group problem solving activities virtual

14 Best Team Building Problem Solving Group Activities For 2024

The best teams see solutions where others see problems. A great company culture is built around a collaborative spirit and the type of unity it takes to find answers to the big business questions.

So how can you get team members working together?

How can you develop a mentality that will help them overcome obstacles they have yet to encounter?

One of the best ways to improve your teams’ problem solving skills is through team building problem solving activities .

“86% of employees and executives cite lack of collaboration or ineffective communication for workplace failures.” — Bit.AI

These activities can simulate true-to-life scenarios they’ll find themselves in, or the scenarios can call on your employees or coworkers to dig deep and get creative in a more general sense.

The truth is, on a day-to-day basis, you have to prepare for the unexpected. It just happens that team building activities help with that, but are so fun that they don’t have to feel like work ( consider how you don’t even feel like you’re working out when you’re playing your favorite sport or doing an exercise you actually enjoy! )

Team Building Problem Solving Group Activities

What are the benefits of group problem-solving activities?

The benefits of group problem-solving activities for team building include:

Better communication
Improved collaboration and teamwork
More flexible thinking
Faster problem-solving
Better proactivity and decision making

Without further ado, check out this list of the 14 best team-building problem-solving group activities for 2024!

Page Contents (Click To Jump)

2. Problem-Solving Templates

Problem-Solving Templates are popular problem-solving activities that involve a group of people working together to solve an issue. The challenge generally involves members of the team utilizing pre-made templates and creating solutions for a given problem with the help of visual aids.

This activity is great for teams that need assistance in getting started on their problem-solving journey.

Why this is a fun problem-solving activity: Problem-Solving Templates offer teams an easy and stress-free way to get the creative juices flowing. The visual aids that come with the templates help team members better understand the issue at hand and easily come up with solutions together.

This activity is great for teams that need assistance in getting started on their problem-solving journey, as it provides an easy and stress-free way to get the creative juices flowing.

Problem Solving Group Activities & Games For Team Building

3. coworker feud, “it’s all fun and games”.

Coworker Feud is a twist on the classic Family Feud game show! This multiple rapid round game keeps the action flowing and the questions going. You can choose from a variety of customizations, including picking the teams yourself, randomized teams, custom themes, and custom rounds.

Best for: Hybrid teams

Why this is an effective problem solving group activity: Coworker Feud comes with digital game materials, a digital buzzer, an expert host, and a zoom link to get the participants ready for action! Teams compete with each other to correctly answer the survey questions. At the end of the game, the team with the most competitive answers is declared the winner of the Feud.

How to get started:

Sign up for Coworker Feud
Break into teams of 4 to 10 people
Get the competitive juices flowing and let the games begin!

Learn more here: Coworker Feud

4. Crack The Case

“who’s a bad mamma jamma”.

Crack The Case is a classic WhoDoneIt game that forces employees to depend on their collective wit to stop a deadly murderer dead in his tracks! Remote employees and office commuters can join forces to end this crime spree.

Best for: Remote teams

Why this is an effective problem solving group activity: The Virtual Clue Murder Mystery is an online problem solving activity that uses a proprietary videoconferencing platform to offer the chance for employees and coworkers to study case files, analyze clues, and race to find the motive, the method, and the individual behind the murder of Neil Davidson.

Get a custom quote here
Download the app
Let the mystery-solving collaboration begin!

Learn more here: Crack The Case

5. Catch Meme If You Can

“can’t touch this”.

Purposefully created to enhance leadership skills and team bonding , Catch Meme If You Can is a hybrid between a scavenger hunt and an escape room . Teammates join together to search for clues, solve riddles, and get out — just in time!

Best for: Small teams

Why this is an effective problem solving group activity: Catch Meme If You Can is an adventure with a backstory. Each team has to submit their answer to the puzzle in order to continue to the next part of the sequence. May the best team escape!

The teams will be given instructions and the full storyline
Teams will be split into a handful of people each
The moderator will kick off the action!

Learn more here: Catch Meme If You Can

6. Puzzle Games

“just something to puzzle over”.

Puzzle Games is the fresh trivia game to test your employees and blow their minds with puzzles, jokes , and fun facts!

Best for: In-person teams

Why this is an effective problem solving group activity: Eight mini brain teaser and trivia style games include word puzzles, name that nonsense, name that tune, and much more. Plus, the points each team earns will go towards planting trees in the precious ecosystems and forests of Uganda

Get a free consultation for your team
Get a custom designed invitation for your members
Use the game link
Dedicated support will help your team enjoy Puzzle Games to the fullest!

Learn more here: Puzzle Games

7. Virtual Code Break

“for virtual teams”.

Virtual Code Break is a virtual team building activity designed for remote participants around the globe. Using a smart video conferencing solution, virtual teams compete against each other to complete challenges, answer trivia questions, and solve brain-busters!

Why this is an effective problem solving group activity: Virtual Code Break can be played by groups as small as 4 people all the way up to more than 1,000 people at once. However, every team will improve their communication and problem-solving skills as they race against the clock and depend on each other’s strengths to win!

Reach out for a free consultation to align the needs of your team
An event facilitator will be assigned to handle all of the set-up and logistics
They will also provide you with logins and a play-by-play of what to expect
Sign into the Outback video conferencing platform and join your pre-assigned team
Lastly, let the games begin!

Learn more here: Virtual Code Break

8. Stranded

“survivor: office edition”.

Stranded is the perfect scenario-based problem solving group activity. The doors of the office are locked and obviously your team can’t just knock them down or break the windows.

Why this is an effective problem solving group activity: Your team has less than half an hour to choose 10 items around the office that will help them survive. They then rank the items in order of importance. It’s a bit like the classic game of being lost at sea without a lifeboat.

Get everyone together in the office
Lock the doors
Let them start working together to plan their survival

Learn more here: Stranded

9. Letting Go Game

“for conscious healing”.

The Letting Go Game is a game of meditation and mindfulness training for helping teammates thrive under pressure and reduce stress in the process. The tasks of the Letting Go Game boost resiliency, attentiveness, and collaboration.

Why this is an effective problem solving group activity: Expert-guided activities and awareness exercises encourage team members to think altruistically and demonstrate acts of kindness. Between yoga, face painting, and fun photography, your employees or coworkers will have more than enough to keep them laughing and growing together with this mindfulness activity!

Reach out for a free consultation
A guide will then help lead the exercises
Let the funny videos, pictures, and playing begin!

Learn more here: Letting Go Game

10. Wild Goose Chase

“city time”.

Wild Goose Chase is the creative problem solving activity that will take teams all around your city and bring them together as a group! This scavenger hunt works for teams as small as 10 up to groups of over 5000 people.

Best for: Large teams

Why this is an effective group problem solving activity: As employees and group members are coming back to the office, there are going to be times that they’re itching to get outside. Wild Goose Chase is the perfect excuse to satisfy the desire to go out-of-office every now and then. Plus, having things to look at and see around the city will get employees talking in ways they never have before.

Download the Outback app to access the Wild Goose Chase
Take photos and videos from around the city
The most successful team at completing challenges on time is the champ!

Learn more here: Wild Goose Chase

11. Human Knot

“for a knotty good time”.

The Human Knot is one of the best icebreaker team building activities! In fact, there’s a decent chance you played it in grade school. It’s fun, silly, and best of all — free!

Why this is an effective group problem solving activity: Participants start in a circle and connect hands with two other people in the group to form a human knot. The team then has to work together and focus on clear communication to unravel the human knot by maneuvering their way out of this hands-on conundrum. But there’s a catch — they can’t let go of each other’s hands in this team building exercise.

Form a circle
Tell each person to grab a random hand until all hands are holding another
They can’t hold anyone’s hand who is directly next to them
Now they have to get to untangling
If the chain breaks before everyone is untangled, they have to start over again

Learn more here: Human Knot

12. What Would You Do?

“because it’s fun to imagine”.

What Would You Do? Is the hypothetical question game that gets your team talking and brainstorming about what they’d do in a variety of fun, intriguing, and sometimes, whacky scenarios.

Best for: Distributed teams

Why this is an effective group problem solving activity: After employees or coworkers start talking about their What Would You Do? responses, they won’t be able to stop. That’s what makes this such an incredible team building activity . For example, you could ask questions like “If you could live forever, what would you do with your time?” or “If you never had to sleep, what would you do?”

In addition to hypothetical questions, you could also give teammates some optional answers to get them started
After that, let them do the talking — then they’ll be laughing and thinking and dreaming, too!

13. Crossing The River

“quite the conundrum”.

Crossing The River is a river-crossing challenge with one correct answer. Your team gets five essential elements — a chicken, a fox, a rowboat, a woman, and a bag of corn. You see, the woman has a bit of a problem, you tell them. She has to get the fox, the bag of corn, and the chicken to the other side of the river as efficiently as possible.

Why this is an effective group problem solving activity: She has a rowboat, but it can only carry her and one other item at a time. She cannot leave the chicken and the fox alone — for obvious reasons. And she can’t leave the chicken with the corn because it will gobble it right up. So the question for your team is how does the woman get all five elements to the other side of the river safely in this fun activity?

Form teams of 2 to 5 people
Each team has to solve the imaginary riddle
Just make sure that each group understands that the rowboat can only carry one animal and one item at a time; the fox and chicken can’t be alone; and the bag of corn and the chicken cannot be left alone
Give the verbal instructions for getting everything over to the other side

14. End-Hunger Games

“philanthropic fun”.

Does anything bond people quite like acts of kindness and compassion? The End-Hunger Games will get your team to rally around solving the serious problem of hunger.

Best for: Medium-sized teams

Why this is an effective problem solving group activity: Teams join forces to complete challenges based around non-perishable food items in the End-Hunger Games. Groups can range in size from 25 to more than 2000 people, who will all work together to collect food for the local food bank.

Split into teams and compete to earn boxes and cans of non-perishable food
Each team attempts to build the most impressive food item construction
Donate all of the non-perishable foods to a local food bank

Learn more here: End-Hunger Games

Q: What kind of skills do group problem solving activities & games improve?

A: Group problem solving activities and games improve collaboration, leadership, and communication skills.

Q: What are problem solving based team building activities & games?

A: Problem solving based team building activities and games are activities that challenge teams to work together in order to complete them.

Q: What are some fun free problem solving games for groups?

A: Some fun free problem solving games for groups are kinesthetic puzzles like the human knot game, which you can read more about in this article. You can also use all sorts of random items like whiteboards, straws, building blocks, sticky notes, blindfolds, rubber bands, and legos to invent a game that will get the whole team involved.

Q: How do I choose the most effective problem solving exercise for my team?

A: The most effective problem solving exercise for your team is one that will challenge them to be their best selves and expand their creative thinking.

Q: How do I know if my group problem solving activity was successful?

A: In the short-term, you’ll know if your group problem solving activity was successful because your team will bond over it; however, that should also translate to more productivity in the mid to long-term.

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What Are Problem-Solving Activities?

These activities require problem-solving skills, which help find solutions for difficult situations.

Like any other skill, these tactics are best learnt through practice.

To make problem-solving activities worth the ride, participants have to be open-minded, listen to others, and accept alternative ideas and solutions.

An agile mindset can also be beneficial when participating in such activities because they’re based on understanding, collaborating , learning and staying flexible.

As problem-solving games are group activities, participants must be willing to collaborate and embrace agility and flexibility.

Another critical aspect is creating the mindset that there are no winners or losers.

The goal of these activities is to share strategies and learn from each other, rather than compete against one another.

The Four P’s to Problem-Solving

By following the four P’s in the problem-solving guide, one can resolve almost any problem that comes along.

Problem-solving activities begin with a discovery phase, where the problem is identified.

This is the step where you understand, dissect, and learn about the problem you’re trying to solve.

Until the problem has been well defined, you can’t move forward and prepare to form the right solution.

After you’ve analysed the problem, you have to develop several courses of action to solve the issue.

This is the phase where you generate several possibilities to ultimately decide on the best course of action for your problem.

After the problem has been defined and resolutions have been listed, it’s time to take action.

This is the step where you find the best approach and implement a plan that needs to be followed with precision.

You need to first visualise your plan and then execute it.

When the problem has been solved, you need to evaluate the plan and assess whether it could be improved for future situations.

While you should do your best to solve the issue, the truth is that there is always room for growth.

Reviewing and checking for room for further improvement is essential because it can help you achieve even greater results in the future.

Benefits of Developing Problem-Solving Skills in the Workplace

Employees are often asked to think outside the box for projects or find alternative solutions for work problems.

Problem-solving tactics are a great way to practice valuable skills relevant in the workplace.

There are a lot of situations where processes and workflow in organisations need improvement. Or, when deadlines are tight, team members have to find ways to deliver on time.

These are the exact scenarios that can be overcome if the team is able to turn problems into actionable solutions.

After all, performance is closely related to employee efficiency as achieving companies’ goals on time is crucial to success.

Having team members with good problem-solving skills means they can use critical thinking to make better decisions and ultimately increase business productivity and growth.

There are a wealth of advantages that problem-solving activities can bring to teams.

Here are a few benefits you can expect from employees well equipped with problem-solving skills:

Better risk management

Simply put, risk management skills help people know what could go wrong, assess risks, and finally take action to solve an issue.

Some people are very good at handling risk, while others are afraid of risky situations.

Whichever way your team members are naturally inclined, problem-solving techniques are here to help.

Participating in problem-solving tasks trains the mind to handle stressful situations better.

It’s impossible to avoid risk, and this is why it’s essential to be confident that your team knows how to handle risk and turn it into opportunity.

Better thinking

Team problem-solving techniques stimulate better thinking by pushing people to find progressive alternatives.

Better thinking also develops analytical skills, which help people find logical explanations for problems and identify practical solutions.

Better communication skills

As mentioned earlier, problem-solving activities are group tasks that can only be performed if participants work together.

Humans are competitive by nature which can be problematic when trying to create a cohesive team. Problem-solving skills nurture understanding and collaboration within a company.

By solving problems together, employees learn how to better communicate and listen to others.

Having transparent and effective communication improves engagement and productivity and leads to better relationships .

Increased team cohesion

If your team already has good communication skills , this will likely lead to increased team cohesion .

Regardless of your business’s profile or size, success comes from having a united team.

Team cohesion reduces anxiety, brings motivation, and increases employee satisfaction.

Being on a cohesive team means that employees work together for the same goal, and everyone contributes to the group’s overall success.

People are social creatures, so it’s imperative that everybody feels heard, understood, and included.

Efficiency / increased productivity

Exercising problem-solving activities can boost performance and workplace productivity, leading to overall growth and profits.

Having solid problem-solving skills equips employees with the ability to find efficient solutions promptly.

By reducing the time spent solving specific problems, companies benefit from improved workplace productivity , leading to better profit margins.

Problem-solving activities foster creativity and encourage team members to express their ideas.

Creative thinkers know how to find the balance between analytical skills and innovative solutions, thus providing new perspectives.

No matter how well-established company processes are, there are always situations that require alternative ways of thinking.

Creative thinking skills boost people’s confidence in putting forth unique ideas.

List of the Top 22 Virtual Problem-Solving Activities

Virtual problem-solving activities for teams are meant to challenge participants to think outside the box and find solutions to problems while also having fun. Remember that these exercises should be playful and enjoyable.

Here is a list of virtual problem-solving activities that teams of any size can play:

Dumbest Idea First
Brainstorm Ideas
End in Mind
Stop, Start, Continue
Idea Mock-Ups
Be a Character
Crossword Puzzles
Online Escape Rooms
Murder Mysteries
Virtual Hackathons
Treasure Hunts
Moral Challenge
Improv Games
Poem/Story Challenge
What Would You Do?
Lost at Sea
Coworker Feud
Virtual Code Break
War of the Wizards
Ultimate Game Show

Online problem-solving activities can be played through video conferencing platforms, such as Zoom, Skype, Google Meet, Webex, etc.

Let’s take a closer look:

1. Dumbest Idea First

Dumbest Idea First, as the name suggests, is a problem-solving exercise in which participants are asked to think of the dumbest possible solutions to the problem presented.

After all ideas have been presented, look through the list.

You might be surprised to find that some ideas are not as dumb as first thought!

Helps with : creative problem-solving .

2. Brainstorm Ideas

One of the most common problem-solving activities is brainstorming ideas with your team.

Brainstorming ideas’ objective is to generate as many ideas as possible.

After the list is complete, team members review them and decide which is most suitable for the given scenario.

There are a lot of methods to aid the brainstorming process.

You can play word games, create a mood board, play improv games, or even doodle.

Helps with : lateral thinking.

3. End in Mind

The End in Mind technique is an excellent activity for solving group problems that require participants to start with the end.

In this exercise, you have to backtrack, finding solutions for the issue.

It challenges team members to think of the “what,” “why,” and “how” of a problem, thus coming up with alternative approaches.

Helps with : analytical thinking.

4. Stop, Start, Continue

“Stop, Start, Continue” is a technique used for delivering or requesting feedback.

This problem-solving activity consists of a list of three categories that each member has to think about:

Stop: three things that the team should stop doing
Start: three things that the team should start doing
Continue: three things that the team should continue doing

This exercise aims to solve problems in new ways while also having fun.

Helps with : team cohesion, critical thinking.

5. Idea Mock-Ups

Idea mock-ups are processes in which solutions to problems are found via mock-ups.

It’s a virtual solving problem activity as you can use images from the internet that can be easily shared with the team members.

This exercise aims to have players try out a bunch of different scenarios until the perfect match for the problem is found.

6. Be a Character

Have you ever dreamed of being a character from a movie or a book? Then this is the perfect exercise for you.

By playing this group game, participants impersonate a character and approach problems through that person’s mindset.

Helps with : creativity , thinking outside the box.

7. Idea Trial

The Idea Trial is another fun virtual problem-solving activity that encourages participants to find solutions for a particular problem.

Players need to present their ideas to the “court.”

They can go through the entire process, such as opening and closing statements, and call witnesses to support their ideas.

Helps with : risk management, communication skills.

8. Crossword Puzzles

Everybody has heard of crossword puzzles, but not everyone has thought of transforming them into a virtual problem-solving activity.

All you have to do is use an online crossword puzzle to create a custom puzzle for your team.

To make it more exciting and engaging for your team, you should consider your company’s niche and your teammates’ interests.

Helps with : critical thinking.

9. Online Escape Rooms

Like in-person escape rooms, their online counterpart requires participants to escape rooms and work together to solve puzzles virtually.

Digital escape rooms provide two alternatives for players: either a Zoom room led by a host or from a specialised website.

These are significant virtual problem-solving activities that are both fun and challenging.

Helps with : cooperation, communication.

10. Murder Mysteries

Murder mysteries are story-based problem-solving activities that require participants to take on the roles of suspects and detectives.

The aim of the game is to identify the killer by searching for clues and occasionally solving small puzzles.

These group exercises are complex because they require players to be observant and search for hidden clues using logic.

Luckily for you, there are many options for playing murder mystery games online .

Helps with : observation, logical thinking.

11. Virtual Hackathons

Hackathons are events where a group of people pitch a product or service in a given period.

Even though it originated in the programming world, hackathons can be easily applied to any industry.

Virtual hackathons refer to the online version of these events, where participants work together via online meeting software to design solutions.

These are great virtual team problem-solving activities because they don’t require much organisational work.

You just have to announce the event’s theme, explain the problem when the hackathon begins, and set a timeline.

Helps with : efficiency, cooperation.

12. Treasure Hunts

Like escape rooms or murder mysteries, treasure hunts are group games that require players to find hidden objects by following a trail of clues.

Treasure hunts are fun problem-solving activities that teach participants how to collaborate and communicate with each other.

They can have specific themes or be a more general hunt.

Helps with : communication, cooperation.

13. Moral Challenge

While most group problem-solving activities focus more on finding alternative problem resolutions, moral challenges lean more towards ethics.

These group techniques are just as important as the others as not all problems are factual; some are ethical.

Moral challenge exercises are better played in a group because each participant can represent a different opinion or moral belief.

The moral issue becomes harder to resolve and implicitly forces team members to find common ground.

Moral challenges are equally important in decision-making processes as rational thinking.

Some of the most well-known moral challenges online are the Moral Machine or the Dilemma .

Helps with : communication skills.

14. Improv Games

Improv games have their roots in acting and comedy and are group activities designed around participants’ acting without a script, or improvising.

