Key Takeaways:
- Medium sized teams are probably the most difficult to build cohesion with. A structured team building program can be the key to uniting a diverse group.
- Choosing the right game can make a real difference in how well remote employees get to know each other. Humans need connection and play is the best way to bring people together. Ask any 5 year old.
- Some games are easy to run on your own while others are better with a professional host. Structured games like Texas Hold’em offer a nice balance of friendly competition and social time.
When Mid-Sized is the Right Size
Have you been tasked with finding the right online group team building game for your organization? Well, look no further because we have the top online team building activities for mid-sized groups. We’re skipping right over boring ice breakers and focusing on the most effective games for groups of 20-50 people.
Working in a medium-sized group can have significant advantages. Huge companies may have bloated organizational structures, and a startup might be so lean that everyone does everything. Hosting a regular schedule of team building activities for your mid-sized team can help leverage the advantages of your size and will create an awesome army that:
- Communicates effectively. Take advantage of the rapport built over a history of online activities together. Know each other’s skills and leverage them appropriately.
- Provides perspective. Having a team of 20, 30, or even 50 people offers opportunities to get feedback from a variety of people. Already being comfortable with those people makes it easier to share.
- Supports diversity. When you know who is in your corner and are comfortable with them, you can share your individual lived experience in a way that helps the overall team.
Not everything is sunshine and rainbows when you have a mid-sized team. Like any family large or small, there are bound to be problems. It can take a real focused effort to identify issues and solve them when they are small. Without the skills developed through online team building you run the risk of:
- Falling victim to office politics. Team building is designed to help people develop genuine friendships. Without those personal bonds in place the pressures of a competitive work environment can drive some folks to play dirty.
- Becoming stagnant. In some medium-sized groups, there may be a lack of innovation and a tendency to maintain the status quo. It’s tough to be a team player when you’re not incentivized to get to know your team.
- Failing to prepare for market volatility. In the business world, things change rapidly. A mid-sized team must still react as nimbly as a unit of Navy Seals. That is no time for infighting or breaks in communication. A strong foundation is critical.
We have established that regular fun and effective team-building activities have benefits across the board, not only for the individual members of your mid-sized group but for the company as a whole. So let’s jump into what games are great for these activities.
Top Online Group Team Building Games for Your Mid-sized Team
There are two main categories that you should consider when looking for an innovative team building idea:
- Games that are managed by professional hosts.
- Games that can be run in-house (with some extra work).
Our first list of games are ones that can be hosted by a professional company. When you bring in a pro you save a lot of time and steps, as many of them are turnkey. For example, here at The Poker People, we host games on our own private play-money poker website, and we have a real dealer for every table. All our clients need to do is pick a date. This type of bespoke planning can take a lot of stress off the game organizer.
Innovative Ideas for Online Team Building Activities
International Food Tour – A gift box of goodies from around the world is sent to all participants of this virtual activity and a professional expert joins the video meeting to lead participants through the tastings.
Bingo – For a more interesting game, have your vendor create bingo cards with personal characteristics specific to your team. “Speaks more than one language,” “has a pet,” or “has traveled to more than 10 countries” are fun ways to showcase a virtual coworker in the game.
Casino Night – A Las Vegas experience is a virtual team building activity because there is something for everyone. Real dealers teach guests to play craps, blackjack, and roulette. Players can win chips and prizes.
Escape Rooms – These popular in-person games make a great virtual activity for corporate teams. Coworkers must solve a series of clues in order to escape in a set amount of time.
Horse Races – Players work in teams to train their horses, devise race strategies, sabotage their opponents, and bet on the outcomes. This game requires a host because they will provide the racing forms, stats, and footage of real horse races.
Jeopardy – Play the classic answer-question game as a virtual team building activity. This game is definitely better with a professional company because it is more fun with a real game show host to manage the questions and scoring. Some vendors can even customize the answers to reflect company specific messaging.
