do occur. Sometimes risks don't have to be avoided, but estimated which ones can be profitable for the team and which ones don't. Eager to learn Effective leaders need to learn new skills about leadership or knowledge according to their field of work. Leaders need to be updated with ongoing business trends and apply the knowledge they learn. Good leaders will never be satisfied with what they learn, because they need to continue learning to be able to guide their teammates. Resilient A good leader must survive and be unaffected by failure. They must remain perceptive and resilient in difficult situations. Sometimes failure cannot be avoided, but as a leader you must quickly recover from mistakes and remain strong in facing problems while looking for quick solutions. A resilient leader can focus on goals and lead their team to follow their footsteps and set an example. Constructive criticism Sometimes saying yes to everything can ruin something further. Constructive criticism is valuable to understand that your opinion can also have errors or there are some points that you might ignore or ignore. By being a leader who can provide constructive criticism to team members, and is willing to accept criticism, the whole team can respect each other because they will not be afraid of conveying ideas or making mistakes. Decision making The core of leadership is making decisions. If you see a mistake in a company, don't let it fester and become a leader who can take the right steps to overcome it. Sometimes leaders are faced with difficult decisions and are not approved by team members, but sometimes decisions do not have to be well-received by everyone. Good judgment ensures the company makes more profits and reduces the risk of deeper mistakes. Improvisation Sometimes instinct is needed by leaders as a strong foundation for great leadership, because there are times when intuition is needed to make decisions, and some improvisation can provide more benefits for the team. If the leader already has experience and knowledge, you can react faster and improve some ideas to become better. Imagine this way, do what you think is right, because you will be criticized whether you improvise or not. Patient Leaders know that failures and mistakes are inevitable. But they must remain patient with the existing conditions and offer guidance to team members when they encounter difficulties with tackle failures. Apart from solving the issues, leaders must remain patient to face any conflict, without having to show under pressure or stress in front of team members. Transparency One of the characteristics of a good leader is transparency. They are more open in terms of goals, challenges and giving rewards. Team members are not only faced with a tense atmosphere when there is a problem, but also the leader needs to let them know when the office is in a good position and they have achieved accomplishments. However, there are rules for transparency, the leader cannot tell everything to team members. Draw the boundaries between what information can be provided to all, and what needs to remain secret. Problem solver Leaders have the responsibility to solve team or individual problems. Sometimes team members will talk about their difficulties or when there is conflict with coworkers. Good leaders will stay neutral and provide a middle way to solve problems. The leader will gather the team to find a solution together, but of course the leader must have his own ideas before asking for ideas from team members. Being creative A good leader is someone who can think creatively. Sometimes they think outside the box to beat market competition, or solve team problems in a unique way. The creativity of a manager will be an example for team members to be able to come up with diamond ideas and not be afraid to convey them to the team. Any creative ideas need to be embraced so that other good ideas can emerge among the team. That's all about 20 qualities of a good leader that you can learn and practice. If you need other information about leadership, team building, finance, licensing, or anything that can improve your small or medium scale business, visit the SMEBrother site and get all the information you need. SMEBrother is the solution for developing your business to the next level.

Monitoring the team's performance and keeping them motivated and in high morale is quite a difficult task. But, it would be more difficult if we had a virtual team that worked remotely most of the time. We have to think about how to build virtual teams to focus on the same goals, and bond with coworkers even though they work in different places. We have collected several virtual team building activities that you can use to strengthen virtual team collaboration. How do you keep a virtual team motivated? There are several factors to ensure your team stays motivated. For employees who work in the office, it will be easier, because you can meet them directly, ask what they need, ask if there are any particular difficulties, and keep them focused on tackling challenges in no time. But it's different from a virtual team, because we have to ask questions via video call or chat, and can only discuss more during meetings. Several important factors to keep virtual teams motivated are providing them with the right tools, using surveys to gauge motivation, talking about adaptive performance, virtual team building and employee recognition. How do you plan a virtual team building? It might seem overwhelming to gather a virtual team to do team building. But don't worry, we will give you some simple steps to plan virtual team building activities. It might seem overwhelming to gather a virtual team to do team building. But don't worry, we will give you some simple steps to plan virtual team building activities. First, prepare time for a virtual team building event. Notify all virtual employees to be present with a note in the group chat, or email them personally. Second, decide what kind of activities you want to do for team building. Don't forget to have fun while strengthening communication with each other, especially looking for activities that can boost employees' morale. Top Ways To Improve Employee Productivity Third, if you still can't determine what activities are interesting for your employees, make a survey about what events are suitable for groups to see their excitement about team building activities. 