These problem-solving activities force players to keep the story going in an entertaining and logical way.

This kind of group exercise helps build collaborative skills while boosting team members’ confidence.

Helps with : collaboration, imagination.

15. Poem/Story Challenge

If most of the problem-solving activities mentioned are based on logical thinking, the poem/story challenge revolves around writing skills.

While not all businesses rely on this, it’s still an excellent exercise for groups, as it stimulates the imagination and improves public speaking.

All you have to do is ask participants to create a story or a poem using a limited word bank.

After they have crafted their stories, they read them aloud in front of the group.

Helps with : creativity, public speaking.

16. What Would You Do?

“What Would You Do?” is a hypothetical problem-solving activity that challenges your team to brainstorm ideas and react to different scenarios.

To play this game with your team members, prepare some problem-solving stories in advance, then read them one by one.

Participants have to say what they would do in these circumstances.

Helps with : lateral thinking, imagination.

17. Lost at Sea

Lost at Sea, also known as Stranded at Sea, is a team-building activity that encourages interaction and teamwork.

Give participants a scenario where they’re stranded on an island with just a handful of objects.

To increase their chances of survival, they need to rate the objects based on their utility.

Players should work individually first and then together to decide which objects are most important.

If multiple groups play this game, the moderator can ask each group to compare their individual and collective rankings.

They should also consider why any scores differ.

At the end of the game, players reflect and feedback on their choices.

Helps with : decision making, collaboration, critical thinking.

18. The Hunt

Its purpose is to challenge players to collaborate under pressure as they compete for glory.

This is a virtual problem-solving activity suitable for a business of any size.

It works best played in small teams of four or five, so players have the opportunity to interact with one another.

Helps with : team decision making, lateral thinking, creativity.

19. Coworker Feud

This game is a new take on the classic game show Family Feud, and it consists of multiple rapid rounds.

The players are asked to provide fast answers to a fun assortment of questions the host presents.

The aim is to guess the five most popular answers to win points for the round.

The team with the most points is declared the winner of the game.

Helps with : fast-thinking, communication.

20. Virtual Code Break

Virtual Code Break is a virtual team-building activity specially designed for remote players.

Its purpose is to challenge players to think outside the box, improve problem-solving skills, and leverage their own and each other’s skills.

This game uses an intelligent video conferencing solution so that teams of all sizes can play from anywhere globally.

Players compete against each other by answering trivia questions and solving riddles and puzzles.

Helps with : better thinking, collaboration.

21. War of the Wizards

War of the Wizards is a 90-minutes virtual team-building activity that promises to be both fun and creative.

To play this game, participants roleplay as powerful wizards to conquer evil forces through the power of storytelling.

They have to play mini-games and competitions, develop their characters, and make decisions together to win.

Helps with : teamwork, imagination.

22. Ultimate Game Show

In this 90-minute virtual event, players bond together as a team while playing different quizzes to win the final prize.

This competition works for hybrid teams, as well as for fully remote teams.

Helps with : collaboration, fast-thinking.

Plenty of organisations face daily challenges that affect team productivity and get in the way of attaining business goals.

While it’s impossible to avoid those situations, there are many ways to train team members to work collaboratively to resolve problems effectively.

Problem-solving activities act as educational tools that bring all participants closer as a team and help them develop problem-solving skills. By nurturing solution-generating capabilities, your team learns to communicate better, act fast in risky situations, and find creative solutions.

The virtual problem-solving activities listed in this article are excellent practices for real-life conflict resolution that can benefit everyone within an organisation.

Stefan is a Co-Founder and a President of Brosix. His many years experience as a programmer, give him an unique perspective to lead the team and build Brosix in a way to best serve the customers.

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What are problem solving activities?

The success of a company or organization depends heavily on the managers’ ability to help workers develop their problem solving skills. Problem solving activities that address areas such as teamwork and cooperation, adaptability or reinforcement of decision-making strategies help.

All processes of problem solving begin with the identification of the problem. The team will then evaluate the possible course of action and select the best way to tackle it. This needs a profound understanding of your team and its core strengths.

Not only among corporates, but problem solving activities find their use in educational settings as well. Students who are good at solving problems will become much more successful than those who are not. Remote work and education are on the rise.

Enabling smooth interpersonal communication to solve problems can become a task in these situations. However, engaging all the people concerned in problem solving activities before shifting to the remote space can ease the process.

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Key skills evaluated in problem solving activities

Problem solving skills refer to the necessary thinking skills that an individual or group uses when met with a challenge. Many issues require the use of several skills; others are easy and may require only one or two skills. These are some skills that help to solve problems,

Communication skills
Decision-making skills
Analytical thinking
Negotiation skills
Logical reasoning
Persistence
Lateral thinking

Problem solving skill examples

Several problems occur at the workplace. Problem solving skills can be technical problems that occur on websites or apps or addressing client concerns. Problems could be simple or complex. Business managers spend time and resources to solve problems.

They encourage their team to improve their analytical and logical abilities. Common issues in companies can be exploding data or changing technology, or financial management.

Did you know? Emotional intelligence plays a crucial role in problem solving!

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Problem solving scenarios

Many problem solving scenarios occur at work. The basis to solve any problem is to evaluate and arrive at a solution. Analytical skill or problem solving ability is a skill many employers evaluate while hiring candidates.

Strong problem solving skills can be an asset to any organization. Organizations organize problem and solution activities to improve the problem solving abilities in the workplace.

1. Decision making games

Businesses are looking for new and innovative ways to stimulate their staff. Decision making games help employees to learn new skills and work effectively as a team. Decision making activities help to improve the creative problem solving and decision-making skills of the team. Here are some best Decision-making games,

1. Dumb Idea first – This game gives a hypothetical problem that could occur in your company. Ask each manager to think of the dumbest solution to the problem. After compiling the list of the ideas, the team reviews them.

You have a brainstorming session to make the “dumb ideas” feasible. This problem solving exercise underlines the importance of out-of-box thinking.

Benefits: Decision-making skill

Time duration: 10 to 15 minutes

Team size: 2 to more team managers

Material: Paper and pencil

2. Egg Drop Idea – The objective of the game is to build a container to protect the egg when dropped from a specified height using the material provided. Each team nominates a presenter who explains why the egg will survive the fall.

Once they have presented the idea, the team drops the egg to check if the idea has worked. Egg drop pyramid activities like the marshmallow challenge help teams to think on their feet.

Benefit: Decision-making skill and is a top problem solving skill example

Time duration: 15 – 30 minutes

Team size: 6 or more

Material: A cartoon of eggs, aprons to protect clothes, material for packing (cardboard, tape, elastics, plastic straws, etc.), material to clean up.

Instructions:

Every team gets an egg and should choose from the building materials.
Grant everyone 20-30 minutes to build an egg carrier and guard against breaking.
Remove each egg carrier from a ledge (that is, over a balcony) to see which carrier prevents it from cracking.
If several eggs survive, continue to heighten until only one egg remains.

3. Dog, Rice, and Chicken – The dog, rice, and chicken game can be fun decision-making activities for adults. In this game, one team member plays the farmer, and the other team members are villagers who advise him. The farmer has to take three items chicken, dog, and rice across the river by boat.

There are the following constraints:- only one item can be carried on the boat. He cannot leave the chicken and dog alone because the dog will eat the chicken. He cannot leave the chicken alone with the rice because the chicken will eat the rice grains.

Benefit: creative problem solving examples that are applicable at work.

Time duration: 10-15 minutes.

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2. Teambuilding puzzle

Team building exercises are fun and creative ways to get your team to work together and improve problem solving skills.

1. Lost at Sea – In this game, you and your friends have chattered a yacht to sail across the Atlantic Ocean. Since you do not have any navigation experience, you hire a captain and a two-person crew. Unfortunately, the crew and captain die when a fire breaks out on the yacht.

The yacht is severally damaged and is sinking. You and your friends have managed to save 15 items and a lifeboat. Your task is to rank the 15 items while you are waiting to be rescued. The activity lost at sea team building underlines the importance of problem solving skills in the workplace.

Benefits: Team building exercise and interaction

Time duration: 30 to 40 minutes

Team size: 4 to 6

Material: Lost in sea ranking for interaction chart for each member

2. Marshmallow Spaghetti Tower – The marshmallow team-building activities have the goal of building the tallest tower as quickly as possible. To make the task more challenging the marshmallow is placed at the top of the tower. This is a fun puzzle activity for team building.

Benefit: Teambuilding puzzle

Time duration: 30 minutes

Material required: 20 sticks on raw uncooked spaghetti, a marshmallow, masking thread, and yarn of thread.

3. Go for Gold – This is an example of a marshmallow challenge similar to activities. The objective of this exercise is to create a structure using pipes, rubber tubing, and cardboard to carry a marble from point A to point B using gravity.

Benefit: team building problem solving scenario examples

Team size: Minimum 6 persons

Material required: Each member has different material

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3. Work Problem Solving

Work problem solving activities help to use the skills you used in problem solving activities in your workplace.

1. Create your own – this game aims to create a brand new problem solving activity for the organization. The team can brainstorm for 1 hour. After one hour each team has to give a presentation about their activity outlining the key benefits.

Benefit: Understanding the problem solving process. Build creativity, improve negotiation, and Decision-making skills

When the participants arrive, you declare that they will create an original problem solving activity on their own, rather than spending an hour on an existing problem solving team-building exercise.
Divide members into teams and encourage them to develop a new problem solving team-building exercise that will fit well with the organization. The activity should not be one they have engaged in or heard of before.
Every team has to show their new activity to everyone else after an hour and outline the main benefits.

2. Shrinking Vessel – make a shape on the floor using a rope where all the team members can fit. Reduce the size every 10 -15 minutes. The real challenge for the team is figuring out how to work together and keep everyone together.

Benefits: Adaptability and cognitive diversity

Material: Rope and large room

Place on the floor a big circle of rope. Position your whole team inside the circle.
Lessen the circle size steadily. When it gets smaller, advise the team to keep the entire team inside the circle. Nobody must move out of the loop. See how small you can make the area until it cannot remain inside.

3. Legoman – the team is divided into groups of two or more people. Select an impartial individual who will make a structure in 10 minutes. Each team will compete to recreate it in fifteen minutes. Only one person is allowed to see the structure. They need to communicate vital parameters like color, shape, and size.

Benefits: Communication

Tools: Lego

4. What Would X Do – This problem solving activity stimulates teams to think of new ideas.

Benefits: Instant problem solving
Time Duration: 10-15 minutes
Materials Required: N/A
Let every team pretend to be someone famous.
Every team needs to address the issue as if they were a famous person. Which are the choices they would consider? How will they do this?
It helps all to consider options they may not have initially thought of.

Tip: Before you decide, a problem is worth solving, weigh the risks of solving it versus not solving it.

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4. Team building riddles

Team building riddles are a great way to show the team group problem solving is usually more effective.

1. Barter puzzle – the team is broken into groups. Give each team a different jigsaw puzzle to solve. The groups have to complete the puzzle at the same time. The twist in the game is that some pieces of their puzzle belong to other puzzles.

The goal is to complete the puzzle before the other teams. Each group has to come with their method to convince other teams to handover the pieces they need, either by bartering pieces or donating time to the other teams. This puzzle piece team-building activity helps teams to collaborate.

Benefit: Team building and negotiating.

Material: Jigsaw puzzle for each team

Time: 30 minutes

2. Scavenger Hunt – in this game, each team has a list of the article to locate and bring back. The goal of the game is to finish the assigned list first. In the scavenger hunt, the team has a time limit to make the game more challenging. You have the flexibility of having the hunt outside or within the premises. The team-building puzzle game helps the team to look for creative solutions.

3. Escape – the goal is to solve clues and find the key to unlock the door in a limited time. Hide the key and a list of clues around the room. The team has 30 to 60 minutes to figure out the clues and unlock the door.

Benefit: Team building exercise

Material: Rope, key, lockable room, 5 to 10 puzzles

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5. Work together problems

Work together on problems helps to underline the need to collaborate while solving issues at work. Group challenge activities help the team work well together.

1. Bonding belt – each group is divided into 5 to 6 participants, who are bound together with rope or tape so that their movements are limited. The team has to reach from point A to point B, and the time is recorded. The teams collaborate to beat their previous score.

Benefits: Helps the team to collaborate and skills for problem solving scenario/

Time: 20 to 30 minutes

Material: Cling film, belt, or rope

2. Scramble puzzle – the team members with blindfolds sit in a circle with the puzzle. The teammate without the blindfold sits outside the circle, with their back to the group. The blindfolded group tries to assemble the pieces of the puzzle. The outsider who has the same puzzle gives the team instructions to solve it.

Benefits: trust, leadership, and communication

Material: Preschool-level puzzles and blindfolds.

3. Flip it over – this is a classic work-together problem. In this game, 6 to 8 participants stand together on a blanket/towel/tarp. The challenge is to flip over the blanket or reverse it. The rule is that none of the participants can leave the blanket.

Benefit: Work together exercise

Duration: 30 minutes

Material: Blanket

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6. Team building survival games

Team building survival games helps to fine-tune problem solving scenarios that may occur at work. The activities encourage creative problem solving and decision making.

1. Stranded – Stranded helps in building effective communication. In this setting, the team is stranded in an office. The rooms will be locked, and doors and windows cannot be broken down. The team is asked to make a list of 10 items that they need to survive.

They need to rank items in the order of their importance. The team has to agree on the items and the order. Stranded is one of several popular survival team-building exercises.

Benefit: Team building and Decision-making exercises

Your team is stuck inside the building. Doors are closed, so there is no option to kick down the doors or smash the windows.
Grant the team 30 minutes to determine what ten things they need to thrive in the office and list them in order of importance.
The goal of the game is to get everyone to agree in 30 minutes about the ten things and their ranking.

2. Minefield – you randomly place items around the room or hallway and there is no clear path from one end of the room to another. The team is divided into pairs. One team member is blindfolded, and the other team member is the guide.

The guide navigates the blindfolded person across the minefield. The two partners cannot touch. This survival team-building activity underlines the need for clear communication.

Benefits: Communication and collaborative problem solving

Duration: 10-15 minutes

Material: Blindfold, empty room or hallway, and collection of random items.

3. Frostbite – in this survival scenario team-building exercise the team is trapped in Siberia. Each team has to elect a team captain. The team has to build a storm shelter with the material provided.

The twist in the game is the team captains cannot help physically since they have frostbite. Other team members are suffering snow blindness and are blindfolded. The electric fan will be turned on in 30 minutes to see if the shelter built will survive the storm.

Benefit: Leadership, skills action plan, and team building survival games

Team size: 4 to 5 members

Material: An electric fan, blindfold, simple building materials like cardboard paper, rubber bands, toothpicks, masking tape, straws, sticky notes, etc.

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7. Group decision making games

Group decision making games help encourage creative problem solving and decision making at work. Here is a bunch of group decision making games

1. Reverse Pyramid – the team members stand in a pyramid shape. The next step is to flip the base and apex of the pyramid. The limiting factor in only three persons can move.

Benefits: Group Decision-making and collaboration

2. Tower of Hanoi – in this game, there are three towers/posts/rods with 5 or more discs arranged conical shape with the smallest shape at the top. The objective of the game is to move the entire stack to another location retaining the shape. Some conditions of the games are only one disc can be moved at a time. Only the top disc can be moved. Another rule of the game is larger disc cannot be put on a smaller disc.

Benefits: This team-building exercise helps problem solving within the participants.

3. Human Knot – the team stands in a circle every person holds hands with a person not standing next to them. When everyone is cross-connected, the aim is to untangle the structure without letting go of anybody’s hand.

Benefit: group problem solving

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8. Funny problem solving games

We need to solve problems for personal and professional lives. Funny problem solving exercises are a light way. Funny problem solving can help reduce stress levels.

1. Pencil drop – in the pencil drop challenge, one end of the pencil is tied to a pencil and the other is tied around the waist of a team member. The other team member puts the pencil into the bottle placed below. The participants are not allowed to use their hands.

Benefit: Team bonding

Team size: 2 members each

Material: Some pencil and bottle

2. Blind drawing – this game requires two players to sit back to back. One participant describes an image in front of them without giving stating anything obvious. The other participant needs to draw it using the description. The outcome can be fun.

3. Be the character – in this activity, you pretend to be an imaginary character while trying to solve a problem. This game gives a unique perspective on your solution and whether the solution is feasible for other members.

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9. Group problem solving activities for adults

Group problem solving activities are very efficient, especially for adults. These can be used in any setting to enhance problem solving skills.

1. Human Knots

Benefits: Communication skills, collaboration
Time Duration: 10 – 15 minutes.

This is one of the most straightforward group problem solving activities that can be done with any group. It facilitates communication and critical thinking in the face of a challenging and complex question. Various group members will possibly suggest a variety of solutions, and each will need to be reviewed and adopted by the organization as a whole.

Have the group stand in a small circle (make several circles when you are a larger group). Every person in the loop will hold the hands of 2 other people who are not directly next to them. That would make a messy crossed arms knot.
Ask the group to disentangle themselves without moving their hands at any point in time. They may be unable to disentangle completely to form a circle again. Still, they would have begun to work together to solve the problem by the end of the activity.

2. Frostbite

Benefits: Leadership, decision-making, trust, adaptability
Time Duration: 30 minutes.
Materials Required: An electric fan, blindfold, simple building materials like cardboard paper, rubber bands, toothpicks, masking tape, straws, sticky notes, etc.

Your group is trapped in the barren deserts of Siberia, and a sudden winter storm is approaching. You have to create a shelter with only the materials in hand that can survive the storm’s harsh winds. The leader of your expedition was afflicted with frostbite in both hands, sadly, and all the others experience severe snow blindness.

Divide the group into clusters of 4-5. Every group will have to elect a chief.
Group leaders are not allowed to use their hands to support the group in any way, and group members should be blindfolded during the exercise.
The groups have 30 minutes to build a small tent structure that can withstand the wind from the fan’s highest location.

3. Dumbest Idea First

Benefits: Critical thinking, creative problem solving, quick problem solving
Time Duration: 15 – 20 minutes
Materials Required: Pen or pencil, a piece of paper.

Dumbest Idea First is one of the most creative problem solving activities for groups. This can encourage your creativity by thinking out of the box and lead you to ideas that would typically sound too insane to work. You can broaden the possibilities by looking at these crazy solutions first, and find potential alternatives that might not be as obvious.

Present your team with a question. It could be a real-world dilemma facing the group, or it could be a created scenario. For example, your company attempts to beat a rival to win a high-paying customer contract, but the customer bends to your competitors. You have a short period before they make the final decision to change their mind.
With the given question, advise your group to come up with the dumbest ideas to tackle the issue. Anything can be written down.
After each person has put forward a few ideas, go through the list, and analyze each plan to see which are the most feasible. List them from the highest level of feasibility to the lowest level.

4. Wool Web

Benefits: Leadership, communication
Time Duration: 30 minutes
Materials Required: Some balls of yarn.

As hard as replicating the magnitude of the real-world problems is, that is no excuse not to try! Wool web creates a dilemma that appears complicated at first, but groups will learn to break down complicated challenges into solvable problems one move at a time.

This happens by using the right strategy and working together. Undoubtedly, this is one of the most stimulating problem solving activities for adults.

Split the group into similarly large teams. Every time, it receives a yarn ball.
Tell each team to turn the yarn ball into a vast web. Give them around 5-10 minutes to do this. When done, rotate all the teams so that every team is on a yarn web they have not set up.
Every group must choose one person to untangle the web. That individual would be blindfolded and be guided by the rest of the team on how to unwind the web using only verbal instructions. The first team to achieve it wins the game.

5. Tallest Tower

Benefits: Creative thinking, collaboration
Materials Required: 1 bag of marshmallows, one packet of uncooked spaghetti.

Simple building projects can help group members create strategies to overcome box issues. Tallest Tower is another one of the most creative problem solving activities. Groups will compete with only two materials to make the tallest tower in a fixed period.

Divide the group into two, which have an equal number of players. Provide 20 – 30 uncooked spaghetti noodles and 3-4 marshmallows to every team.
Groups must compete in the provided period to build the tallest tower using only the materials supplied. A marshmallow has to be set at the top of the tower.

