Food has always served as a binder to create connections and community within teams (pun intended). Think of all the pizza parties, potlucks, and lunches you have been to – informal gatherings to celebrate and get to know each other better.
Since many of us have transitioned to the virtual world, there are fewer opportunities for these informal connections. Yes, many teams do “happy hours” and text message/Slack each other, but it’s not quite the same as breaking bread with your brethren! Especially during a pandemic, I’m thinking more people are eating at home, so you can get a little creative!
Here are some ideas to create some virtual “foodie” team building activities:
- First, think of your foodie theme. It could be:
- Your favorite food/recipe
- The most surprising food/recipe you’ve made during this pandemic
- The easiest recipe to make
- A recipe that only has five ingredients
- Determine the activity:
- It could be something as simple as asking a question with all the team members responding. For example, what’s your favorite food, and why?
- Encourage engagement by asking the team to actually make the recipe by a certain date – and share your experience making it and eating it!
- As a team, agree on the time/date to make a simple dish with ingredients that are simple to get and make and eat it together via Zoom! (you have to give people enough time to get the ingredients).
- Send “it” to them to be shared at the same time. “It” can be a packaged snack, a prepared meal (Freshly), or a do-it-yourself meal (Hello Fresh).
- Have fun creating camaraderie!
For more information about how to lead your team in the virtual environment, use these resources.
KRISTIN ARNOLD, MBA, CPF | Master, CSP is a high-stakes meeting facilitator and professional panel moderator. She’s been facilitating teams of executives and managers in making better decisions and achieving greater results for over 20 years. She is the author of the award-winning book, Boring to Bravo: Proven Presentation Techniques to Engage, Involve and Inspire Audiences to Action.
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Photo by Jeff Sheldon on Unsplash
