Get serious about play at work

I coach teams as a big part of my job. And often they are heads-down trying to solve big challenges and really engage with users and customers to understand their needs and build compelling experiences and products. So when I suggest we play a game, I am met with skepticism. After all, a game is a distraction or another thing to check off a list before the day is through.

The data shows a team who trusts each other achieves more, has higher satisfaction levels, and out performs other teams who don’t have it. Playing games is one step to building a foundation of trust. So with that, I’m going to share some games you can play virtually with your team to surprise and delight, open the lines of communication, and connect people in a meaningful way.

Build deeper connections. An easy and quick game to learn more about people you’ve worked with for a while is “two truths and a lie”. We have used a virtual whiteboard like Skype where each person types out 3 statements, 2 true and 1 a lie. The person shares, people vote on the lie. It’s helpful to have a facilitator ask the voters their rationale for the lie they selected, and it can get really fascinating hearing people’s thoughts. The person will reveal the lie and then move onto to the next. This game can be quick, with roughly 1 minute per person for the voting and discussion.

Great for new teams. Most of us have a hobby, side hustle, or volunteer project that we run home to on evenings or weekends. Ask everyone on your team share their favorite pet project. This can be a current project, a past project or even a dream project. Give folks a moment to reflect on the following question: Do you have a passion project or hobby you look forward to doing in your time off? (And when someone doesn’t have a pet project just switch the question to: “If you had unlimited time or money, what would your pet project be?”). Then go around the call and ask people to share.

Wordsmiths. Scattergories is a fun game to play virtually. You can use this free game generator and send each person a link to the game. The rules are simple: there is one letter and five categories (things like "school supplies," "book title," and "girl's name"). You have 60 seconds to come up with a word that fits in each category and starts with the chosen letter. The more unique your answer is compared to your coworkers answers, the more points you get.

For those trivia buffs. Let your team’s knowledge of random things take center stage. To play trivia virtually, open this random trivia generator and start asking questions. Have each person send their answer in the chat at the same time.

I hope you take some time to play a game with your team this week. These are just some I have played recently. I’d love to hear ideas on your favorite virtual games.