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10. Problem solving activities for students

Below is a bunch of problem solving activities for students and kids,

1. Brainstorm Bonanza – Brainstorm Bonanza is one of the best problem solving activities for students. As a teacher, making your students create lists relevant to something you are teaching at the moment can be a fantastic way to help them expand their knowledge of a subject when learning to solve problems.

Benefits: Problem solving
Materials Required: Pen and paper

1. If you are discussing a real, current, or fictional occurrence that did not work out well, let your students imagine ways that the protagonist or participants might have produced a better, more favorable result.

2. They can brainstorm independently or in groups.

2. Clue Me In – this is one of the most enjoyable problem solving games. It facilitates logical thinking and cognitive development.

Benefits: Cognitive development, logical thinking
Time Duration: 20 minutes
Materials Required: A bag, clues, items as necessary
Select a collection of things relating to a specific occupation, social phenomenon, historical incident, object, etc.
Assemble individual objects (or pictures of things) commonly linked to the target response.
Place all of them in a bag (five-10 clues ought to be enough).
Then, have a student reach into the bag and take out clues one by one.
Select a minimum number of clues to draw before they make their first guess (two-three).
After that, the student should guess, pulling each clue until they think it is right.
See how quickly the student can solve the riddle.

3. Survivor Scenario – Create a hypothetical situation that allows students to think creatively to make it through. One example may be being stuck on an island, realizing that three days of help would not come.

The community has a small amount of food and water and has to establish shelter from the island’s objects. This would undoubtedly be one of the fascinating problem solving activities for students.

Benefits: Logical thinking, collaboration
Encourage working together as a group.
Listen to each student who has an idea about making it safe and secure across the three days.

4. Moral Dilemmas – Create several potential moral dilemmas that your students can face in life, write down, and place each object in a bowl or container. These things may include items like, “I’ve seen a good friend of mine shoplifting. What is it that I would do?” or “The cashier gave me an additional $1.50 in change after I purchased candy from the shop. What is it that I would do?”

Benefits: Logical thinking
Time Duration: 5 minutes per student
Materials Required: Container, bits of paper with moral dilemmas written
Ask every student to draw an item from the bag one after the other and read it aloud.
They must then tell the class the response on the spot as to how they would handle the situation.

5. Problem solving box – this is an activity that will help on both cognitive and emotional levels for students.

Benefits: Logical thinking, decision making
Materials Required: Box, paper, pen
Have your students design and decorate a medium-sized box with a top slot. Name it as the “Problem Solving Box.”
Invite students to write down anonymously and apply any concerns or problems they may have at school or at home, which they do not appear to be able to work out on their own.
Let a student draw one of the things from the box once or twice a week, and read it aloud.
Finally, as a group, let the class work out the best way students can approach the problem and eventually solve it.

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11. Problem solving activities for kids

Below is a bunch of problem solving activities for kids,

1. Puzzle-solving – Solving puzzles is one of the best problem solving activities for kids out there. Essentially, every puzzle is a big collection of muddled-up items to figure out and bring back together again.

Kids must be introduced to puzzles with regularity. These are useful for improving skills in reasoning. The best kinds to choose from are wooden puzzles with a wooden frame. They last long, and the structure serves as the foundation to direct children during construction.

Benefits: Reasoning skills
Time Duration: Varies
Materials Required: Puzzles according to the age level

Instructions:

Show the kids a demo of how a particular puzzle can be solved.
Then, let them choose a puzzle of their liking from the available choices.
Ask them to solve their chosen puzzles.

2. Memory Games – Memory games will improve memory and attention to detail for your child.

Benefits: Attention to detail
Materials Required: Matching pairs of images
Using matching pairs of images and turn them all face down, shuffled, on a table.
Take turns to pick any two cards, and face them on the table.
You hold the cards if you turn over a similar pair, and if the pair does not match, turn the cards over before it is your turn to try again.
A teacher/parent must encourage the kids to concentrate on where the pictures are, and seek to find a matching pair on each turn.

3. Building games – Construction toys like building blocks, wooden blocks, or legos should be a staple in a kid’s home every day. Playing with them is one of the most fun problem solving activities for kids. Anything that your child builds is a challenge as it involves thinking about what to create and how to put together the parts to get a workable and usable design.

Benefits: Decision making
Materials Required: Construction toys.

1. Let your child build a challenge openly and often, and ask him/her to build a particular structure, with conditions. For instance:

Create two towers with a bridge that connects them.
Create a creature that stands alone and has three arms.

2. Observe how your child uses trial-and-error before finding a way to bring the idea into motion.

4. Tic-Tac-Toe – this is an excellent game for teaching decision-making skills. It encourages kids to think before they act and weigh the potential consequences.

Materials Required: Pencil, paper
Draw a simple tic-tac-toe table on paper or chalkboard.
Take turns to add a nought or a cross to the table to see who is the first to make a line of three.
Your kid will likely catch on in no time before placing their symbol and start thinking carefully.
Coloured counters or different items can be used to play this game as well.

5. Building a Maze – This activity is fun and fits for any age. It will also be a lot more enjoyable than doing a maze in an activity book, particularly for younger kids.

Materials Required: Chalk
Draw a big maze with jumbo chalk on the paving. Make passages, including one or two, which end in an impasse. Teach your kid how to get out of it.
Make the maze more complicated and add more dead-end passages as your child gets better at figuring out a path and finding the way out.

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What is a problem solving process?

When a team or person faces an issue or obstacle, it can be tempting to quickly track a potential solution and set up a fast fix. This could happen without understanding the complexity of the problem and pursuing a systematic approach to seeking a solution.

The attempts to address issues or obstacles may become unstructured and frustrating without a consistent method. End-to-end processes for problem solving offer a mechanism for a community to tackle any size or nature, and see results. Problem solving activities for adults, kids, and students can help make the problem solving process very useful.

Army problem solving process

There are 7 steps to problem solving army model,

Recognize and define the problem – The first step army problem solving process is defining the problem precisely and determining the root cause.
Gather facts and make assumptions – You need to gather all information you have at your disposal. Common resources for information may be documentation and policies. Assumptions are unsubstantiated facts. Use facts rather than assumptions when you need to analyze the scope of the problem.
Generate alternatives – One of the key steps in military problem solving is finding ways to solve the problem. Ideally, it best to have multiple approaches to solve the problem. Take input from peers and subordinates if possible.
Analyze possible solutions – Analyze each possible solution with advantages and disadvantages. You evaluate each solution according to screening and feasibility criteria. Reject the solution when it fails in the screening process.
Compare Alternatives – Another crucial step in the army problem solving model is to evaluate alternatives for cost and benefits. You need to consider your experience and immediate future. Tabulating each solution with the pros and cons will help clear the picture.
Make an executive your decision – Make a decision and prepare an action plan, and put it in motion.
Assess the result – You need to monitor the implementation of the plan and modify it if required. Establishing critical steps and milestones will help to ensure success.

Army problem solving games

Capture the flag – the game helps in team building and army problem solving. Two teams compete against one another to retrieve a flag or object from the opposing team camp base and get into their camp base. This game is flexible, and ground rules need to be set before the game starts.
Paintball – Paintball is a fun military problem solving activity. You can have many modifications and variations of the paintball game. The aim is to fire paint pellets at the opposing team. Laser tag is another variation of the game.
Firing blind – Firing blind is a game where each team has a large number of water balloons. At the other end of the field has to hit the target is protected by a tarp from direct firing. The team has to hit the target that is covered. One team member acts as the observer and directs the team to hit the target with the water balloons.

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Obstacles to problem solving

Problem solving can take time and patience, one of the best ways to solve any problem is pausing and evaluating the problem. Obstacles to problem solving are,

Misdiagnosis – Misdiagnosis is a common problem can occur due to preconceived idea, biases or judgments. Defining and having a concrete understanding of the problem is the first step in the problem solving activity. This can be difficult. If you are not careful, you may spend your time and resources solving the wrong problem and finding the wrong solution.
Communication bias – Communication barriers are caused when we are unable to explain the problem to the team, or presuming we know more than everyone else. Everyone on the team must be on the same page. You may need to acknowledge you have a limited understanding of the problem.
Solution bias – A common obstacle in problem solving is thinking there may be a universal solution or thinking the same solution can solve multiple problems. You need to evaluate a problem independently than try to force-fit a solution that worked previously.
Cognitive bias – One of the barriers to finding an effective solution is cognitive bias, or the tendency to jump to conclusions. To find solutions fast firms often end up with an irrelevant solution. This may cause more problems down the line.
Lack of empathy – Every problem is associated with human emotions or abilities. It is important to identify and recognize people affected by the problem or it will be difficult to find a solution that will solve help.

Also Read: Developing an NFT – hire an expert NFT developer now!

Famous virtual problem solving software

Traditionally watercoolers chat is a great way to bring people together and help team members interact with one another. A virtual water cooler has a similar concept where people interact in a similar virtual setting or a dedicated virtual room. It allows remote teams to bond. Software that offers virtual water coolers services,

unremot.com – provides users with a unique water cooler experience. The app provides unique solutions to remote teams.
Microsoft Teams
Informal Whatsapp group
Donut over slack channels

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Problem solving games online: for remote and hybrid teams

Problem solving activities are a great way for your team members to practice communication, develop strategic thinking, and overcome hurdles.

In this article we look at:

What are problem solving games

Why problem solving games are good for teams

5 of the best social problem solving games online

How to play problem solving games online

What software is available for online problem solving games

** If you want access to 30+ different problem solving games, be sure to check out the games on the Loumee platform.**

What are problem solving games?

A problem solving game is a game with a defined question, a correct answer, and a set of rules or instructions as to how the players should try to solve the problem, which normally involves some deeper, more strategic thinking.

The problem type and format are what really define the type or style of problem solving game - as a problem can be as simple as solving a short maths equation or crossword puzzle, or as difficult as an advanced logical reasoning problem such as making your way through an online maze.

Why are problem solving activities good for teams?

So many problems we need to tackle in our day-to-day life are done in collaboration with others.

When it comes to work, group problem solving with colleagues and coworkers happens everyday, and problem solving activities are a great way to practice many relevant skills that can be applied in the workplace.

It’s great to be able to work these with a team as they can help to:

Advance team decision making;

Develop cohesion and build relationships in the team;

Practice communication and create trust;

Understand how each other thinks;

Teach strategies to overcome obstacles in the way of achieving goals;

Foster creativity;

Encourage negotiation amongst team members;

Help lateral thinking.

5 best online problem solving games

The best online problem solving games for teams are designed to challenge team members while they have fun at the same time.

They should be unique, witty, inclusive, and involve collaboration and communication for success.

Group problem solving should be enjoyable, and the games you choose should be more fun than work.

Virtual team problem solving games can be played online through video conferencing tools such as Teams, Zoom, Webex, and Google Meet, and involve solving different types of puzzles and problems as a team. They are a great way for remote and hybrid teams to connect.

There are many different types of problem solving games and activities - here are 5 of the best.

1. The Chat

Curious about generative AI?

This Chat is a fun look at human vs machine, where your team needs to solve a series of problems to decide which of the possible answers was most likely generated by the AI.

Along the way you’ll tackle different types of problem solving tasks that test your collaboration, communication and reasoning skills as you and your team compete to finish first!

This game is a great conversation starter for those interested in exploring the topic of AI.

2. The Hunt

The Hunt is an online team problem solving game that uses a fun mix of different types of puzzles - visual problems, reasoning, word games- and asks teams to collaborate under pressure, as they try to find that “uh-ha!” moment.

The game is played online and is perfect for teams to practice all of the problem solving skills that we mentioned earlier.

The Hunt is also a great team building game for any size of group, with players competing in teams of four or five so they will still have an opportunity to interact.

The Hunt can be self-facilitated if you want to be the game-master or can be booked as a hosted event if you want to participate and play with your team.

The Hunt is a great virtual team game for those who like some friendly competition.

3. Jewel Heist

Escape the room games are among the most challenging problem solving games you can find online.

They normally blend a mix of puzzles and riddles with looking for hidden objects and clues.

In Jewel Heist , surprise surprise, there’s been a robbery!

Someone has masterminded a heist to steal a priceless collection of precious jewels, and it’s up to you and your team to recover them before time runs out.

The game is best suited to small teams (3-4 people) and is normally led by a game host.

4. The Puzzle

The Puzzle is a puzzle game perfect for coworkers and colleagues to play together and practice their problem solving skills.

It is one of the best puzzle games for teams to play online together, as it involves a combination of strategic thinking and pure fun.

The Puzzle has been played by teams around the world, and uses a universally known theme, so works well for multicultural organisations.

It’s typically played as a time-based competition, with each team given 40 minutes to complete the game.

5. Long Walks on The Beach

Long Walks on The Beach combines virtual problem solving with icebreaker activities so that people can get to know each other better.

The virtual game can be played as one small group, or your group can be split into teams. It has five different activities - including problem solving and working through fun rebus puzzles that reveal an icebreaker question for discussion in the group.

It can be hard to find an online icebreaker game that is fun and not awkward, but Long Walks on the Beach strikes a great balance.

If you are looking for something that can be used to help build, maintain and improve relationships, with a little bit of a problem solving flavour, then you might want to try Long Walks on the Beach.

You can access it via a subscription on Loumee .

How do you play problem solving games online?

These days, online problem solving games are much more common and far easier to access, especially if you want to do problem solving with colleagues in different physical locations.

After all, hybrid and remote work are the new normal.

The best way to play problem solving games online is via video conferencing - e.g. Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Google Meet or any other platform of your choice.

You can screen share to explain the game rules and then use breakout rooms for team play and to discuss problems in detail.

What software is available for online problem solving games?

If you want on demand access to a range of problem solving games for teams, then Loumee has a membership-based access to game application where you can facilitate different team problem solving games.

It’s accessible via your web browser so there are no downloads necessary and the games can be played using any video conferencing platform.

There are also some icebreakers and energizers for online meetings and events.

There is also Mindtools - although this is more focused on learning and development skills than problem solving.

FAQs: Problem solving games

Here are common answers to frequently asked questions about problem solving games.

What are the best problem solving games for large groups?

The best problem solving games for large groups are those that have been designed for team play. Playing in teams rather than individually can increase engagement and therefore increase the benefits that your group will get from your online problem solving game. Some good options for virtual games include The Trip and The Hunt.

What are some good problem solving games for students?

The best problem solving games for students are accessible and fun, and don’t have too long a program. Normally problem solving games that are around one hour or less are best suited for students. Students are also more likely to enjoy a problem solving game that fosters a sense of achievement, where they can compete against their classmates and work together to achieve an outcome. Some good problem solving games for students include The Puzzle Lite, The Hunt, and The Ascent (Rapid).

What are problem solving activities?

Problem solving activities are normally shorter exercises that often take less time than full games. It might be a single activity that requires you to think critically and use logic to solve a problem or complete a task, but without a broader ‘meta’ problem to solve Examples include sudoku, crosswords, or team activities like “stranded on a desert island”.

Want to read more about team problem solving games? Check out all our games here .

Explore the full list of games offered by Loumee by creating an account.

Culture amp vs lattice - which is the best employee engagement software, 10 key characteristics of high performing teams (how to create, manage, and develop them).

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Senior Quantitative Researcher, People Insights

Principal Writer

18 virtual team building activities and games

This isn’t academic theory or some stuff we just made up. This is how real remote teams have fun and stay connected.

5-second summary

Building bonds between teammates is extra-important when you’re in remote or hybrid mode, as a growing body of research confirms.
Whether an activity is just for fun or helps move your work forward, taking time to help your virtual team to get to know each other is an investment that pays dividends in team cohesion and performance.
We collected a list of activities used by real teams at Atlassian that can help virtual teams get to know each other as people and colleagues.

The bad news: team building is a lot more challenging when all or some of your people are working remotely. Try as you might, you just can’t do trust falls over Zoom. (Also, no one likes trust falls anyway.)

The good news: we have a trove of the best virtual team building activities to share with you. These are the same super-creative, road-tested, remote-team-approved activities that we use here at Atlassian.

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What is virtual-team building?

Virtual team building means creating human-to-human connections between your remote team members. Forging these bonds not only promotes team harmony, it can also help streamline communication and increase productivity.

Distributed eam bonding is a topic that matters deeply to us. We have a Team Playbook of exercises and workshops to help teams work better together (not to mention a guide to hybrid meetings for when it’s time to get down to business). It’s important to take time out to build connections while having fun, too. And, as a company of several thousand people distributed across five continents, we’ve had plenty of chances to act as test subjects for both flavors of virtual team-building activities.

Keep your virtual team connected with these proven rituals

How do you do team building virtually.

The best way to connect remote teams is to help them feel seen and heard, literally, and in ways that directly address the challenges of a dispersed workforce.

In mid-2020, we ran a survey on remote work , which uncovered the real-world complications we’re all facing with distributed work: feeling that our work is “invisible,” navigating new barriers to organic collaboration, and having less access to our managers. When we ran a similar survey in 2021 , we found that, although some of the initial challenges we faced have eased up a bit, teams are still struggling with belonging and cohesion.

The common thread here is that working from home can be lonely. Spending less time in an office environment means fewer built-in opportunities to form social bonds and build trust with colleagues. That can lead to disengagement, which, in turn, can lead to poor performance on the job.

That’s no small deal. In fact, 94 percent of workers we surveyed said that mutual respect and connection were critical to their team’s success, and 19 percent said it’s the most important factor in their sense of well-being at work. Understanding each other on a personal level means we can communicate more effectively and have an easier time distributing roles and responsibilities across the team.

So how can teams overcome these hurdles?

Tools of the trade

We use Trello boards as sort-of a virtual whiteboard, Slack as our chat tool, and Zoom for video conferencing. You’ll need at least one of these tools (or their equivalent) for each of the activities shared here.

Fun remote team building activities for any occasion

Choose what’s right for your team based on these categories:

Real-time vs. asynchronous – Do you need to do this simultaneously, or can each person participate at whatever time works best for them?

Practical vs. just for fun – Is the activity intentionally unproductive (which is not necessarily a bad thing), or does it serve the dual purpose of building social bonds and improving the way you work in a more tangible way?

18 ideas for virtual team games and activities

1. don’t overlook the classic: icebreaker questions 🧊.

Type: real-time, just for fun, on the regular

Time: 5 minutes

Tools required: video conferencing

Before you roll your eyes and go “Duh … like I hadn’t already thought of that,” understand that some of our distributed teams (my own included) do an icebreaker at the start of our team meetings every week. Even though we’ve been working together for a couple of years and feel pretty connected already, there are always more interesting tidbits to learn about each other. Some recent favorites include:

Who was the last artist you searched for on your music streaming service of choice?
What are your parents’ best qualities?
Put these morning routine items in order: breakfast, coffee/tea, open up your laptop.
What was something that always frightened you as a child?

Small talk at work has big benefits

2. have an online lunch date 🍱.

Time: 60 minutes

This one comes from the engineering team that built the Trello app for Android. Once a month, the team links up via video conferencing over lunchtime. Team members can even expense up to $25 so they can join from their favorite cafe, order delivery, or cook up a little something special at home (because, real talk: heating up leftovers gets old).

Only have 15-30 minutes to spare? No worries. Virtual coffee chats and virtual happy hours are fun variations on this activity.

3. Socialize over group chat 💬

Type: asynchronous, just for fun, on the regular

Time: varies

Tools required: Slack, Teams, or other group chat app

Group chat is an ideal way for distributed teams to stay in touch, but who says you have to keep it strictly business? Pre-pandemic, Atlassian set up a channel in Slack called #social-remote where we remote workers (which is now pretty much all of us), talk about what we had for lunch, compare notes on standing desks, share articles related to remote work, and generally discuss anything but the projects we’re working on.

There are even off-shoot channels for cities or states where clusters of “Remote-lassians” live. Let’s just say that more than a few hot-dish recipes have been swapped in the #minnesota channel.

4. Have a messy-desk photo contest 📸

When you work in an office, you feel compelled to keep your desk at least minimally clean: no used tissues, three-day old cereal bowls, or constellations of coffee rings.

But when you work from home, there’s no such social contract to uphold. So one of our rituals in the #social-remote Slack channel is “messy desk Thursdays” in which we out ourselves for the abysmal state of our workstations while the ROTFL 🤣and 🤦🏽‍♀️ facepalm emojis fly fast and thick.

It’s also a chance for your preternaturally tidy teammates to do some humble bragging about their austere, magazine-worthy office spaces.