Mafia – Team members are assigned roles such as “mafia”, “doctor”, and “citizen” in this team building game. The “mafia” secretly tries to eliminate the other players while the “doctor” tries to save them. This can be a little confusing so a professional vendor will help a lot with games like this.
Murder Mystery – Decide whodunnit and see if you’re right. Professional vendors can customize the game to your group size in this activity.
Office Olympics – A professional host will curate the games based on your company’s industry and number of participants. “Events” can take place in one meeting or over the course of several sessions. A fun perk in this specific corporate team building activity is that participants earn medals for their finish order that can be mailed to them.
Trivia – Players divide into teams and answer questions and compete for prizes or bragging rights. We strongly recommend hiring a host for your corporate team building version to make sure there are a wide variety of questions and topics. Texas Hold’em Poker Tournament – Over 120 million people worldwide play poker so don’t underestimate your office mates. This is a corporate team building activity that you should hire The Poker People to conduct. The computer runs the game while professional dealers teach everyone how to play. Poker is a great game for all sized groups because it can be played with 8 people or 200.
What Makes Online Team Building Effective?
Team building has been around for decades. Before the workplace transitioned to an online experience, people got to know each other by hanging out. Conversations flowed while waiting for the elevator or sitting together at lunch. Having physical proximity was key. There were, and still are, dozens of team building activities that focused on executing a task together like building a bike or moving through an obstacle course. The goal of every activity is to allow people to be themselves and share the experience with their coworkers.
Forbes Magazine reports that 12.7% of the US workforce is fully remote. That’s millions of people who are not getting to know each other at the water cooler. Good news! Traditional team building methods for in-person activities have been adapted to the online workplace. No one is building a bike together when they are 2,000 miles apart, duh, but they are challenging each other to 90’s music trivia, playing poker, and escaping the murder zombies through teamwork. That is why virtual game play is a key component of the next normal. Companies that embrace virtual team building have found their people:
- Enjoy enhanced team collaboration. Team building fosters a sense of unity and mutual support among team members. It helps build trust and strengthens the relationships within the team, resulting in increased teamwork and cooperation.
- Have increased problem-solving skills. Many team building activities involve solving complex challenges or puzzles. These experiences promote critical thinking, creativity, and problem-solving skills, which can be applied to real-work situations.
- Report higher morale and motivation. When team members have fun and achieve shared goals together, they often feel a sense of accomplishment and renewed enthusiasm for their work.
Humans bond through play. It is evident on the playground, the poker table, the golf course, and beyond. We work better with people we like. It”s pretty simple – not every game has to be run by an outside pro. There are plenty of games that can be organized internally. To learn more about planning your own online event, check out Virtual Team Building Games – The Complete Guide from A to Z. It has lots of tips and tricks, as well as pitfalls to avoid for planning your next event.
Companies that invest in a regular schedule of team building activities have a higher success rate, so let’s dig into the next list of games for the mid-sized group. Whatever game you choose to play online will need a logical structure. There should be a balanced number of people on each team so you might end up duplicating a particular game and using breakout rooms to divide into more manageable sized groups. Don’t be afraid to use a formal bracket system so winners can advance. People like friendly competition. I’ve put in a variety of options here because a game can be very different when played with 20 people versus 50.
More Team Building Activities for Virtual Groups
Boggle – Build words and points with this easy game. Great when paired with one-on-one coffee hang outs.
Bridge – This classic game is played with four people and can be a fun small group team building activity.
Cards Against Humanity – This team building activity might not be safe for work, but you will definitely get to know your coworkers with this virtual game. Maybe more than you wanted to.
Clue – Was it Colonel Mustard in the library with a candle stick? That is up to your group to find out.
Codenames – The classic guess the word and defeat the spy game. This is a huge favorite team building activity with our group. If we are not playing in a poker tournament, you can find us playing Codenames.
Cribbage – Ahh, one of my favorite games growing up. Grandpa taught me to move the pegs and earn the points. First to 121 wins. He won almost all the time, but I still loved to play.
