Hello Reader,

What I’m hearing from managers and team leaders is that their people are burned out, disconnected, and deflated about their work.

Since I work with a lot of remote and distributed teams, it’s especially hard to keep their people connected around the holidays. Everybody tunes out of work for a few weeks to handle the holidays with their families.

But what if you could encourage your teams to connect and strengthen their bonds before they break away at the end of the year? What if you could remind them about the connections they have with their teammates, before they go on holiday?

Using the Power of Play, you can strengthen your team’s connection, collaboration, and culture.

Here are some fun games, from my Zoom Host Checklist:

Scavenger Hunt

Ask everyone to find something nearby and show it to the camera. Use different categories, like: Something blue. Something from another country. Something with the price tag still on it. Something difficult to explain to your parents. Ask a volunteer with all 4 to tell a quick story that involves all 4 of them. "Once upon a time..."

Terrible Presents in Breakout Rooms

Go to breakout rooms in pairs for 2 minutes. First minute: person with the shortest hair gives a terrible present. Anything they like. The person with the longer hair has to express sincere gratitude, and find something nice to say about it. 2nd minute, they switch.

Mad Libs on Flippity

Open this Flippity link. Share your screen, and ask for a volunteer to select a category. Ask for volunteers to add words by typing in chat, or calling out verbally (holding spacebar). Create a silly story, and read it aloud.

I’ve got a lot of experience in hosting fun Zoom games for distributed teams. These interactive virtual workshops leave people feeling energized, optimistic, and refreshed.

Some of the ways I help virtual and distributed teams include:

✧ Gamify Your Work playshop - 45-minute lunch-and-learn on how to get more done and have more fun

✧ Playful Productivity Program - Full-day workshop that teaches 4 popular productivity systems with games and activities (it's Time Management training that doesn't suck)

✧ Productivity Book Club - Four-month program with weekly email checkins, monthly virtual meetings, and 4 print books shipped to each participant

✧ Coaching for team leaders - One-on-one conversations with leaders of remote teams, focused on creating playful environments that improve culture, collaboration, and capacity

✧ Fun & Games on Zoom - 30, 60, or 90 minutes of facilitated holiday-themed games. Trivia quiz competitions, improvisation games for trust-building, and creative artistic collaborations.

Would you like to talk about hosting an interactive games workshop for your team?

If you’ve got a budget for year-end virtual events that will improve your culture, hit reply.