Screenshot of a conversation about messy desks in Slack

5. How do you make online meetings fun? Presents 🎁

Type: real-time, just for fun, one-hit wonder

Tools required: video conferencing, Trello board

Whether your team prefers white elephant style or something more thoughtful, you can pull off a gift exchange even if you’re not at an offsite. Start by copying this handy Trello board template and inviting your teammates to join. It has full instructions in the “Rules” column, but here’s the gist. Each team member buys a gift that can be shipped easily. Instead of announcing what the gift is, you’ll add a card to the board with a picture and title that provides a hint.

During the game, you’ll take turns clicking on cards to reveal what the gift is. Once you turn over a card, you’ve claimed that gift. You’ll also get chances to steal a gift someone else has already claimed. After the game is over, mail the gift you contributed to the person who ended up with it.

6. Teach people how to work with you with “My User Manual” 📋

Type: asynchronous, fun but practical, one-hit wonder

Tools required: Keynote or PowerPoint

When you’re just forming as a team, or when a new member joins, it’s worth taking the time to share your personal workstyle. Do you prefer chat or email? What time of day do you do your best heads-down deep work? Are you cool with impromptu video calls? Check out this example from the CEO at CultureAmp:

Inspired? So were we. That’s why we created the My User Manual play, where you’ll find instructions on how to run this exercise in your team. Set up a meeting to review everyone’s “user manuals” in real-time, or share the decks so people can review them asynchronously. Either way, collect the decks in a central repository where future team members can access them.

7. Expand your professional skill sets together with “Learning Circles” 📚

Type: real-time, fun but practical, on the regular

Time: 30-60 minutes

Tools required: video conferencing, study materials as needed

It’s easy to get so caught up in executing on your work that you forget to expand your horizons, especially when working from home with no office banter happening around you. Plus, remote work can be isolating if you don’t make a point to connect with your teammates on a personal level.

Our Learning Circle play can address both issues. Choose a topic related to your work that you want to learn more about – anything from SQL to leadership styles to trends in recruiting practices – and find colleagues who share that interest. Each month, gather over video conference to discuss a book or article, or have someone in the group give a short presentation. The best part about learning circles is that you can extend them beyond your immediate team and connect with people across the entire organization.

8. Take your team’s pulse with “Health Monitor” 🩺

Tools required: video conferencing, Confluence, or Google Docs

Health Monitor is a variation on the classic agile retrospective. It prompts you to examine how you’re working together, instead of what you’re working on.

Through extensive research, we identified eight attributes that healthy, high-performing teams tend to have in common, then developed the Health Monitor as a framework for assessing how your team is doing in each area. Do you have the right balance of skills on the team? Are you making decisions effectively? Do you understand the dependencies around your work? Here’s a one-minute overview, staring yours truly.

Although this activity was not designed specifically for remote teams, it’s amazingly beneficial. When your team doesn’t sit shoulder-to-shoulder, it feels easier to sweep issues under the rug rather than address them head-on.

But little problems have a way of growing larger while you’re not looking, and eventually, you’ve got a crisis on your hands. Health Monitor prevents this by prompting teams to self-assess on a regular basis and keep their weaknesses from becoming full-blown liabilities.

9. You can’t have Nerf wars, but you still have .gif battles 💥

Time: 15-30 min

If you’ve ever been jealous of the Nerf dart wars waged by your co-located colleagues and friends, you’ll love .gif battles. Copy this Trello board template and invite your teammates to join it. (Click on the “How it works” card to see full instructions for the game.)

The game consists of four rounds, each with its own theme. You’ll use Giphy.com or Google Images to find a .gif that fits with the theme for that round and attach that gif to a card. Once everyone has their .gifs in, you’ll vote on the round’s best submission. At the end, the person who wins the most rounds will be crowned the Ultimate .Gif Battle Champion of All Time™. Just think of the glory! Don’t be afraid to add a tiebreaker round if needed.

Screen capture of a trello board with fun categories ie. "find the best walrus gif" and users have each added a fun gif that matches the category.

10. Uncover your superpowers 🦸🏽

Type: real-time, fun but practical, one-hit wonder

Time: 30 min individual prep, 60 min as a team

If you think “water cooler moments” unlock creativity, you’re focusing on the wrong thing

If you’re ready to go beyond surface-level connections with your team, this is the activity for you. Each person will prepare for the session by taking an online strength finder assessment such as Clifton Strengths . During the group session, everyone hops on a video call and takes turns sharing their results.

When my team did this, each person shared top three strengths, lowest-ranked strength, and something in our results that surprised us. Then we’d discuss as a group how that person’s top strengths contribute to the team already, and how we could make even better use of them.

This is an intensely personal activity. You’re going to feel a bit vulnerable and exposed, so it works best if there’s already a sense of psychological safety amongst teammates. But because you’re discussing each other’s strengths, the conversation tends to be very positive and affirming. Chances are, everyone will walk away with a deeper sense of belonging and an understanding of the unique value they bring to the team.

11. “How you doin’?” 👋🏽

Time: 5 min

(This one is so much better if you say the words “How you doin’?” in a low, Jersey mobster voice – think Sal from “The Sopranos.” But I digress… ) The team that looks after the Atlassian Community website and our user groups added this five-minute ritual to the beginning of their weekly team meetings.

The board they use to track agenda items includes a space for each person to add a card representing how they’re feeling that week. Maybe they’re struggling with something in their personal life and are a bit low-energy. Maybe they finally ran that 10k over the weekend and are PUMPED for the week ahead. It’s an easy way for teammates to let each other know when they might need some extra support or patience, or when they’ve got good vibes to spare.

12. Make sweet music together 🎶

Tools required: Spotify or Google Play, Slack or other group chat app

Raise your hand if you and your remote teammates talk about music. (Thought so. Pretty much everyone does.) The content team at Trello is no different… but they’ve gone next-level with it. Using Spotify, they create collaborative playlists that anyone on the team can listen to and help curate.

Try creating an upbeat, “get $#!t done” playlist, a soothing “de-stress” playlist, or any other theme that suits your team.

13. DIY boba tea 🧋

Type: real-time, just for fun, one-hit wonder

Time: 2 hrs

Tools required: video conferencing, kitchen

Y’know how boba tea (sometimes called bubble tea) costs like $6 at a retail shop? It sounds overpriced until you realized how labor-intensive it is! About 50 members of our marketing team learned this first-hand when we did a virtual boba-making session. Each participant received a kit containing all the ingredients (we used this one ). Then, an expert guided the whole group through the process – it really does take two hours to make a batch! But that provided plenty of time for icebreakers and general chit-chat while ingredients cooked and/or cooled.

14. The fellowship of the traveling plush toy 📦

Type: asynchronous, just for fun, on the regular

Time: varies

Tools required: Slack or other group chat app

A cross between the gnome prank in Amélie and the Flat Stanley craze, this ongoing activity yields months of fun. Choose a plush toy or doll that will be easy to pack up and mail – we had a custom plush made in the shape of our logo, and named it “Ace” – and set up a rotation so it travels between team members. When it’s your turn, use your chat channels to share photos of the plush hanging out with you, then pack it back up and mail it to the next person after a week or so.

15. Birds of a feather read books together 🤓

Type: real-time, just for fun, on the regular

Time: 30-60 min for discussion; reading time varies

Tools required: video conferencing, Slack or other group chat app

Calling all bookworms! If you’re like me, then you know that the only thing better than reading a good book is discussing it with friends. Or, in this case, colleagues who also enjoy books (which, really, is pretty close to friends anyway).

Our brand content team runs a casual book club where the only parameter is that the books we choose must have nothing to do with our jobs. We use a Slack app called Polly to vote on book selections and when to meet over Zoom (and drinks) to talk about it.

16. Monday JAMM sessions 📆

Time: 5 min

Tools required: Slack or other group chat app

“So, how was your weekend?” The Atlassian brand and events teams took this time-honored Monday morning question into the virtual world by sharing stories and photos from their weekend over chat – but with a twist. To help put themselves in the best mental space possible for the week ahead, they focus on sharing the most positive and rejuvenating aspects of their weekend that will help them power through the week. Each entry starts with JAMM, which means “just another manageable Monday.” For example, “JAMM because I got to an amazing hike on Saturday!” Think of it as part gratitude practice , part pep-talk. It’s been such a hit that it’s spread to other teams, too!

17. Enneagrams for everybody 🥸

Type: real-time, fun but practical, one-hit wonder

Time: 2+ hours

How well do you really know each of your teammates? Take time out for a deep dive into your personalities by using the Enneagram system . You’ll walk away with a better understanding of what makes everyone tick, and you’ll probably get some juicy insights into your own personality as well. (I sure did!)

Unlike finding your Myers-Briggs type or your zodiac sign, Enneagram asks you to self-identify your personality type based on the descriptions for each one. From there, you can explore how to best get along and communicate with other types. It’s a self-awareness + team harmony win-win.

18. A lightning round of mini-games 🕹

Time: 1-2 hours

Game apps for tools like Zoom and WebEx can be a ton of fun. (Hot tip for Zoom users: try the Kahoot! trivia app .) It’s a great way to add extra flavor to your virtual team lunches or kill a few minutes while you’re waiting for people to trickle in at the start of a meeting.

Now go forth and bond!

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></center></p><h2>13 Problem-Solving Activities & Exercises for Your Team</h2><ul><li>December 4, 2023</li><li>Project Management</li><li>21 min read</li></ul><p><center><img style=

Are you looking to enhance your or your team’s problem-solving abilities? Engaging in activities specifically designed to stimulate your and your team’s critical thinking skills can be an excellent way to sharpen your problem-solving prowess. Whether you enjoy puzzles, brain teasers, or interactive challenges, these activities provide an opportunity to overcome obstacles and think creatively.

By immersing yourself in problem-solving activities, you can develop valuable strategies, improve your decision-making abilities, and boost your overall problem-solving IQ. Get ready to unlock your full potential and tackle any challenge that comes your way with these exciting activities for problem-solving.

In this article, we will explore activities for problem-solving that can help enhance your team’s problem-solving skills, allowing you to approach challenges with confidence and creativity.

What Are Problem Solving Activities?

Problem-solving activities or problem-solving exercises are interactive games requiring critical thinking to solve puzzles. They enhance teamwork & critical thinking. Examples include building towers, navigating simulated challenges, and fostering creativity and communication.

For instance, imagine a team working together to construct the tallest tower using limited materials. They strategize, communicate ideas, and problem-solve to create the best structure, promoting collaboration and inventive thinking among team members.

Some widely practiced problem-solving activities include:

A Shrinking Vessel: Teams must fit into a shrinking space, testing their cooperation and adaptability.
Marshmallow Spaghetti Tower: Participants build a tower using marshmallows and spaghetti, promoting creative engineering.
Egg Drop: Protecting an egg from a fall challenges problem-solving skills.
Desert Island Survival: Teams simulate survival scenarios, encouraging creative solutions.
Rolling Dice: A simple yet effective game involving chance and decision-making.
Build a Tower: Constructing a stable tower with limited resources fosters teamwork and innovation, etc.

13 Easy Activities For Problem-Solving Ideas to Enhance Team Collaboration

Team building activities offer a great opportunity to test problem-solving abilities and promote effective collaboration within a group to problem solving group activities. By engaging in these activities, teams can break the monotony of the workplace and create a more inclusive and welcoming environment.

Here are nine easy-to-implement activities that can bring substantial change to your team culture and overall workplace dynamics.

#1. Crossword Puzzles

Objective: To enhance problem-solving skills, vocabulary, and cognitive abilities through engaging crossword puzzles.

Estimated Time: 15-20 Minutes

Materials Needed:

Crossword puzzle sheets
Pens or pencils
Distribute crossword puzzle sheets and pens/pencils to each participant.
Explain the rules of crossword puzzles and the goal of completing as many clues as possible within the given time.
Participants individually or in pairs work on solving the crossword puzzle by filling in the correct words.
Encourage critical thinking, word association, and collaborative discussions for solving challenging clues.
At the end of the time limit, review the answers and discuss any interesting or challenging clues as a group.
Enhanced Problem-Solving: Participants engage in critical thinking while deciphering clues, promoting effective problem-solving skills.
Vocabulary Expansion: Exposure to new words and phrases within the crossword improves vocabulary and comprehension.
Cognitive Stimulation: The mental exercise of solving the puzzle stimulates the brain, enhancing cognitive abilities.
Team Collaboration: If done in pairs, participants practice collaboration and communication to solve clues together.
Achievement and Motivation: Successfully completing the crossword brings a sense of accomplishment and motivates individuals to explore more puzzles.

Tips for Facilitators:

Provide varying levels of crossword puzzles to accommodate different skill levels.
Encourage participants to share strategies for solving challenging clues.
Emphasize the fun and educational aspects of the activity to keep participants engaged.

#2. A Shrinking Vessel

Estimated Time: 10-15 Minutes

Materials Needed: A rope and a ball of yarn
Prepare the Setting: Lay a rope on the floor in a shape that allows all team members to stand comfortably inside it. For larger teams, multiple ropes can be used, dividing them into smaller groups.
Enter the Circle: Have all team members stand inside the rope, ensuring that nobody steps outside its boundaries.
Shrinking the Circle: Begin gradually shrinking the rope’s size, reducing the available space inside the circle.
Adapt and Maintain Balance: As the circle shrinks, team members must make subtle adjustments to maintain their positions and balance within the shrinking area.
The Challenge: The objective for the team is to collectively brainstorm and find innovative ways to keep every team member inside the circle without anyone stepping outside.
Collaboration and Communication: The activity promotes teamwork and open communication as participants strategize to stay within the shrinking circle.
Adaptability: Team members learn to adapt swiftly to changing circumstances, fostering agility and flexibility.
Creative Problem-Solving: The challenge encourages inventive thinking and brainstorming to find unique solutions.
Trust Building: By relying on each other’s actions, participants build trust and cohesion among team members.
Time-Efficient: The short duration makes it an ideal icebreaker or energizer during meetings or workshops.
Observe and Facilitate: Monitor the team’s dynamics and offer guidance to encourage equal participation and effective problem-solving.
Encourage Verbalization: Prompt participants to voice their ideas and collaborate vocally, aiding in real-time adjustments.
Debrief Thoughtfully: Engage the team in a discussion afterward, reflecting on strategies employed and lessons learned.
Emphasize Adaptability: Highlight the transferable skill of adaptability and its significance in both professional and personal contexts.

#3. Human Knots

Objective: Improving Collaboration & enhancing Communication Skills

Estimated Time: 15-20 minutes

Materials: None required

Procedure:

Organize your team into a compact circle. For more sizable teams, subdivide them into smaller clusters, with each cluster forming its own circle.
Direct each individual to grasp the hands of two other people in the circle, with the exception of those positioned directly adjacent to them. This action will result in the formation of a complex “human knot” within the circle.
Present the challenge to the group: to unravel themselves from this entanglement while maintaining their hold on each other’s hands. If preferred, you can establish a specific time limit.
Observe the team members collaborating to unravel the knot, witnessing their collective effort to devise solutions and free themselves from the intricate puzzle.
Team Cohesion: The activity encourages team members to interact closely, promoting bonding and understanding among participants.
Effective Communication: Participants practice clear and concise communication as they coordinate movements to untangle the knot.
Problem-Solving: The challenge stimulates creative thinking and problem-solving skills as individuals work collectively to find the optimal path for untangling.
Adaptability: Participants learn to adapt their actions based on the evolving dynamics of the human knot, fostering adaptability.
Trust Building: As individuals rely on each other to navigate the intricate knot, trust and cooperation naturally develop.
Set a Positive Tone: Create an inclusive and supportive atmosphere, emphasizing that the focus is on collaboration rather than competition.
Encourage Verbalization: Urge participants to articulate their intentions and listen to others’ suggestions, promoting effective teamwork.
Observe Group Dynamics: Monitor interactions and step in if needed to ensure everyone is actively engaged and included.
Reflect and Share: Conclude the activity with a debriefing session, allowing participants to share their experiences, strategies, and key takeaways.
Vary Grouping: Change group compositions for subsequent rounds to enhance interactions among different team members.

#4. Egg Drop

Helps With: Decision Making, Collaboration

A carton of eggs
Construction materials (balloons, rubber bands, straws, tape, plastic wrap, etc.)
A suitable location for the activity
Assign each team a single egg and random construction materials.
Teams must create a carrier to protect the egg from breaking.
Drop the carriers one by one and increase the height if necessary to determine the most durable carrier.
The winning team is the one with the carrier that survives the highest drop.
Decision Making: Participants engage in critical decision-making processes as they select construction materials and determine carrier designs.
Collaboration: The activity necessitates collaboration and coordination among team members to construct an effective carrier.
Problem-Solving: Teams apply creative problem-solving skills to devise innovative methods for safeguarding the egg.
Risk Management: Participants learn to assess potential risks and consequences while making design choices to prevent egg breakage.
Celebrating Success: The victorious team experiences a sense of accomplishment, boosting morale and promoting a positive team spirit.
Provide Diverse Materials: Offer a wide range of construction materials to stimulate creativity and allow teams to explore various design options.
Set Safety Guidelines: Prioritize safety by specifying a safe drop height and ensuring participants follow safety protocols during construction.
Encourage Brainstorming: Prompt teams to brainstorm multiple carrier ideas before finalizing their designs, fostering diverse perspectives.
Facilitate Reflection: After the activity, lead a discussion where teams share their design strategies, challenges faced, and lessons learned.
Highlight Collaboration: Emphasize the significance of teamwork in achieving success, acknowledging effective communication and cooperation.

#5. Marshmallow Spaghetti Tower

Helps With: Collaboration

Estimated Time: 20-30 Minutes

Materials Needed (per team):

Raw spaghetti: 20 sticks
Marshmallow: 1
String: 1 yard
Masking tape: 1 roll
Tower Construction: Instruct teams to collaborate and utilize the provided materials to construct the tallest tower possible within a designated time frame.
Marshmallow Support: Emphasize that the tower must be capable of standing independently and supporting a marshmallow at its highest point.
Prototype and Iterate: Encourage teams to engage in prototyping and iteration, testing different design approaches and refining their tower structures.
T eamwork and Communication: Promote effective teamwork and communication as team members coordinate their efforts to build a stable and tall tower.
Evaluation Criteria: Evaluate each tower based on its height, stability, and the successful placement of the marshmallow at the top.
Collaboration: Participants collaborate closely, sharing ideas and working together to design and construct the tower.
Innovative Thinking: The activity encourages innovative thinking as teams experiment with different strategies to build a stable tower.
Time Management: Teams practice time management skills as they work within a specified time limit to complete the task.
Problem-Solving: Participants engage in creative problem-solving to address challenges such as balancing the marshmallow and constructing a sturdy tower.
Adaptability: Teams adapt their approaches based on trial and error, learning from each iteration to improve their tower designs.
Set Clear Guidelines: Clearly explain the materials, objectives, and evaluation criteria to ensure teams understand the task.
Foster Creativity: Encourage teams to think outside the box and explore unconventional methods for constructing their towers.
Emphasize Collaboration: Highlight the importance of effective communication and teamwork to accomplish the task successfully.
Time Management: Remind teams of the time limit and encourage them to allocate their time wisely between planning and construction.
Reflect and Share: Facilitate a discussion after the activity, allowing teams to share their design choices, challenges faced, and lessons learned.

Objective: To engage participants in the strategic and analytical world of Sudoku, enhancing logical thinking and problem-solving abilities.

Estimated Time: 20-25 Minutes

Sudoku puzzle sheets
Pencils with erasers
Distribute Sudoku puzzle sheets and pencils to each participant.
Familiarize participants with the rules and mechanics of Sudoku puzzles.
Explain the goal: to fill in the empty cells with numbers from 1 to 9 while adhering to the rules of no repetition in rows, columns, or subgrids.
Encourage participants to analyze the puzzle’s layout, identify potential numbers, and strategically fill in cells.
Emphasize the importance of logical deduction and step-by-step approach in solving the puzzle.
Provide hints or guidance if needed, ensuring participants remain engaged and challenged.
Logical Thinking: Sudoku challenges participants’ logical and deductive reasoning, fostering analytical skills.
Problem-Solving: The intricate interplay of numbers and constraints hones problem-solving abilities.
Focus and Patience: Participants practice patience and attention to detail while gradually unveiling the solution.
Pattern Recognition: Identifying number patterns and possibilities contributes to enhanced pattern recognition skills.
Personal Achievement: Successfully completing a Sudoku puzzle provides a sense of accomplishment and boosts confidence.
Offer varying levels of Sudoku puzzles to cater to different skill levels.
Encourage participants to share strategies and techniques for solving specific challenges.
Highlight the mental workout Sudoku provides and its transferable skills to real-life problem-solving.