14 virtual team building activities for remote employees Let's take a look at some online team games & activities to boost their morale, communication, and potential for collaboration. If we missed any favorite activities that you usually do with coworkers, please let us know by commenting below. Virtual team challenges The virtual team challenge is to create a team from several random employees, completing several games in fun and unique ways. These challenges may include physical activities, puzzles, riddle-solving, trivia knowledge, etc. This is a fun activity because we can understand our team's strengths and weaknesses, and give them the opportunity to do something together virtually while learning about problem solving in the games they play. Holiday themed zoom call One of the interesting team building events is the schedule for Zoom meetings with a holiday theme. Notify all employees to prepare decorations or clothes that match the theme you choose, starting from Halloween, mid-autumn festival, New Years Eve, etc. Don't forget to reward employees with the most unique costumes or decorations. This is a fun activity because you can change the theme according to your wishes. You can hold themed Zoom meetings every time there is a special occasion, and teach the virtual team to be together to always participate in the excitement. Virtual recognition wall Like the wall of fame concept, simply create a wall from social media to send out a message to your team during meetings, as a form of employee recognition for employees who excel. Coworkers can post messages, videos, photos, GIFs, memes, and all the fun ways to convey their support and recognize their peers virtually. Doing interactive activities together Choose several interactive activities like baking parties, art nights, cooking classes, and many more. Let the employee receive a team building kit at their home. All they need to do is bring the box and show up to a virtual meeting while doing a series of activities. This activity can provide a fun experience of doing things together even in different places, while experiencing new things like baking or cooking. Open mic virtual icebreaker Prepare 10 minutes before each meeting starts for one employee to take the virtual stage. Ask them to do something they want, such as reading a poem, singing a song, doing stand up comedy, or playing an instrument. Allow their teammates to snap and applaud after these glorious performances. Dance party Ask each employee to write down their favorite dance songs, then collect the data and prepare some of the songs to play later. During icebreaker time, tell all employees to enjoy the music and allow them to dance, sing along, or laugh together. Take special time to ask the person who entered the song choice, why they chose that song as their most favorite to know the backstory of it. Name that emoji song title This is a fun game that you can do virtually. Determine who goes first, and put a timer for each person to answer the questions. Other team members can only give clues by using only emojis to the title of the song. Everyone else takes turns to guess the song, until time runs out. Reveal the song, and if no one can guess correctly, you can do it for another song title. Department quiz battle Choose two departments that will conduct a trivia battle. Create a list of 10 trivia questions using Google Form. Send out the questions to both departments with time limits. Make 3-4 rooms of trivia, and each team records the answers on digital sheet provided by the host. You can make trivia battles more interesting by displaying answer players, such as whose answer is the funniest? Who answered the fastest? Which department has the highest points? etc. Snapshot virtual icebreaker Ask everyone to take a picture of something, such as pets, kids, desk spaces, outfit, etc. Have everyone upload their pictures and create a digital collage of everyone's snapshots. Spend time to compliments the pics or asking questions about it. Solving problems Divide employees into groups of 3-4 people. Give a case regarding work or real-life problems. Let each group discuss about the case, and give time for each group to express their opinion and how they solved the problem. The interesting thing about this activity is that each group can share their point of view and do problem solving as a group. Virtual comedy show Provide memorable virtual team building by inviting famous stand up comedians in your area to inject a fun and laughter into your team. This is easy to set up, ideal for small teams, and provides relaxation time for employees. A comedy doesn't have to be work related, and tell the talent to craft the comedy as interesting as possible for the time you set. Learning course together For personal development, you can take online courses and watch them together with the team. Giving virtual teams time to learn together with their team is an impressive and useful experience for improving their skills as well as team bonding. GIF wars virtual icebreaker Set the rule for 1-2 minutes per person to reply to a gif from their coworker. Choose a theme for the GIF war each week, like dogs, cats, movies, sports, etc. To make it more interesting, every GIF sent must be relevant or create a story in it. Go around and vote for who can provide the best GIF and can create a story from the GIF wars to keep going. Getting know each other The host will say one of the employees' names. The coworkers are given 1-3 minutes to convey what they know about their coworkers. Do this until everyone has said what they know about, and give time for the chosen one to reveal which one matches what their friend described, and correct it if something isn't right. Do it in a professional way, without blaspheming or demeaning coworkers, as a form of respect for friends.   Virtual teams must still pay attention to their cohesiveness, because it is more difficult for you to form a team when they are in their respective workplaces. By doing team building activities, you can teach the virtual team to stay collaborative and align their goals. If you need other information about how to do team building activities, you can visit the SMEbrother site. We provide a lot of information for your business progress, leadership skills, problem solving for teams, finance, licensing, and much more.