Dominos – Match the number on the domino and build your advantage. Did you know that “pips” don’t just hang out with Gladys Knight? They are the little dots on a domino that show the value. They are also the symbols on a playing card and the dots on dice.
Dungeons & Dragons – A classic game for the ages.
Eucher – Another trick-based card game popularized in the Midwest of the US. This is a fun team bonding game that you can find available in several apps.
Hearts – Win the game by having the fewest hearts and avoid the queen of spades. Quick game to learn and play online.
Jackbox – This very popular game platform has a variety of games available online.
Kahoot – Online quiz builder that can be customized for small or medium sized groups.
Magic the Gathering – Play your creature, sorcery, and enchanted cards correctly to claim victory.
Mahjong – This is a classic strategy game with tiles that dates back hundreds of years. Similar to poker, it is easy to learn and hard to master.
Monopoly – Build those hotels and charge your boss triple rent with this game of build and bust.
Movie Night – Screenshare a classic movie for the whole group. Click that “Optimize for sound” button when you start this activity. Oh, and BYO popcorn.
Pandemic – Save the world from a global health crisis. Too soon?
Quick Draw – Similar to Pictionary, this game puts teams on a short timeclock to create their drawings.
Quizlet – Another online quiz builder with customizable features
Risk – Try your hand at world domination in this land grab classic. This is a fun virtual team building activity for work because so many companies are multi-national. Playing the game actually helps coworkers learn about each other’s part of the world. And try to own it, so yeah, there’s a downside.
Scrabble – Use your tiles to build words and build off other people’s words to generate the most points possible. Triple Letter Fun! This has been a family team building activity at my house for years. It is awesome to see it become a corporate team building activity too.
Settlers of Catan – Build a road, raise an army, and pile on the points for each city you create.
Skribbl – Pictionary style online option for a virtual activity at work.
Spades – A trick taking game that is played in teams of two. Similar to Bridge or Euchre and a good online team building activity for small groups.
Sporcle – Online trivia builder that can be customized to your small group. We recommend using a professional host for medium and large groups because these games require a lot of work to set up and run.
The Game of Life – Plan your future and see where you land in this old school classic.
Ticket to Ride – Lay your train tracks down before your competition and secure your path to victory in this easy to learn game. Good for small online groups as it is limited to five players max.
Uno – Hit them with a reverse and a draw four on your way to calling out Uno in this easy team bonding game!
Werewolf – Save the villagers and survive the werewolf attack. This classic role-playing game translates well as a virtual team building activity for work.
Yahtzee – Roll the dice and earn points. Yahtzee is a fun online team bonding game for small groups.
Making the Case for Poker
We have covered a lot of games for mid-sized groups, but there is one that stands out above the rest. Texas Hold’em poker. It is easy to learn and hard to master. It has continuous game play, but it also allows time for the players to talk and tell a story or a joke without negatively impacting the pace of the game. We advocate for poker as an online team building activity because we really believe that it is a great way to bring together a mid-sized group.
I hope that you enjoyed this list of games; I had a lot of fun putting it together. No matter what game you choose, the most important thing is that you set aside time to let people play, relax, and be themselves. Just because someone works remotely doesn’t mean they don’t deserve to have all the same opportunities to spend quality time with their coworkers and reap all the benefits of that come with that.
FAQ’s
You don’t need to reinvent the wheel when hosting a virtual team building event. The ultimate goal is to create an opportunity for people to connect. Choose a game that has time to breathe. The best games balance play with time to have a conversation, tells a story, or just laugh together.
We believe that a Texas Hold’em poker tournament is a great team building option. The game is easy to learn and can be played by as few as six people or up to 200. Our games have live dealers and use breakout rooms for each table.
Nope. Some games can take 20 or 30 minutes. More involved ones like a poker tournament can take an hour or more. Time flies when you’re having fun.
Yes. The goal of team building is to create an environment where people can let their guard down and get to know each other outside or work parameters. This can happen in person or online.