Helps With: Communication, Problem-solving, & Management

A lockable room
5-10 puzzles or clues
Hide the key and a set of clues around the room.
Lock the room and provide team members with a specific time limit to find the key and escape.
Instruct the team to work together, solving the puzzles and deciphering the clues to locate the key.
Encourage efficient communication and effective problem-solving under time pressure.
Communication Skills: Participants enhance their communication abilities by sharing observations, ideas, and findings to collectively solve puzzles.
Problem-solving Proficiency: The activity challenges teams to think critically, apply logical reasoning, and collaboratively tackle intricate challenges.
Team Management: The experience promotes effective team management as members assign tasks, prioritize efforts, and coordinate actions.
Time Management: The imposed time limit sharpens time management skills as teams strategize and allocate time wisely.
Adaptability: Teams learn to adapt and adjust strategies based on progress, evolving clues, and time constraints.
Clear Introduction: Provide a concise overview of the activity, emphasizing the importance of communication, problem-solving, and time management.
Diverse Challenges: Offer a mix of puzzles and clues to engage various problem-solving skills, catering to different team strengths.
Supportive Role: Act as a facilitator, offering subtle guidance if needed while allowing teams to independently explore and solve challenges.
Debriefing Session: Organize a debriefing session afterward to discuss the experience, highlight successful strategies, and identify areas for improvement.
Encourage Reflection: Encourage participants to reflect on their teamwork, communication effectiveness, and problem-solving approach.

#8. Frostbite for Group Problem Solving Activities

Helps With: Decision Making, Trust, Leadership

An electric fan
Construction materials (toothpicks, cardstock, rubber bands, sticky notes, etc.)
Divide the team into groups of 4-5 people, each with a designated leader.
Blindfold team members and prohibit leaders from using their hands.
Provide teams with construction materials and challenge them to build a tent within 30 minutes.
Test the tents using the fan to see which can withstand high winds.
Decision-Making Proficiency: Participants are exposed to critical decision-making situations under constraints, allowing them to practice effective and efficient decision-making.
Trust Development: Blindfolding team members and relying on the designated leaders fosters trust and collaboration among team members.
Leadership Skills: Designated leaders navigate the challenge without hands-on involvement, enhancing their leadership and communication skills.
Creative Problem Solving: Teams employ creative thinking and resourcefulness to construct stable tents with limited sensory input.
Team Cohesion: The shared task and unique constraints promote team cohesion and mutual understanding.
Role of the Facilitator: Act as an observer, allowing teams to navigate the challenge with minimal intervention. Offer assistance only when necessary.
Clarity in Instructions: Provide clear instructions regarding blindfolding, leader restrictions, and time limits to ensure a consistent experience.
Debriefing Session: After the activity, conduct a debriefing session to discuss team dynamics, leadership approaches, and decision-making strategies.
Encourage Communication: Emphasize the importance of effective communication within teams to ensure smooth coordination and successful tent construction.
Acknowledge Creativity: Celebrate creative solutions and innovative approaches exhibited by teams during the tent-building process.

#9. Dumbest Idea First

Helps With: Critical Thinking & Creative Problem Solving Activity

Estimated Time: 15-20 Minutes

Materials Needed: A piece of paper, pen, and pencil

Problem Presentation: Introduce a specific problem to the team, either a real-world challenge or a hypothetical scenario that requires a solution.
Brainstorming Dumb Ideas: Instruct team members to quickly generate and jot down the most unconventional and seemingly “dumb” ideas they can think of to address the problem.
Idea Sharing: Encourage each participant to share their generated ideas with the group, fostering a relaxed and open atmosphere for creative expression.
Viability Assessment: As a team, review and evaluate each idea, considering potential benefits and drawbacks. Emphasize the goal of identifying unconventional approaches.
Selecting Promising Solutions: Identify which seemingly “dumb” ideas could hold hidden potential or innovative insights. Discuss how these ideas could be adapted into workable solutions.
Divergent Thinking: Participants engage in divergent thinking, pushing beyond conventional boundaries to explore unconventional solutions.
Creative Exploration: The activity sparks creative exploration by encouraging participants to let go of inhibitions and embrace imaginative thinking.
Critical Analysis: Through evaluating each idea, participants practice critical analysis and learn to identify unique angles and aspects of potential solutions.
Open Communication: The lighthearted approach of sharing “dumb” ideas fosters open communication, reducing fear of judgment and promoting active participation.
Solution Adaptation: Identifying elements of seemingly “dumb” ideas that have merit encourages participants to adapt and refine their approaches creatively.
Safe Environment: Foster a safe and non-judgmental environment where participants feel comfortable sharing unconventional ideas.
Time Management: Set clear time limits for idea generation and sharing to maintain the activity’s energetic pace.
Encourage Wild Ideas: Emphasize that the goal is to explore the unconventional, urging participants to push the boundaries of creativity.
Facilitator Participation: Participate in idea generation to demonstrate an open-minded approach and encourage involvement.
Debriefing Discussion: After the activity, facilitate a discussion on how seemingly “dumb” ideas can inspire innovative solutions and stimulate fresh thinking.

This activity encourages out-of-the-box thinking and creative problem-solving. It allows teams to explore unconventional ideas that may lead to unexpected, yet effective, solutions.

#10: Legoman

Helps With: Foster teamwork, communication, and creativity through a collaborative Lego-building activity.

Estimated Time: 20-30 minutes

Lego bricks
Lego instruction manuals

Procedure :

Divide participants into small teams of 3-5 members.
Provide each team with an equal set of Lego bricks and a Lego instruction manual.
Explain that the goal is for teams to work together to construct the Lego model shown in the manual.
Set a time limit for the building activity based on model complexity.
Allow teams to self-organize, build, and collaborate to complete the model within the time limit.
Evaluate each team’s final model compared to the manual’s original design.
Enhanced Communication: Participants must communicate clearly and listen actively to collaborate effectively.
Strengthened Teamwork: Combining efforts toward a shared goal promotes camaraderie and team cohesion.
Creative Problem-Solving: Teams must creatively problem-solve if pieces are missing or instructions unclear.
Planning and Resource Allocation: Following instructions fosters planning skills and efficient use of resources.
Sense of Achievement: Completing a challenging build provides a sense of collective accomplishment.
Encourage Participation: Urge quieter members to contribute ideas and take an active role.
Highlight Teamwork: Emphasize how cooperation and task coordination are key to success.
Ensure Equal Engagement: Monitor group dynamics to ensure all members are engaged.
Allow Creativity: Permit modifications if teams lack exact pieces or wish to get creative.
Focus on Enjoyment: Create a lively atmosphere so the activity remains energizing and fun.

#11: Minefield

Helps With: Trust, Communication, Patience

Materials Needed: Open space, blindfolds

Mark a “minefield” on the ground using ropes, cones, or tape. Add toy mines or paper cups.
Pair up participants and blindfold one partner.
Position blindfolded partners at the start of the minefield. Direct seeing partners to verbally guide them through to the other side without hitting “mines.”
Partners switch roles once finished and repeat.
Time partnerships and provide prizes for the fastest safe crossing.
Trust Building: Blindfolded partners must trust their partner’s instructions.
Effective Communication: Giving clear, specific directions is essential for navigating the minefield.
Active Listening: Partners must listen closely and follow directions precisely.
Patience & Support: The exercise requires patience and encouraging guidance between partners.
Team Coordination: Partners must work in sync, coordinating movements and communication.
Test Boundaries: Ensure the minefield’s size accommodates safe movement and communication.
Monitor Interactions: Watch for dominant guidance and ensure both partners participate fully.
Time Strategically: Adjust time limits based on the minefield size and difficulty.
Add Obstacles: Introduce additional non-mine objects to increase challenge and communication needs.
Foster Discussion: Debrief afterward to discuss communication approaches and trust-building takeaways.

#12: Reverse Pyramid

Helps With: Teamwork, Communication, Creativity

Materials Needed: 36 cups per group, tables

Form small groups of 5-7 participants.
Provide each group with a stack of 36 cups and a designated building area.
Explain the objective: Build the tallest pyramid starting with just one cup on top.
Place the first cup on the table, and anyone in the group can add two cups beneath it to form the second row.
From this point, only the bottom row can be lifted to add the next row underneath.
Cups in the pyramid can only be touched or supported by index fingers.
If the structure falls, start over from one cup.
Offer more cups if a group uses all provided.
Allow 15 minutes for building.

Teamwork: Collaborate to construct the pyramid.

Communication: Discuss and execute the building strategy.

Creativity: Find innovative ways to build a tall, stable pyramid.

Clarify Expectations: Emphasize the definition of a pyramid with each row having one less cup.

Encourage Perseverance: Motivate groups to continue despite challenges.

Promote Consensus: Encourage groups to work together and help each other.

Reflect on Failure: Use collapses as a metaphor for overcoming obstacles and improving.

Consider Competitions: Modify the activity for competitive teams and scoring.

#13: Stranded

Helps With: Decision-making, Prioritization, Teamwork

Materials Needed: List of salvaged items, paper, pens

Present a scenario where teams are stranded and must prioritize items salvaged from a plane crash.
Provide teams with the same list of ~15 salvaged items.
Instruct teams to agree on an item ranking with #1 being the most important for survival.
Teams share and compare their prioritized lists. Identify differences in approach.
Discuss what factors influenced decisions and how teams worked together to agree on priorities.
Critical Thinking: Weighing item importance requires analytical thinking and discussion.
Team Decision-Making: Coming to a consensus fosters team decision-making capabilities.
Prioritization Skills: Ranking items strengthen prioritization and justification abilities.
Perspective-Taking: Understanding different prioritizations builds perspective-taking skills.
Team Cohesion: Collaborating toward a shared goal brings teams closer together.
Encourage Discussion: Urge teams to discuss all ideas rather than allow single members to dominate.
Be Engaged: Circulate to listen in on team discussions and pose thought-provoking questions.
Add Complexity: Introduce scenarios with additional constraints to expand critical thinking.
Highlight Disagreements: When priorities differ, facilitate constructive discussions on influencing factors.
Recognize Collaboration: Acknowledge teams that demonstrate exceptional teamwork and communication.

Now let’s look at some common types of problem-solving activities.

Types of Problem-Solving Activities

The most common types of problem-solving activities/exercises are:

Creative problem-solving activities
Group problem-solving activities
Individual problem-solving activities
Fun problem-solving activities, etc.

In the next segments, we’ll be discussing these types of problem-solving activities in detail. So, keep reading!

Creative Problem-Solving Activities

Creative problem solving (CPS) means using creativity to find new solutions. It involves thinking creatively at first and then evaluating ideas later. For example, think of it like brainstorming fun game ideas, discussing them, and then picking the best one to play.

Some of the most common creative problem-solving activities include:

Legoman: Building creative structures with LEGO.
Escape: Solving puzzles to escape a room.
Frostbite: Finding solutions in challenging situations.
Minefield: Navigating a field of obstacles.

Group Problem-Solving Activities

Group problem-solving activities are challenges that make teams work together to solve puzzles or overcome obstacles. They enhance teamwork and critical thinking.

For instance, think of a puzzle-solving game where a group must find hidden clues to escape a locked room.

Here are the most common group problem-solving activities you can try in groups:

A Shrinking Vessel
Marshmallow Spaghetti Tower
Cardboard Boat Building Challenge
Clue Murder Mystery
Escape Room: Jewel Heist
Escape Room: Virtual Team Building
Scavenger Hunt
Dumbest Idea First

Individual Problem-Solving Activities

As the name suggests, individual problem-solving activities are the tasks that you need to play alone to boost your critical thinking ability. They help you solve problems and stay calm while facing challenges in real life. Like puzzles, they make your brain sharper. Imagine it’s like training your brain muscles to handle tricky situations.

Here are some of the most common individual problem-solving activities:

Puzzles (jigsaw, crossword, sudoku, etc.)
Brain teasers
Logic problems
Optical illusions
“Escape room” style games

Fun Problem-Solving Activities

Fun problem-solving activities are enjoyable games that sharpen your critical thinking skills while having a blast. Think of activities like the Legoman challenge, escape rooms, or rolling dice games – they make problem-solving exciting and engaging!

And to be frank, all of the mentioned problem-solving activities are fun if you know how to play and enjoy them as all of them are game-like activities.

Team Problems You Can Address Through Problem Solving Activities

Fun problem-solving activities serve as dynamic tools to address a range of challenges that teams often encounter. These engaging activities foster an environment of collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking, enabling teams to tackle various problems head-on. Here are some common team problems that can be effectively addressed through these activities:

Communication Breakdowns:

Activities like “Escape,” “A Shrinking Vessel,” and “Human Knots” emphasize the importance of clear and effective communication. They require teams to work together, exchange ideas, and devise strategies to accomplish a shared goal. By engaging in these activities, team members learn to communicate more efficiently, enhancing overall team communication in real-world situations.

Lack of Trust and Cohesion:

Problem-solving activities promote trust and cohesiveness within teams. For instance, “Frostbite” and “Marshmallow Spaghetti Tower” require teams to collaborate closely, trust each other’s ideas, and rely on each member’s strengths. These activities build a sense of unity and trust, which can translate into improved teamwork and collaboration.

Innovative Thinking:

“Dumbest Idea First” and “Egg Drop” encourage teams to think outside the box and explore unconventional solutions. These activities challenge teams to be creative and innovative in their problem-solving approaches, fostering a culture of thinking beyond traditional boundaries when faced with complex issues.

Decision-Making Challenges:

Activities like “Onethread” facilitate group decision-making by providing a platform for open discussions and collaborative choices. Problem-solving activities require teams to make decisions collectively, teaching them to weigh options, consider different viewpoints, and arrive at informed conclusions—a skill that is transferable to real-world decision-making scenarios.

Leadership and Role Clarification:

Activities such as “Frostbite” and “Egg Drop” designate team leaders and roles within groups. This provides an opportunity for team members to practice leadership, delegation, and role-specific tasks. By experiencing leadership dynamics in a controlled setting, teams can improve their leadership skills and better understand their roles in actual projects.

Problem-Solving Strategies:

All of the problem-solving activities involve the application of different strategies. Teams learn to analyze problems, break them down into manageable components, and develop systematic approaches for resolution. These strategies can be adapted to real-world challenges, enabling teams to approach complex issues with confidence.

Team Morale and Engagement:

Participating in engaging and enjoyable activities boosts team morale and engagement. These activities provide a break from routine tasks, energize team members, and create a positive and fun atmosphere. Elevated team morale can lead to increased motivation and productivity.

By incorporating these fun problem-solving activities, teams can address a variety of challenges, foster skill development, and build a more cohesive and effective working environment. As teams learn to collaborate, communicate, innovate, and make decisions collectively, they are better equipped to overcome obstacles and achieve shared goals.

The Benefits of Problem Solving Activities for Your Team

#1 Better Thinking

Problem-solving activities bring out the best in team members by encouraging them to contribute their unique ideas. This stimulates better thinking as team managers evaluate different solutions and choose the most suitable ones.

For example, a remote team struggling with communication benefited from quick thinking and the sharing of ideas, leading to the adoption of various communication modes for improved collaboration.

#2 Better Risk Handling

Team building problem solving activities condition individuals to handle risks more effectively. By engaging in challenging situations and finding solutions, team members develop the ability to respond better to stressful circumstances.

#3 Better Communication

Regular communication among team members is crucial for efficient problem-solving. Engaging in problem-solving activities fosters cooperation and communication within the team, resulting in better understanding and collaboration. Using tools like OneThread can further enhance team communication and accountability.

#4 Improved Productivity Output

When teams work cohesively, overall productivity improves, leading to enhanced profit margins for the company or organization. Involving managers and team members in problem-solving activities can positively impact the company’s growth and profitability.

How Onethread Enhances the Effect of Problem Solving Activities

Problem-solving activities within teams thrive on collaborative efforts and shared perspectives. Onethread emerges as a potent facilitator, enabling teams to collectively tackle challenges and harness diverse viewpoints with precision. Here’s a comprehensive view of how Onethread amplifies team collaboration in problem-solving initiatives:

Open Channels for Discussion:

Onethread’s real-time messaging feature serves as a dedicated hub for open and seamless discussions. Teams can engage in brainstorming sessions, share insightful observations, and propose innovative solutions within a flexible environment. Asynchronous communication empowers members to contribute their insights at their convenience, fostering comprehensive problem analysis with ample deliberation.

Centralized Sharing of Resources:

Effective problem-solving often hinges on access to pertinent resources. Onethread’s document sharing functionality ensures that critical information, references, and research findings are centralized and readily accessible. This eradicates the need for cumbersome email attachments and enables team members to collaborate with precise and up-to-date data.

Efficient Task Allocation and Monitoring:

Problem-solving journeys comprise a series of tasks and actions. Onethread’s task management capability streamlines the delegation of specific responsibilities to team members. Assign tasks related to research, data analysis, or solution implementation and monitor progress in real time. This cultivates a sense of accountability and guarantees comprehensive coverage of every facet of the problem-solving process.

Facilitated Collaborative Decision-Making: Navigating intricate problems often demands collective decision-making. Onethread’s collaborative ecosystem empowers teams to deliberate over potential solutions, assess pros and cons, and make well-informed choices. Transparent discussions ensure that decisions are comprehensively comprehended and supported by the entire team.

Seamless Documentation and Insights Sharing:

As the problem-solving journey unfolds, the accumulation of insights and conclusions becomes pivotal. Onethread’s collaborative document editing feature empowers teams to document their discoveries, chronicle the steps undertaken, and showcase successful solutions. This shared repository of documentation serves as a valuable resource for future reference and continuous learning.

With Onethread orchestrating the backdrop, team collaboration during problem-solving activities transforms into a harmonious fusion of insights, ideas, and actionable steps.

What are the 5 problem-solving skills?

The top 5 problem-solving skills in 2023 are critical thinking, creativity, emotional intelligence, adaptability, and data literacy. Most employers seek these skills in their workforce.

What are the steps of problem-solving?

Problem-solving steps are as follows: 1. Define the problem clearly. 2. Analyze the issue in detail. 3. Generate potential solutions. 4. Evaluate these options. 5. Choose the best solution. 6. Put the chosen solution into action. 7. Measure the outcomes to assess effectiveness and improvements made. These sequential steps assist in efficient and effective problem resolution.

How do you teach problem-solving skills?

Teaching problem-solving involves modelling effective methods within a context, helping students grasp the problem, dedicating ample time, asking guiding questions, and giving suggestions. Connect errors to misconceptions to enhance understanding, fostering a straightforward approach to building problem-solving skills.

So here is all about “activities for problem solving”.No matter which activity you choose, engaging in problem-solving activities not only provides entertainment but also helps enhance cognitive abilities such as critical thinking, decision making, and creativity. So why not make problem solving a regular part of your routine?

Take some time each day or week to engage in these activities and watch as your problem-solving skills grow stronger. Plus, it’s an enjoyable way to pass the time and challenge yourself mentally.

So go ahead, grab a puzzle or gather some friends for a game night – get ready to have fun while sharpening your problem-solving skills!

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33 virtual team building games (free and easy to use!)

Being remotely distributed doesn’t mean your team should be disconnected. It often falls to a facilitator or team leader to help virtual teams stay aligned and connected. Virtual team building games and online activities you can play on Zoom are a great place to start!

In this list of completely free online team building games, you can engage and excite your team with ease! We've picked our favourite team building games you can run online without a need for complex set-up or buying additional software.

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What are virtual team building games?

Trust, alignment and good communication are fundamental building blocks for a high performing team. But how can we create them? Team building games are a fun, effective way of bringing a team together in a shared activity designed to cultivate skills and build shared bonds. These can take the form of highly involved activities with some friendly competition, or they can also take the form of party games where team members are encouraged to just hang out and get to know each other better.

Team building is especially important in virtual environments, where remote teams can somethings feel isolated or disconnected. By coming together online for something other than a meeting, you can help build bonds and create memorable moments.

