Team building online, my webinar

As you might know, I have recently launched a series of webinars for online games and activities. Here I talk about the webinar for team building.

I practice Linguistic Empathy and I expect you to do the same. Please bear with me if my English is not perfect.

Anyone with a minimum of team management experience knows the importance of what is commonly called team building. The big challenge right now is how to do team building online.

My biggest experience

My experience in group management was born and developed almost exclusively online. The Expatclic team has been, and still is, a huge test for my team management skills. It is made up of women of different cultural backgrounds, who share the same experience of contact with diversity. It is marked by a wide variety of time zones, connection quality, commitments, family arrangements and life and professional experiences.

Over the years it has seen many women coming and going, thus maintaining its dynamic character. It is managed totally online. Creating moments of meeting in the flesh has always been a great challenge. We still haven’t been able to meet all in the same place at the same time.

Other experiences

Expatclic isn’t my only experience of managing online teams, though. At the beginning of my career as an intercultural trainer I was a tutor in the post-degree course of Education and Cultural Pluralism promoted by the University of Florence, Italy. I had attended the same course as a student the year before. Covering the two roles taught me a lot.

I have also managed, for years and on a regular basis, the groups that formed in my course to build a portable career, as well as, even if for the time limited to provide the training, the groups that participated in my workshops in person.

I learned a lot. On the dynamics of communication, for example. On the unspoken. And also on how individual values sometimes clash with group values, and how to manage the gap that is formed in these cases. I understood the importance of transmitting honesty, passion and motivation, but of transmitting them in the appropriate communication style for the group.

Above all, I understood that the concept of team building is not rigid and static, but it articulates on a vast series of actions, which require the presence and attention of those leading the group.

Games for team building online

Games and activities for a group constitute an often profitable strategy to dissolve the tensions within it, but they are above all useful to raise awareness about the identity of the group and make it clear to individual members how strong and powerful is the bond that link them.

People in general love to play. I have known very few people who resist playing and joyful activities. Even the most rigid and stuck individuals normally melt in front of a well-done game.

It is no coincidence that in recent years lots of workshops, weekends and team building retreats have developed. And that games are increasingly used to work on the identity of the group.

Why it is possible

Team building online using playful activities is different from doing it in presence. It is difficult, but certainly not impossible. What is important is to mix the most important ingredients in the best way: technical familiarity, enthusiasm, activities that can be easily accomplished at a distance, presence and empathy.

While I obviously cannot teach you presence and empathy, I can show you their effect in an online team building session. Above all, I can share and let you try a series of games that anyone is able to moderate, and which will surely amuse the participants. I think it is useless to remind you that when a person has fun, she also lets herself go, becomes more creative, more willing to open up and welcome others.

Creating this atmosphere is the premise for team building online. You will experience it on your skin during the webinar, but above all you will familiarize yourself with games and activities that will come in handy in many contexts, even outside of team building.

Some details on the games of my webinar

I invented some of them myself, others I learned when training to become an intercultural trainer;
When necessary, I modified them to adapt them to the screen;
Almost all of them make extensive use of the tools provided by zoom (breakout rooms, screen sharing, whiteboard);
All start from the individual as a fundamental element of the group, and make him aware of his place within it;
Some require a little preparation, so I’ll ask you to send me some things before the webinar

How does the webinar work in practice?

If you are interested in participating, I ask you to register by filling out this very short form. Once I have the right number of participants to guarantee the success of the activities, I will ask you to proceed with the payment. After payment, you will receive the link to connect to the chat room on zoom.

If you still don’t know them, I will show you the zoom features we’ll use during the webinar, and then we will start playing!

If you have any questions or concerns, don’t hesitate to write.

I wait for you.

Single Blog