Fun virtual team building games

Most of the exercises and activities you’ll facilitate during an online session will have definitive goals and outcomes in mind when you run them, such as building particular skills or solving problems.

When designing workshops, remember that improving team connection is a viable and worthwhile outcome. Having fun and connecting with your teammates is a vital part of being a productive team member, and it’s worth remembering that there is value in having some enjoyable exercises with your team to de-stress, connect and get to know each other a little better.

Virtual Scavenger Hunt

Working towards shared goals and demonstrating team values in the course of an exercise is great practice for tackling complex business projects – if you can have fun while doing so, even better! The Virtual Scavenger Hunt is a great team activity for Zoom and an online whiteboard – encouraging teams to be creative, gently competitive and work together to get the best possible result. Start by creating a list of items to be found online. You can see an example in the method below. Then, split your team up into groups to go and find those items and collect them in the allotted time. Bonus points for encouraging the use of different tools, forms and media, and to allow teams to be creative in finding the items for the online scavenger hunt. We’ve found that having a debrief section and also creating a list that is almost undoable in the allocated time frame helps keep the stakes high and ask that a team prioritizes and communicates effectively. It’s also fun to see what different groups came up with at the end!

Virtual scavenger hunt #energiser #teambuilding #remote-friendly A fun team-building energiser that encourages groups to recreate the scavenger hunt experience in a fully remote environment!

Story Around the Circle

Human beings are naturally born storytellers. With this online energizer, you’ll take some time to connect with one another through telling a shared story and be encouraged to have fun while improvising too!

The organiser starts with a line like “Once upon a time, in a land far away, 5 people got together to solve all the world’s problems. Everything seemed easy, until one day, one of the people saw on the horizon…” and invites the next person in the group to continue the story and add the next line. This keeps going until everyone’s contributed to the story.

When it comes to recording the story – do so either in Google Docs or in your online whiteboard tool. If someone wants to draw images to go with the story, that’s great too! Remember that creative team activities that encourage personal responses are absolutely worth adding into your toolbox!

If you want to keep participants on their toes, add rules like the lines have to rhyme in couplets, or have a word that people can’t use or must use. You could even choose who creates the next line, rather than going around in order. We love this exercise as it’s simple, engaging and can be easily amended to your needs.

Story Around the Circle #team #storytelling #teampedia #remote-friendly Creating a story together can be merely for fun, or it can help the team imagine its future or recall its past.

Sharing knowledge, experience and skills is something good teams do by default. Finding time to let your team share what they’re passionate about outside of a work context is also valuable when it comes to building a cohesive, connected team.

With Skillshare, you can invite members of your group to share a hobby, passion or skill with the rest of the team and teach them something. This can take the form of a practical session – a keen artist might take the team through a drawing exercise – or a person with an interest in jazz might talk about why they love the genre. You can go as big or as small as you want, though the key is to let your team lead the way and share a passion or skill that is close to them. Building team bonds through this kind of experiential exercise can really help bring a team together over distance.

Remote-friendly skills that are easy to teach over video chat are a bonus, though, with some creativity, you can share all kinds of skills online in a fun way – whether those skills include cooking, sculpting, writing, yoga or anything else!

Guess the Desk

A challenge all online teams face is the feeling of disconnection and distance from your group. Finding ways to feel connected to one another and build team bonds when working remotely should be a priority for managers of virtual teams.

Guess the Desk is a fun online team activity that can not only help teams get to know one another but share best practices for remote working too! In Guess the Desk, start by having each participant take a photo of their desk or remote working set-up and send it to the facilitator who then puts them into a shared whiteboard or Google Doc. Don’t tell anyone whose desk is whose!

During the first round select one member to be the Desk President: they cast the vote on whose desk is whose after a group discussion. After each round, the previous Desk President elects the next and the group moves on to guess the next desk. Here’s the fun part. If your desk is up it’s your job to convince everyone that it belongs to someone else: if the group votes incorrectly on your desk, you get a point! If you successfully guess the right desk while you are Desk President, you also get a point.

After all the desks have been guessed, debrief and point out any particularly good remote working set-ups and best practices you notice and want to share!

Guess the desk #remote-friendly #energiser #teambuilding An energiser game for remote teams where participants share images of their work set-up and attempt to guess opponents’ desks while bluffing their own!

Virtual Trivia

Every organization has a history filled with unique stories, in-jokes and memorable events. Creating a company quiz and inviting your team to see how well they know the organization can be a fun way of celebrating your history, what you’ve achieved and have some fun along the way!

A pub quiz format where one person asks questions that teams or individuals answer in a Google Doc, the text channel or in a Zoom session works great for energising and engaging your participants. Have a prize for the winning team and be creative with your questions to make your online office trivia sessions a release valve for your team and to create a relaxed, fun atmosphere.

When choosing the questions for your virtual trivia game, it can be useful to get input from different heads of department and have themed rounds. Pair with a virtual happy hour and a treat of your team’s choice to make this a memorable experience!

GIF challenge

Team members often have fun and idiosyncratic ways of communicating with each other, and finding ways to share your personality is an important factor when connecting with others. In an online environment, having fun and creative outlets that help your group communicate and get to know one another really helps build effective, happy teams.

For this remote team game, set-up an online whiteboard or shared Google Doc and post a phrase or statement that participants then have to search for a suitable GIF in response. It might be something as simple as, “That Monday morning feeling,” or “Good management looks like this.” You can have a couple of questions just for fun, then include some that invite people to creatively respond to organizational challenges and prepare them for the next exercises.

After each round, you can invite everyone to comment or vote on their favorites, and have additional rounds to crown a winner if you wish. One great way to use this exercise is by sprinkling several rounds of questions throughout the workshop to keep energy levels up and create some moments of fun and creativity as counterpoint to other exercises.

GIF challenge #energiser #fun #remote-friendly Create space in your agenda for a fun online energiser where participants are encouraged to find creative GIF-based responses to your questions.

Team Eurovision

Music is a universal language, and sharing music we love as a group can create some interesting conversations and facilitate team bonding – even the music we like is very different! In Team Eurovision, invite everyone in your group to select a song made by an artist from the country where they were born and add the song to a shared Spotify playlist. Want to make it more interesting? Have a rule where everyone’s song had to come out in the year 2000, or from the year they were born. Play the songs in a dedicated after work session (alcohol, treats or snacks encouraged!) and invite each team member to introduce each song and tell the team why they should vote for it. Collect the votes at the end and crown a winner!

You can use the Team Eurovision method as a standalone virtual team activity, or have the shared Spotify playlist playing in the background of a remote working session. Remember that the purpose of the exercise is to have fun and start conversations that can help your team get to know each other, so don’t worry if it falls apart!

Virtual Cribs

Remember MTV Cribs? In that TV show, celebrities invited a film crew into their homes and gave them a guided tour. In Virtual Cribs, you invite a volunteer from your team to give us a guided tour of their home over Zoom and share part of their lives with the group. Invite the other members of the group to ask questions and comment on what they love. Seeing how other people live and work in their remote set-ups can help virtual teams get to know one another and feel more connected.

Want to spice things up? Have your team find a place they love on Google Street View or a virtual museum tour and give the rest of the team a guided tour as if it was their home. This can be a fun way to explore new places virtually, while also encouraging your group to be creative. Visiting the National Gallery of Australia and trying to explain why you put a statue of a crocodile in your front room can make for a fun team activity!

Virtual Bingo

Even a regular team meeting can be made a little more fun with a game of virtual bingo. Start by distributing your bingo cards to everyone in the virtual meeting. We recommend customizing your own to make the items resonate with your company culture or to share (nice!) jokes with your co workers.

As you go through your meeting, ask participants to keep track and announce when they’ve filled their card! This is a great way to keep your team engaged throughout a virtual team building event, and you can even offer prizes to the winners too!

Virtual Bingo #team #skills #remote-friendly #group game A bingo game that is played throughout a live session using common virtual session occurrences.

Bad Movie Night

Watching movies as a group is always a great way to spend time together. With online services like Netflix, it can be easy to get your remote team to collectively watch a film together and de-stress with company. Watching any film out of hours with a virtual team can be a nice way to spend time together outside of work and feel connected, but how can we make this even more fun and include a competitive element?

In Bad Movie Night, have each member of your group suggest a “so bad it’s good” film and vote on which you should watch together. Cult films, old horror movies or schlocky B-movies are a great place to start! Your team will likely have some suggestions but if you need a hand, Rotten Tomatoes and Buzzfeed have some good examples. If in doubt, try The Room ! After you’ve watched the terrible/great film together, have everyone write a one sentence review of the film and post it anonymously into a shared document or whiteboard. Encourage everyone to be as savage, critical and creative as possible, then vote on whose review is the funniest!

In an office environment, it’s easy for team members to do nice things for one another in order to show their appreciation: you might get your colleague a coffee or a cake they love, or help out with a tough piece of work. For remote teams, making these kinds of gestures is difficult and while it’s not a necessary part of having an effective team, taking the time to show your colleagues you appreciate them is a lovely way of saying thank you!

With Gift Chain, invite your online team to send a small, personal gift to a team member in appreciation. You can use a secret Santa like system to pull names out of a hat, or have each person choose someone they’d like to say thank you to once they received a gift to keep the chain going. Set a small price limit or alternatively, have each gift be a handwritten letter that is sent in the post. It can feel really special to receive a thoughtful gift or letter from a colleague and it’s a great way of bringing positivity and appreciation to remote teams during difficult periods.

Breakout Room Tag

Recreating a sense of fun and possibility for remote employees is tough. This virtual team building game is a fun and easy way to bring the high-energy of a game of tag to your online meeting.

Start by setting up Zoom breakout rooms and giving participants the option to move between them. Next, invite someone to be “it”. That person needs to enter a breakout room, count to ten and then say someone’s name to make them “it”. Randomly assign the entire team to breakouts and then let the fun begin!

We particularly like this online game for teaching remote team members how to use your video call software while also energizing the group! Try running a few rounds of Freeze Tag too, where people must hold a pose until someone else sings happy birthday to unfreeze them, if you want to up the ante.

Break-out Room Tag #large group #virtual #zoom #remote-friendly #energizer #high energy #ericamarxcoaching Everyone plays tag, using breakout rooms in Zoom

Team Gallery

Whether you’re an expert photographer, proud parent or amateur snapper, most of us regularly take photographs on our phones. In Team Gallery, set a weekly photograph prompt and invite your team to take a photograph and anonymously submit it into a shared online whiteboard. You might ask your team to take a photograph of some natural beauty or an image to go with a phrase like, “How I spent my summer vacation” or “This is me in a nutshell.” Your prompts or questions can be fun, creative, or ridiculous but should encourage everyone to respond creatively!

As a facilitator, you can make it into a competition where everyone votes on their favorite image or caption, or have your gallery be a place to share and connect asynchronously. Whatever you go with, ensure the photographs stay up and are collected and shared. Think of all the great stories and images you’ll have after a few months of running this activity! It can be a lovely shared resource for new team members getting to know everyone and is a great way to connect and engage with one another outside of a work context.

The Exciting Sponge Game

In this improv game, team members each have a minute to find a random object in their space and return to their desk. The more humdrum or ordinary the object, the better!

Next, invite everyone to spend another minute brainstorming an idea for a story that elevates that ordinary object (a sponge, for example!) into an exciting one. Finally, invite your group to take turns telling an improvised story featuring the object for sixty seconds on zoom.

This team building game is an opportunity for your group to be creative, share something personal and create memorable moments on the spot! Bonus points for taking screenshots of each person with their exciting sponge and adding it to your Mural or company handbook!

Virtual team building games to get to know each other

Online meetings can take time to get comfortable with, particularly for teams who are just transitioning to remote working. Communicating with colleagues in an online environment can be challenging because of the lack of physical cues, non-verbal communication and all the potential distractions one might have when working from home or in a remote office. And just like any skill, it needs practice. Breaking the ice and getting people comfortable with interacting with each other is a vital part of any effective working session. This is particularly important if you have a new or freshly formed team to deal where people don’t yet know each other as much.

One of the first barriers many people face in online meetings is speaking up – by starting with an inclusive online team games, you can get everyone over this hurdle right at the beginning. Furthermore, helping your team get to know one another and become comfortable working together virtually helps lay the foundation for deeper team development exercises. Let’s take a look at some of our favourites!

Break the Ice with The Four Quadrants Activity

The Four Quadrants activity is a creative, visual exercise that is a great way to help your group get to know each other and encourage personal responses. You can use this with any four questions that will help a virtual team align, get to know one another, or outline challenges or working opportunities. It’s super flexible and works with teams of any makeup.

In an online environment, this exercise works well using an online whiteboard like Mural or Miro to collect responses and have people participate in real time. You can use digital drawing tools or invite participants to draw on paper and upload photos to the shared whiteboard.

Break the Ice with The Four Quadrants Activity #team #icebreaker #get-to-know #teambuilding The Four Quadrants is a tried and true team building activity to break the ice with a group or team. It is EASY to prep for and set up. It can be MODIFIED to work with any group and/or topic (just change the questions). It is FUN, COLORFUL and works every time!

Happiness Exercise

Sharing personal experiences and generating positivity can help groups bond and improve team relationships. The Happiness Exercise is a great, remote-friendly team activity to build trust and help people share honestly and openly.

Start by asking members of the group to share an occasion when they were happy. Join in yourself to give your team the idea! Once everyone has spoken, ask everyone to give an example of a time they made someone else happy. Choosing just one can be a challenge, but you’ll be surprised at how much you can learn and share with these very simple prompts. If you’re using an online whiteboard or collecting notes in a shared document, it’s fun to collect these experiences for later reflection and sharing!

Happiness exercise #teambuilding #icebreaker #warm up #remote-friendly This exercise is a simple application of the principles of Appreciative Inquiry.

Icebreaker: The Group Map

Many great remote team activities were born in live workshops with large numbers of people and big open spaces. Translating some of those activities into an online workshop can be tricky, though it’s no reason not to do them! With a little creativity and the right tools, many existing exercises can be reworked for remote environments successfully.

The group map is a fun virtual icebreaker for Mural, Miro or any other online whiteboard. By creating a virtual space with either an imaginary or virtual map where participants can position themselves and add images, you can foster an environment of sharing and reflection that can be fun to interact in too! Encouraging participants to be creative can also lead to great shared resources and team boards to reflect on and share later!

Icebreaker: The Group Map #get-to-know #icebreaker #remote-friendly Ask people to place themselves on an imaginary map laid out in the room representing the country according to where they grew up. Ask them to share one internal value they got from that place, and why is that important for them. Encourage people to share a short story if they want

Three Wishes

Simplicity is your friend when it comes to remote team building. Facilitating structured conversations around concepts people are familiar with can make the virtual team building process a little easier and help drive quick results. Three Wishes is a flexible virtual icebreaker that can work well in a video conferencing tool like Zoom or Google Meet, or can be expanded to use images and GIFs in an online whiteboard tool. We recommend adjusting this activity based on the flow of your session: if your agenda is discussion heavy, encourage participants to share their three wishes in the forms of images, memes, songs, or GIFS. The opportunity to do a little solo-work before sharing can be a welcome change and as with any online icebreaker, the opportunity for humour helps too!

Three wishes #get-to-know #icebreaker #remote-friendly The activity serves as a brief energiser during a workshop, and helps to get creativity flowing. At the end of this method, each team member will be a little more familiar with each other.

Magic Box is a great team workshop activity but with a collection of images and some creativity, it can be an ideal icebreaker for Mural or team workshops using an online whiteboard. In the live version of Magic Box, the facilitator brings a collection of items to the workshop and invites participants to choose an object. In turn, each member of the team then gets to explain who they are, why they’ve chosen the object, and also talk about the connection between the topic of the workshop and the object.

In an online setting, you get to go one step further and include items, concepts or even people that you could not possibly fit in a real box. You might ask participants to choose someone to join the team from a group of world leaders or fictional characters. You might include pictures of objects that are directly related to the workshop or your company. Whatever you choose, ensure you include a mix that allows for varying personal tastes and gives people the chance to express themselves.

Magic Box #team #icebreaker #get-to-know #teambuilding #remote-friendly Ice breaking at the beginning of the workshop/meeting

Snapshot of my life

We all know that one aspect of effective virtual team building is giving your group the opportunity to get to know each other as individuals and form personal connections. Trust, team awareness and good working practices are almost always better with people we really know. Snapshot of my life asks participants to bring an image to the team workshop that says something about their life and upload it into an online whiteboard or shared workspace. It might be a great memory, something that is important to them or a dream they have. Sharing these kinds of personal experiences with your online team can help sow the seeds for your online team building session and can help people feel seen and heard by sharing what they find most appropriate. You can also do this exercise asynchronously and invite participants or team members to continue adding to the board after the meeting! Team games and exercises that are flexible and malleable are great methods to add to your toolbox.

A snapshot of my life #remote-friendly #energiser #teambuilding This exercise is great for building empathy amongst team members, and giving each participant a deeper understanding of their colleagues’ backgrounds (particularly great for international or remote teams). It’ll also set a casual atmosphere for the workshop ahead.

Starting your video call with an exercise that builds trust and helps your group get to know each other is a wonderful way to build team morale. In this game, ask everyone in the virtual meeting to cover their cameras and then invite one person to make a statement that is true of them. Everyone that the statement is also true of then shows themselves, gives a way and then covers their camera.

Go around the group so everyone has a chance to share their voice and have a quick moment with some of their colleagues. Follow this online team building game with breakout rooms to help people get to know each other even better!

True of Me #virtual #group exercises #connection #zoom #remote-friendly #trust #energizer #ericamarxcoaching #opening #psychological safety #group game #large group Everyone covers their camera and one person makes a statement that is true about themselves. If it is true for others on the call, they show their face to the camera as well. The initiation for the next prompt is passed to another person in the group.

Virtual dance party

You don’t need a dancefloor to have fun with your team, do you? This is a quick game designed to get people moving, lower inhibitions and let people show their personality – all without leaving Zoom!

In Dance, Dance, Dance, ask participants to create some space so they can move around. Next, put on a playlist of popular songs and kick-off with a dance that everyone else in the team has to follow. Change songs every so often and give everyone in the group a chance to be the leader. Bonus points if your video conferencing platform allows a gallery view so you can all see each other and follow accordingly!

Dance, Dance, Dance #hyperisland #energiser #remote-friendly In this short and physically active energizer, participants dance playfully in small teams. Periodically, the music changes and members take turns leading the dance. The aim is to generate fun energy and playfulness in a group, often as a counter-balance to more “serious” group work.

Virtual team building activities to improve collaboration

Great teams make it a habit to reflect on projects, group processes and how they work together as a team. Unstructured discussions on subjects like working processes or team dynamics can escalate in the wrong direction if not properly framed and facilitated.

Using team games, exercises or activities to facilitate the team reflection process can help ensure your team moves forward productively. In an online environment, taking the opportunity to reflect as a group is imperative to building bonds and improving the awareness of each member of the team.

Strength Building Exercise

The members of a team will invariably get to know one another as a by-product of working together, but is this enough to build the kinds of bonds and relationships that can make a successful remote team? Dedicated time to encourage participants to share, reflect and celebrate success should be a part of your virtual team workshop.

With the Strength Building Exercise, you’ll encourage positivity, mutual appreciation and respect among your team and help build a productive team culture. This method is great for boosting positive energy and creating space for your virtual team to celebrate one another and build a confident, self aware group. Many of the best remote team activities have benefits that extend beyond the workshop and this exercise is up there with the best of them!

Strength Building exercise #team #appreciation #self esteem #remote-friendly People develop confidence and self esteem as they discover that their achievements and skills are valuable. This is an exercise for team building and for increasing self esteem and mutual trust.

9 Dimensions

Even the best groups and online teams will face challenges. Discussing and resolving those challenges and reflecting on how the group is performing can take many forms though it’s important to create spaces where all opinions are heard, and dominant voices are tempered with those of less vocal group members.

The 9 Dimensions Team Building Activity is a great, remote-friendly approach to structuring a team discussion. Begin by distributing or having your team create a 3 x 3 grid with nine areas for discussion. Invite each team member to fill in the grid with a colour based on their feelings about that area. They might feel that an area needs improvement and add a red dot, or use a green dot to show they think the team is nailing that area.

The facilitator then asks the team to share some of their results before focusing on what areas of improvement the team is aligned on and where perspectives differ. This approach allows people to contribute as they feel able and keeps the process running smoothly.

9 Dimensions Team Building Activity #icebreaker #teambuilding #team #remote-friendly 9 Dimensions is a powerful activity designed to build relationships and trust among team members. There are 2 variations of this icebreaker. The first version is for teams who want to get to know each other better. The second version is for teams who want to explore how they are working together as a team.

Trust Battery

Trust is one of the foundations of a healthy, effective team. Creating a team culture where everyone feels seen, heard and valued while also able to reflect on their interpersonal relationships should be a priority.

With Trust Battery, you invite your team to reflect on their relationships with one another, be open and grow together. In an online environment where face time is limited, checking in and encouraging honest, constructive reflection is essential for healthy teams. While it can be useful to think of your team as a single organism, it’s important to remember that any group is composed of individuals, all of whom have complex and differing interpersonal relationships.

Using an exercise like Trust Battery can help bring areas to improve to the fore and allow you to work on them as a team in a structured, thoughtful manner; creating a stronger, more open team as a result. Bonus!

Trust Battery #leadership #teamwork #team #remote-friendly This self-assessment activity allows you and your team members to reflect on the ‘trust battery’ they individually have towards each person on the team, and encourages focus on actions that can charge the depleted trust batteries.

Leadership Coat of Arms

Ask two members of your team what makes a good team and you’ll likely get two answers that are as different as they are the same. Using a remote-friendly exercise like Leadership Coat of Arms is a great way to encourage a creative exploration of the subject that also creates room for different ideas. Why can’t we do the same thing for teamwork? In this creative virtual team exercise, participants are asked to draw their own coat of arms symbolising the most important elements of their teamwork philosophy. The coat of arms drawings are then debriefed and discussed together with the group. What items are consistent for the whole team and what stands out? Being asked to condense complex ideas into a simple visual format can be refreshing and also creates a gallery that can be shared and ideated upon in the future!

Your Leadership Coat of Arms #leadership #leadership development #skills #remote-friendly #values In this leadership development activity, participants are asked to draw their own coat of arms symbolising the most important elements of their leadership philosophy. The coat of arms drawings are then debriefed and discussed together with the group. After the exercise you may prepare a coat of arms gallery, exhibiting the leadership approach and philosophy of group members

Team Self-Assessment

All teams develop a default way of working together over time. Most of these working practices are dictated by necessity (online meetings for remote teams, for example) or organically as people work together on projects. While this approach can work in the short term, a deliberate and considered assessment of team working methods can help your team be more effective and happy. The Team self assessment method from Hyper Island is a team activity which asks your group to think of their team as a system with interlocking parts, much like the model of a computer’s Operating System. By thinking of your team in this new way and assessing it thoroughly, new things can come to light and your team can then make the necessary changes. This method also encourages your team to take ownership over creating this change – which is a great way of helping team members feel connected, valued and a part of the process.

Team Self-Assessment #team #hyperisland #remote-friendly This is a structured process designed for teams to explore the way they work together. The tight structure supports team members to be open and honest in their assessment. After reflecting as individuals, the team builds a collective map which can serve as the basis for further discussions and actions. The assessment is based around 6 dimensions. Each one encouraging the team to reflect and analyse a different and crucial element of their behaviour.

Virtual team building games for communication

Anyone working in a team knows how important communication is: when it’s good, your team works like clockwork and you feel like you can achieve anything; when it’s bad, tasks take twice as long, things get missed and people get frustrated.

Virtual teams whose primary method of communication might be Slack or email especially need to consider how they communicate and work together. Some things which may come across easily with verbal communication might not be clear in text, and when working together online, good standards of communication are important to keep things moving effectively.

Proper and transparent documentation, kick-off meetings and retrospectives are only one part of the puzzle. Combine these with experiential learning and remote-friendly communication exercises in order to get real results. Team communication activities like the below are great for helping virtual team members think about how they might better communicate. Let’s dig in!

Blind Drawing

Whatever the organisation, teams invariably have members with different skill sets and knowledge bases. One of the challenges of team communication comes when one team member tries to explain an unfamiliar concept to another team member. If teams aren’t great at communicating, this process can be frustrating for both parties. In Blind drawing, one person has to describe an object while another has to accurately draw it from this description alone. The rule is that the person describing the object cannot say anything which clearly gives away what the object is or is closely related. For example, if describing a tree, you might say, “It’s a tall cylinder with lightning coming out of each end, one set of lightning spreading out into the air, the other going into the ground. It has rough, weathered skin, and at the ends of each fork of lightning there are hundreds of children that grow until they’re ready to fall.” It’s a fun exercise to see how people interpret abstract instructions, but it also shows how what might be obvious to one person is not obvious to another, and underlines the need for clear, effective communication.

Blind Drawing #teambuilding #communication #creative thinking #remote-friendly Test your communication and interpretation skills with Blind Drawing!

Humans are storytellers by nature. Sharing stories of where we’ve come from, what’s happened to us and how we feel about the world is part of being alive, and by tapping into this instinct, you can enable perspectives to come to the surface and encourage meaningful exchanges that can help your team grow together.

Begin by creating a word cluster in a shared online space as triggers for the session. These might include company specific words, or more general terms like: partnership, venture, first day, work travel, fun project, opportunity, and so forth.

Invite your participants to look over the collected notes and have a volunteer take one of those words and move it to the campfire space and share a connected work story. This works most effectively in an online whiteboard where you can clearly delineate the working areas.

Continue to share stories connected to words from the wall or the previous participant’s story until everyone has shared a work-related story. Sharing experiences in this way can help teams feel connected, communicate their perspectives and practice sharing work related thoughts in a positive, considered manner.

Campfire #gamestorming #team #remote-friendly #storytelling Campfire leverages our natural storytelling tendencies by giving players a format and a space in which to share work stories—of trial and error, failure and success, competition, diplomacy, and teamwork. Campfire is useful not only because it acts as an informal training game, but also because it reveals commonalities in employee perception and experience.

Team of Two

Regardless of the size of an organisation, most business communication actually takes place as an exchange between two people: a manager asks for something from an individual, or a customer support agent liaises with a customer, for example. While teams might be composed of many people, it’s vital to remember that each of those people is an individual and those individuals all have different working relationships with one another.

Team of Two is a focused team communication activity designed to help two individuals work better together and ensure they each are contributing to the process. This one works great in Zoom breakout rooms or private sessions though it’s worth noting that this activity might also benefit from a moderator.

While this technique is highly effective, it’s not suitable for all situations, particularly if communication has broken down completely. Attentive team managers will want to deploy this exercise when challenges arise and to help teams move past communication issues.

Team of Two #communication #active listening #issue analysis #conflict resolution #issue resolution #remote-friendly #team Much of the business of an organisation takes place between pairs of people. These interactions can be positive and developing or frustrating and destructive. You can improve them using simple methods, providing people are willing to listen to each other. “Team of two” will work between secretaries and managers, managers and directors, consultants and clients or engineers working on a job together. It will even work between life partners.

Feedback: Start, Stop, Continue

Giving regular, thoughtful feedback is one of the most important ingredients in building meaningful relationships and ensuring teams can communicate effectively. While team members might give feedback on an ongoing and ad-hoc basis, creating a space for a structured online feedback exercise can help a group give more thoughtful feedback in a constructive way.

The Start, Stop, Continue exercise encourages groups to reflect on group dynamics from three angles and create actionable steps to improve communication in their remote team. By having these guiding principles, you can ensure the feedback given is constructive and that the session is productive: a must for any online team workshop!

Feedback: Start, Stop, Continue #hyperisland #skills #feedback #remote-friendly Regular, effective feedback is one of the most important ingredients in building constructive relationships and thriving teams. Openness creates trust and trust creates more openness. Feedback exercises aim to support groups to build trust and openness and for individuals to gain self-awareness and insight. Feedback exercises should always be conducted with thoughtfulness and high awareness of group dynamics. This is an exercise for groups or teams that have worked together for some time and are familiar with giving and receiving feedback. It uses the words “stop”, “start” and “continue” to guide the feedback messages.

Seven Words

When online team communication isn’t working or has broken down, it’s often because of miscommunication or differing interpretations of an email or message. Considering how we use words and how they can be interpreted can really help improve interpersonal communication and make us more efficient, considerate communicators.

In Seven Words, begin with a seven word sentence and ask your group to list some possible interpretations – it can be really interesting to see all the different ways even a simple sentence can be interpreted depending on the individual receiving it! Moving into pair work afterwards means that each participant gets to see how their sentences are interpreted in action. For distributed teams who might primarily communicate over email or on Slack, this kind of focused reflection on team communication can lead to meaningful improvements very quickly!

Seven Words #thiagi #communication #skills #remote-friendly Ever heard the cliché, “It’s not what you say, but how you say it”? The Seven Words jolt dramatically demonstrates this principle. You demonstrate how the meaning of a sentence changes as you emphasize different words. Later, you invite pairs of participants to explore this concept.

Powerpoint Karaoke

Presenting a slide deck is a fairly common aspect of office life, but what about presenting a powerpoint you’ve never seen before?

Start by creating a Powerpoint deck of random slides, images, words – try and get other team members involved where you can! Next, invite a player to be the first to share a slide and try to “sell” or “explain” whatever appears on the slide. This virtual game can be so much fun, while also helping remote workers get more comfortable with presenting material online.

Powerpoint Karaoke #improv game #communication #presentation skills #skills #remote-friendly Powerpoint Karaoke is an improv game where volunteers take turns presenting slide decks that they’ve never seen before, in front of a live audience.

As the world changes and more teams turn to remote work and distributed workforces, the need for thoughtful approaches to virtual team building rises. It’s not enough to hope for the best – find time and space to develop your team and find better ways of working together in this new online environment. Not only will your team be happier and more productive, but you’ll find new ways of working and feeling connected.

We hope the above exercises give you plenty of food for thought and lots of ways to bring your remote team together for fun and productive team activities online. Have a virtual team exercise or game that’s worked well with your team or want to see more? Get in touch in the comments below. We’d love to hear from you!

Great post!

Having attended a few online icebreakers recently and not being inspired by them, I decided to go away and create my own :-)

https://www.ThinkLinks.cards

Hopefully it will be helpful to some.

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63 Fun Team Building Activities for Virtual Groups

Engagement & Interactivity
Published: October 28, 2023

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Let our crew of creative tech wizards cast an online engagement spell to mesmerize your audiences into a virtual frenzy!

For remote teams, out of sight should not mean out of mind.

While distributed workforces have the flexibility of working from anywhere, the lack of in-person interactions can easily lead to feelings of disconnection and isolation.

Nurturing strong relationships and alignment is even more crucial when teammates are dispersed across locations.

That’s where intentional team building comes in.

Just like muscles, teams need regular exercise too! Thoughtful team building activities for remote groups are the “reps” that develop cooperative “muscles” and skills.

Virtual games and experiences build the relational bonds, communication comfort and collaborative momentum distributed teams need to perform at their peak.

With in-office water cooler chats and impromptu collaboration no longer part of remote work realities, making time for meaningful team connection takes commitment.

But virtual teams willing to invest in relationship-focused activities will reap rewards in engagement, innovation and productivity.

This guide will highlight the most fun, effective team building activities tailored for the remote environment.

We’ll cover interactive games and experiences that build trust, spark creativity, enhance problem-solving, and most importantly, bring teams closer together across the miles.

Say goodbye to silos and isolation. Hello to highly-connected, high-performing virtual teams!

Why Team Building Matters for Virtual Teams

Team building is crucial for all teams, but it’s especially important for groups that work remotely.

Without trust, communication falters and teamwork suffers.

Developing trust digitally can be challenging for remote groups.

Targeted exercises focused on building trust create meaningful shared experiences and connections.

Here are 9 top virtual team building activities to strengthen trust.

1. Superlatives Awards

Create silly awards or superlatives for team members such as “Most Likely to Win a Gold Medal” or “Best Virtual Background.”

Employees let their guard down and learn it’s okay not to take ourselves too seriously.

Laughter builds trust!

2. Blind Drawing

Pair up teammates and have one person describe a simple image while the other draws it without being able to see the original picture.

Teammates build communication and trust.

3. Virtual Coffee Trios

Assign groups of three to virtual coffee meetings to chat and find common ground.

Hearing different perspectives builds understanding. Sharing stories fosters trust between employees.

4. Online Mindfulness Retreats

Schedule regular virtual meditation or mindfulness sessions as a team.

Shared inner reflection strengthens bonds and trusting relationships.

5. Remote Movie Nights

Create connection through shared experiences by streaming a movie together virtually using Teleparty or Netflix Party.

Add a video chat feature for employees to react together in real time.

6. Remote Personality Tests

Personality tests like Myers-Briggs or Enneagram offer insight into work styles and motivations.

Teams build understanding and trust across personality types.

7. Biography Sharing

Have team members create and share short biographies about their lives to provide insight beyond work.

Getting to know people on a personal level goes a long way in developing trusting relationships.

8. Remote Potlucks

Replicate the communal feeling of potlucks online by sharing recipes and delivering food delivery gift cards.

Employees can cook the same dish in their remote kitchens then hop on a video call to eat together.

9. Collaborative Art Projects

Express creativity and emotions through collaborative art.

A team mosaic of individual drawings pieced together or a digital graffiti wall where remote workers take turns creates a shared innovative experience.

Form unique connections between remote teams through artistic expression.

Integrating virtual activities that tap into emotions, promote openness and strengthen connections makes it possible to cultivate trust, even remotely.

Fun Team Building Games to Engage Remote Teams

Games add light-hearted competition, laughter and a sense of community to team building.

A woman is playing virtual bingo using a tablet to engage in team building activities with virtual groups.

Playing together online creates positive shared experiences and memories that bring remote groups closer together.

Here are 8 lively team games perfect for virtual teams:

1. Scavenger Hunt Bingo

Create bingo cards filled with tasks like “Find something purple” or “Show a childhood stuffed animal.”

Break into virtual teams and have groups race to find items that complete rows on their card and yell “Bingo!”

Bingo encourages communication and creativity.

2. The Price is Right

Put a virtual spin on the classic TV game show by having employees guess prices for various items pulled from online retail sites.

Award points for the closest bid without going over!

To up the stakes, offer a fun prize for the winner like a gift card or extra time off.

3. Show & Tell Scavenger Hunt

Assign employees to hunt their homes for quirky items, like a coffee mug they never use or an old concert t-shirt.

Regroup online to “show and tell” their finds and hear the backstories.

Regroup online to “show and tell” their finds and hear the backstories. Sparks casual connections.

4. Would You Rather?

Have teammates go around a video call answering silly “would you rather” questions like, “Would you rather always say everything on your mind or never speak again?”

It’s a fun way to start engaging conversations.

5. Guess the Meme

Share different meme images. Employees work in teams to guess the meme titles quickly.

See who earns the top score in this fast-paced and fun online game!

6. In My Bag

Each employee pulls five random items from their bag or desk and displays them on camera.

Colleagues have two minutes to guess what’s in their coworker’s unique mix of items.

Learn about the people behind the screens.

7. Song Lyrics Game

Divide your team into groups and have them take turns acting out or drawing song lyrics while others guess the tune.

Make it harder by only using obscure songs or number one hits from a certain year.

8. Remote Codenames

In this spy-themed word game , teams compete to identify their words first according to one-word clues from their “spymaster.”

Play over video conferencing using the online version of Codenames.

Laughter is the best medicine for remote worker woes.

Infusing playfulness through online games makes team building more rewarding and helps instill a positive team culture.

9. Mystery Sound Contest

Gather odd objects from around your homes, set up calls on mute and take turns making mysterious sounds.

See who can guess the object first or come closest to replicating the weird sound.

Who knew workplace collaboration could sound so bizarre!

Problem Solving Focused Team Building Activities

Sharpening critical thinking, creativity and problem-solving competencies as a team has multiple benefits.

A woman in a green sweater is participating in team building activities with a virtual group on her computer screen.

Build communication and collaboration skills while nurturing innovation.

Team building activities centered around creative problem-solving are especially valuable for remote employees who tackle challenges independently.

Here are 6 great problem-based team building activities:

1. Survival Scenarios

Present teams with fictional survival scenarios like being stranded on a deserted island and have them collaboratively brainstorm solutions.

Build strategic planning abilities.

2. Design Challenges

Give teams an inventive design challenge like creating a new team mascot or reimagining the company logo.

Have groups brainstorm in virtual breakout rooms before presenting creative concepts for a vote.

3. Hackathons

Host online hackathon events where employees rapidly prototype solutions for company challenges like improving virtual onboarding or easing pandemic work burdens.

Working against the clock catalyzes resourcefulness.

4. GeoGuessr Competitions

The online game GeoGuessr lets teams view Google Street View images and guess which location they depict based on visual clues.

It’s an engaging test of collective logic and problem-solving across teams.

5. Cross-Department Team Ups

Form teams mixing up employees from different departments and challenge these cross-functional groups to solve real-world business problems relevant to each area of expertise.

6. Unexpected Challenges

Present employees with an unexpected challenge like building the tallest tower using simple materials they have on hand or creating a team commercial with no notice.

They’ll need to use logic, imagination and group coordination to succeed.

Challenging teams builds unity, collaboration skills and the confidence needed to tackle future obstacles.

Infusing problem-solving elements into team activities also keeps skills sharp and sets up remote teams for ongoing innovation success.

Team Building Games Using Video Conferencing

While in-person interactions are ideal, video calls still allow for meaningful connections during team building through thoughtful games and activities for the virtual environment.

Leverage built-in features on platforms like Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams to facilitate engaging online experiences.

Here are 3 impactful team building games perfectly suited for video conferencing:

1. 20 Questions

One person thinks of a celebrity or place and teams take turns asking yes/no questions to guess who or what it is.

Watching expressions and reactions on video provides helpful clues!

2. Story Time

Go around your video meeting with each person adding the next line of an evolving story.

Take turns sharing something you spy around you and see who can guess the object first.

Get creative in facilitating games that leverage video to help remote teams connect face-to-face.

The technology bridges the physical gap between distant teammates.

Unique Virtual Team Building Activities and Games

While there are tried-and-true staples that work, mixing up virtual team building with creative activities keeps it exciting.

A woman in an apron is making a drink during a virtual mixology class

Here are 7 unique ideas to build camaraderie across remote teams:

1. Cocktail-making Class

Have a mixologist teach your team to make the same signature cocktail over a fun video call class.

Bottoms up!

2. Paint Night

Hire an art instructor to lead a virtual acrylic painting lesson for your team to flex their creative chops together.

3. Remote Karaoke

Belt out classics together with Zoom’s musical sound effects or an online karaoke room from Magical.

4. Pet Show & Tell

Have everyone show off their cute pets on video and share fun facts about their furry friends.

5. Digital Board Game Night

Coordinate playing games like Settlers of Catan online together. Much more social than solo play!

6. Lip Sync Battle

Vote on lip syncing winners as employees perform hit songs and epic dance moves from their remote locations.

7. Cocktail Trivia Night

Infusing unique, outside-the-box activities keeps virtual team building fresh, fun and engaging for remote teams. Besides building camaraderie, it boosts morale and motivation too!

Infusing unique, outside-the-box activities keeps virtual team building fresh, fun and engaging for remote teams.

Besides building camaraderie, it boosts morale and motivation too!

Effective Tips for Facilitating Virtual Team Building

Facilitating engaging online team building takes thoughtful planning and preparation tailored to the virtual environment.

Here are tips for running successful virtual activities:

Set clear objectives. Determine desired outcomes, like enhancing trust or creativity, so you pick activities aligned to goals. Share objectives so employees understand the purpose.

Think variety. Rotate different types of activities to keep things interesting and involve different strengths.

Leverage tech tools. Use online whiteboards, games, polls and breakout rooms to facilitate immersive experiences.

Offer learning opportunities. Choose team building that imparts new knowledge or skills along with teamwork lessons.

Make participation voluntary. Encourage involvement while allowing employees to opt-out if uncomfortable.

Keep groups small. Break into smaller teams to gives everyone a chance to actively participate.

Have quick icebreakers handy. Be ready with 5 minute icebreaker games to kick things off and warm up the team.

Consider fun themes or props. Tie activities to holidays, pop culture or let employees show off fun costume pieces or items.

Incorporate healthy competition. Friendly contests motivate engagement – just avoid overly competitive activities.

Plan digital backups. Have alternate online versions of games ready in case of video call glitches.

Review logistics in advance. Ensure employees have all required links, materials or digital access ahead of time.

Offer incentives. Give rewards like gift cards to boost involvement and recognize winners.

Close with a quick debrief. Discuss key takeaways or lessons learned from activities while they’re fresh.

Proactively troubleshooting tech issues and laying out clear expectations for employees will ensure online team building runs smoothly from start to finish.

Benefits of Virtual Team Building Exercises

Consistency is key – the more regularly teams engage in intentional team building, the greater the benefits.

So what are the top advantages of prioritizing team building virtually?

Stronger Connections. Shared experiences and conversations forge profound interpersonal bonds and friendships, even remotely.
Improved Communication . Practicing communication builds trust, clarity and comfort collaborating online.
Increased Engagement. Fun activities break up routines and improve the morale and motivation of remote workers.
Enhanced Creativity. Collaborative problem-solving and games spark new ideas that translate to daily work.
Deeper Trust. Vulnerability-based exercises develop the mutual trust vital for high-performing teams.
Better Conflict Resolution. Resolving challenges together builds understanding and strengthens relationships long-term.
Improved Collaboration. Teamwork activities enhance collaboration skills essential for productivity.
Problem-Solving Agility. Working through games and scenarios together builds critical thinking and strategy.
More Cohesion. Aligning around shared goals and experiences creates tighter team cohesion.
Leadership Development. Taking turns leading fosters leadership skills across the team.
Increased Inclusion. Playful interactions break down walls between colleagues of different backgrounds.
Added Structure. Virtual activities counter isolation and give a welcome shape to remote workers’ days.
Reduced Burnout. Fun team experiences provide a necessary mental break from constant solo work.

Investing in frequent virtual team building yields significant dividends through more connected, creative and higher-performing remote teams.

The collective growth far outweighs the minor time commitment needed.

Important Takeaways

The extensive guide presented 63 thoughtful ideas to foster stronger connections, improved communication, enhanced creativity, deeper trust, sharper problem-solving, and greater alignment among virtual teams across these areas:

Icebreakers – Quick connections help new and existing teams warm up to each other. Creative activities break the ice.
Communication – The more teams practice clear communication, the better they’ll collaborate in work. Games build skills.
Collaboration – Shared problem-solving and creativity forges team cohesion and interdependence.
Trust – Vulnerability-based activities develop deep mutual trust required for peak team performance.
Problem-solving – Games build critical thinking and strategy skills that translate to business results.
Fun & Games – Playful competition and humor boosts morale, motivation, and camaraderie in remote teams.
Unique activities – Out-of-the-box virtual experiences excite and galvanize team spirit.

While every organization’s needs differ, some key takeaways rise to the top:

Relationships Are the Foundation

All exceptional teams share deep interpersonal bonds and trust among members.

Virtual teams are no exception – in many ways, intentional relationship-building is even more critical when working across distances.

Activities focused on vulnerable sharing, finding commonalities and even just socializing for fun lay the groundwork for high performance.

Consistency Matters

Team building can’t be a one-time event if leaders want lasting returns.

Integrating short but regular team connection activities into existing meetings pays dividends through stronger camaraderie.

Even quick icebreakers or games to warm up teams build familiarity.

Savvy leaders make relationship-strengthening a non-negotiable component of routine interactions.

Variety Boosts Engagement

While covering core competencies, smart leaders continually introduce novel activities into virtual team building.

Creative games, outside-the-box challenges and unique bonding experiences counter boredom.

This variety sustains interest, energy and participation in team events over time.

Custom-Fit Beats One-Size-Fits-All

No two teams share the exact same dynamics or needs.

Rather than force-fitting a generic option, custom-tailoring activities around a team’s unique objectives, strengths and challenges boosts relevance and engagement.

Teams feel valued when experiences directly apply to real work.

Technology Enables Connections

Virtual need not equate impersonal.

Thoughtful incorporation of collaborative technology tools facilitates meaningful shared experiences across distributed groups.

Whether co-creating art on digital whiteboards, playing multiplayer online games or engaging friendly competition through virtual breakout spaces, common digital ground brings consistency.

Intentional Bonding Builds the Foundation

In today’s remote paradigm, organizations unwilling to nurture interpersonal ties across distances risk disengagement or fragmentation.

However, leaders investing thoughtfully in virtual team building ultimately gain back exponentially in camaraderie, innovation, productivity and performance.

Integrating even quick virtual team building activities into weekly team huddles or meetings pays noticeable dividends.

Reserved employees may need encouragement to open up. Consider incentives for participation.

Invest in virtual team development just as you would for an in-person team.

Disparate teams will perform at their highest level through trusted relationships.

Remote work is here to stay.

Embracing online tools for intentional team building creates cohesive, thriving teams across distances.

With stronger connections, communication, and problem-solving skills, your distributed team will be unstoppable.

Distributed workforces demand connection.

Intentional team building is the catalyst that transforms fragmented groups into unified powerhouse teams.

Yet designing immersive virtual activities requires expertise.

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23 Problem-solving games for busy work teams

Problem solving is a skill that can serve almost anyone, in any role, in any industry. The ability to think critically, and resolve issues is a welcome talent that is helpful for every organization. How can you encourage such thinking in your team? In this article, we are talking about our favorite problem-solving games, activities, and exercises for work. Use these activities to sharpen the reasoning and decision-making skills of your department or your entire company. Without further ado, let’s dive into the best problem solving games for getting the most of your next work event.

In-person problem solving games

If you have the opportunity to get your team together in person, that’s a gift! Perhaps you are planning a company retreat or a department-wide in-person meeting. Whatever the circumstances, in today’s more digital workspace, it’s not always easy to have everyone in the same room. When you actually do, make the most of it! These activities are set up for in-person groups. They are part team-building activity, part icebreaker, and all fun! All of these activities are guaranteed to get people thinking, communicating, and having fun. If you have a particularly big group, you may want to browse our article on large group games too.

1. Treasure hunt

Similar to a scavenger hunt, a treasure hunt is a lot of fun but with a bit more intention. Rather than collecting a random list of items, participants use clues to find more prompts and hints, until the group solves a mystery (or finds a treasure). You can also create a treasure map if you want to play into the “pirate” fantasy a little more. The important thing is that only clues point toward the next stop - areas of the map should not be spelled out, but involve some problem solving and critical thinking to figure out what the clue means.

2. Story challenge

For the language lovers on your team, try this version of an ongoing story icebreaker. To play, each person receives a number of words (a word bank) that they can use to create a story. Then, everyone reads their piece out loud or presents it to the group. To come up with the words available for each person, you can use a random word generator online, or get creative. For example, consider instructing participants that they can only use words from the company website, or from the emails they received in their inbox yesterday.

3. Moral dilemma

Similar to a “ would you rather ” game, this activity centers on ethical dilemmas. Players should try to flex their moral problem-solving muscles by tackling a social issue. For example, Scruples is a popular board game that can be played. Or, you can look online for versions of games like Dilemma or Quandary. This is a great way to learn more about your colleagues while getting a peek at the way they think.

4. Build a shelter

How would you survive if you were stranded in an isolated place with a blizzard coming? Use this activity to find out! As an added complication, you can pretend that everyone is blinded by frostbite (by using blindfolds). The team leader must give the group instructions for building a shelter that can withstand the arctic winds. To play, you need a large space and some supplies. Then, select a leader (who can see) and blindfold everyone else. You’ll also need a large fan. The leader guides everyone in putting together their shelter (remember, while blindfolded). When everyone feels confident that their shelter is up to the test, turn on the fan and see if the structure can withstand the wind! This game is sure to lead to a lot of laughs and you’ll be surprised at some of the clever ideas that people come up with. This is also a powerful exercise for effective leadership - it’s not easy to reach a goal with a group that is blindfolded! Check out our article on team activities especially for leadership as well.

5. Improv games

You may think of improv games as more of an icebreaker activity, but the truth is there is a lot of brain power that goes into well-done improv. Look for ways to add both logic and entertainment to your next improv effort. Consider scenarios like banned words, where people cannot use a certain list of words, or “miracle cure”, where one person shares a problem they’re having and the other person must come up with the solution on the spot. Both are fun and easy ideas that don’t require anything but willing participants! If you need some other quick and easy team building activities , make sure to follow our blog.

6. Spaghetti tower

In this classic team building game, users try to build a tower using uncooked pasta noodles and marshmallows. The instructions are simple: use the tools at your disposal to design and build the tallest tower in order to win the challenge. You can judge on height alone, or weigh other factors like innovation, number of towers, or stability. For more simple team building activities , make sure to follow our blog.

7. What would you do?

Another classic icebreaker, this game involves coming up with some scenarios that require brain power to address. Here are some prompts you can use with your group:

What would you do if you were at the zoo and all the animals escaped?
What would you do if you were the first person to find out about an upcoming zombie apocalypse?
What would you do if you were in line for a really important item, and a person cut in front of you, getting the last item?
What would you do if you were invited for dinner at the home of someone you really needed to impress, and the food was terrible?
What would you do if an imposter that looks and acts just like you infiltrated your organization? How can you convince everyone that you’re the “real” you?

8. “MacGyver” challenge

MacGyver is an older television program where the hero escaped sticky situations by improvising tools made of unlikely materials. You can recreate this set-up in your event space or office. To play, challenge participants to use 3-5 items to reach a desired end result. For example, something like “a way to pick the door lock” or “escape vehicle” are fun options. You can either set out some various equipment, or have people collect their own based on what they can find around the office. Note: if you are doing this in a conference room or other rented space, it makes sense to have a table set up with random odds and ends for people to pick from.

9. Egg drop challenge

This one will take you back to high school physics class! Break a larger group into smaller teams and challenge them to come up with a container that will protect an egg even when it’s dropped from up high. You can either let people know far enough in advance that they can discuss, design, and collect materials; or you can have supplies ready and have everyone build their creation on the spot. If you go that route, you’ll want to provide a variety of boxes, packing supplies, rubber bands, fabric, etc. Then set up a ladder and have each team drop their container and see if their egg remained intact.

10. Shrinking circle

Adaptability and flexibility are huge in the business world. One way to focus on both of those items is by playing this simple and silly game. Start out by using a rope to create a large circle that everyone can fit in. Then, every few minutes, make the circle a bit smaller. Depending on how large the circle is in the first place, you can take away an inch or a foot each round. The challenge is for everyone present to stay inside the circle. This will require some serious innovation once the circle gets small, and lots of laughs almost always ensue. Note: People are likely to end up touching each other in this exercise. It’s difficult not to once the space gets small, like a game of Twister. You know your colleagues best - if that level of closeness would make anyone uncomfortable, it’s probably best to try a different exercise.

Out-of-the-office problem-solving activities

Everyone once in a while, it can be really valuable to get out of your usual work environment and into a new mental space. If your team is planning a multi-day retreat, don’t be afraid to include an organized activity that will help everyone to think more critically. Most towns have at least one option for getting your group together and learning some new ways to problem solve. Do some research on what you have available locally, or work with an organization like Surf Office who can plan your next retreat - including the fun elements that your employees will be talking about for months to come! If you know that you can’t get out of the office right now, stick to this list of indoor team building activities .

11. Escape room

The goal of an escape room is to follow a series of clues and take on some challenges in order to unlock the space that everyone is locked in. There are usually 5 - 10 puzzles that teams will work together to figure out. Typically finishing one leads to another clue, so that participants can move onto the next phase. Only when they’ve successfully completed all of the tasks can they find the key and escape. While you can definitely set up an escape room on your own, we think it’s worth finding a local version in your town (or wherever your retreat is taking place). These are professionally set up and usually in really cool spaces like an underground bunker or a historic building. An escape room is a good excuse to get out of the office and spend time with coworkers in a new environment.

12. Murder mystery

These story-based games have people take on a role in a pretend scenario. They may take on a role like detective, dinner guest, or even killer in their dinner. Most of the time the games involve reading lines from a script, searching for clues, or even solving some simple challenges to move onto the next phase. Participants have to pay attention to conversations and context clues in order to get an understanding of who the killer might be. Observation and logic are key to catching the killer. Some murder mysteries involve getting dressed up and having a nice dinner, so if you’re looking for an idea for a big night out capping off your next retreat, this is perfect.

13. Ax throwing

What do axes have to do with problem solving? You might be surprised. This is definitely an activity you’ll want to go to a professional venue for. Ax throwing outfits have everything you need, plus the right safety precautions. They have everything set up with the proper distances, buffers between throwing stations, safe ax materials, etc. Plus, many of them offer food and drinks! Ax throwing can help with problem solving because most people don’t excel at it their first time. It takes some practice and careful consideration to figure out where to stand, the best stance, the force of the throw, etc. As you take turns, you’ll make adjustments and also consider new methods based on observing your teammates. The more you watch and the more you try, the better you’ll get. In fact, instead of having people compete against each other, we suggest having the team compete against themselves, aiming for a higher total score in their second or third consecutive game. This activity allows you to observe others and then optimize - essentially learning from each other.

14. Paper boat race

If you are able to visit a location by water, you can try this really fun activity. In this fun and creative exercise, participants build a small boat with paper (and other supplies) and then race them in a small body of water like a pond or stream. The boats are usually made by folding paper into a boat shape, but you can also try offering cardboard, balloons, popsicle sticks, or other crafty materials. You’ll also want to supply materials for decorating so that everyone can really have their creation stand out. Obviously the person who reaches the finish line first is the winner, but you can offer a few other prizes just for fun, like most beautiful boat or best effort. Make sure to check out our article on other creativity and innovation games , too.

Problem-solving puzzles

When it’s just not possible to get everyone together, you can still encourage your team to put on their thinking caps and hone their skills. There are tons of critical thinking games, puzzles , and even apps that people can use to practice problem solving. You can encourage your team members to play these games in their spare time, or even set up a competition where people log minutes playing such games or using the apps. If you’re feeling really generous, give everyone a small stiped to be used on a problem solving app of their choice. This special touch makes a nice addition to a holiday gift, too!

Sudoku has become one of the most popular problem solving games for adults. There are dozens of free app options, as well as paperback books that you can pick up. The goal of this game is to fill each box on a 9×9 grid so that every row, column, and letter contains each number from one to nine. It sounds tricky - and it is - but players tend to find it addicting and the game has grown a huge following in recent years. Encourage people to play on their own by downloading an app or purchasing a puzzle book, or as a team by having the puzzles available in your office or at your next event.

16. Crossword puzzles

These classic word games have players fill out words based on clues. Words interconnect, and people must think critically about the context clues of what they’ve filled out so far. These puzzles are super versatile and one of the best things about them is that you can make them yourself so they are themed. You can use an online crossword puzzle maker to create a custom puzzle with clues about your business or other relevant subjects. For your next event, it might be fun to have a custom crossword puzzle about your company history or trivia!

17. Tic-tac-toe tournament

It sounds a little silly, but tic-tac-toe requires more brain power than one might think. Set up an ongoing tic-tac-toe board in your office and encourage people to use it on their breaks or when they have a few minutes to kill. You can set up a scoreboard and keep track of the leader; it’s a lot of fun to see the rankings change and to challenge the top performers. If you need an even simpler version of the same concept, simply set up the Connect Four game board in your break room and let people have at it!

Problem-solving for virtual teams

If your team is a bit scattered, it doesn’t mean that you can’t practice solving challenges together. In our digital world, there are plenty of options for online activities that teams can work on either independently or as a group. In the section above, we shared some ideas for independent work. These ideas are designed to bring your team together, no matter where they are. Set a time and have everyone hop onto your preferred communication tool, and then work together tackling these challenges.

18. Virtual hackathon

A hackathon normally refers to an event where participants have a set amount of time to design and pitch a new product or solution. It’s normally used in the tech space for pitching things like new apps, but you can apply the concept in lots of other ways too. In this online version, teams work with each other using virtual meeting software and pitch ideas to a panel of judges. This type of event requires some advance notice for the participants, as they’ll want to collect a team and come up with some designs. If you want to raise the stakes, offer a prize for first place.

19. Online escape room

Just like an in-person escape room, in an online version people must solve a variety of puzzles in order to make it “out”. Digital escape rooms normally come in one of two ways: in a Zoom “room” led by a host, or in a choose-your-own-adventure style via Google Forms or other websites. To play virtually, staff will enter the meeting and follow the prompts they get, and it might involve screen sharing some Google tools to work on puzzles together. Because of the platforms and tools that may be involved, this activity is better for teams who are a bit more tech-savvy and comfortable with online meetings, apps, etc.

20. Survival plans

Prioritizing is an important mental exercise. You can work on this with a game about survival. Have everyone imagine they are stranded on a desert island, and they must decide the correct order to perform life-saving steps in. Have this list handy, and ask everyone to pair off or get in small groups and number the list according to the best likelihood of survival:

Set up shelter
Look around the island
Signal for help
Create weapons for self-defense
Build a raft for water
Start a fire
Select a group leader
Find other survivors
Anything else you think of!

The catch is that everyone must agree on the order of events! That will typically involve discussion and coming to some sort of consensus. Once everyone is done with the exercise, have them present to the larger group and explain their reasoning. This exercise is good for team-building, communication, and problem resolution. Plus, you will be better prepared if you ever get stuck on a deserted island!

21. Online role-playing games (like Dungeons and Dragons)

Seeing how people react in real-world situations is a really interesting way to get to know them better. Find an online game that has real-world actions and consequences, like Dungeons and Dragons. Or, you can make things even simpler by hopping on a Zoom together and reading a Choose Your Own Adventure book aloud, with the reader getting group consensus before making a decision. The important part is the discussion that will occur before choosing the next action. This is helpful for bonding and also helps you to see how your colleagues tick. These activities can be difficult to organize for big groups, so if you have a substantial team, try some of these team building activities for large groups instead.

22. Google Docs story

Similar to an ongoing story icebreaker, this game is easy to do online as people have time. You start by creating a Google Doc that everyone on the team has access to. Then, have people go into the Doc and add to the story that’s developing. If you want, you can pick a prompt to kick things off - or you can just let the first person get creative and go for it! The more specific or bizarre the scenario, the more creative and clever people will have to get to add their portion.

23. Model UN

Chances are you might be familiar with this concept from high school. Fortunately, adults can have a lot of fun with it too. You can play this virtually as long as everyone is a strong communicator. Each participant should take on the role of an international diplomat, and work together to form alliances and solve crises. Come up with a potential scenario that the UN must work through. Consider things like a global food shortage, natural disaster, or cyber-security threats. If your group is particularly large, you can have multiple people assigned to a country and they will have separate roles. If politics is a sensitive topic on your team, you might want to tweak this exercise to be focused on a business and treat participants like board members - or even a musical group!

Set the tone of your next company retreat

These problem solving games and activities are great virtually any time - there is something for everyone, whether you’re remote or in person, on a large team or a small one. One of the best ways to implement a problem solving exercise is at the beginning of a team retreat. If you have organized a large meeting or team building event, consider getting things started with such an activity. Many of these problem solving games will get everyone thinking and make people more comfortable, plus a lot of them also serve as a form of icebreaker.

The next time you plan a work retreat , consider including a few of these on the agenda to set the tone for a fun, energizing event. Need help ensuring that your retreat is, in fact, fun and energizing?

Let Surf Office help ! We can help with organizing your next team retreat or all-company meeting so that you can focus on the fun.

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Team Building Exercises – Problem Solving and Decision Making

Fun ways to turn problems into opportunities.

By the Mind Tools Content Team

Whether there's a complex project looming or your team members just want to get better at dealing with day-to-day issues, your people can achieve much more when they solve problems and make decisions together.

By developing their problem-solving skills, you can improve their ability to get to the bottom of complex situations. And by refining their decision-making skills, you can help them work together maturely, use different thinking styles, and commit collectively to decisions.

In this article, we'll look at three team-building exercises that you can use to improve problem solving and decision making in a new or established team.

Exercises to Build Decision-Making and Problem-Solving Skills

Use the following exercises to help your team members solve problems and make decisions together more effectively.

Exercise 1: Lost at Sea*

In this activity, participants must pretend that they've been shipwrecked and are stranded in a lifeboat. Each team has a box of matches, and a number of items that they've salvaged from the sinking ship. Members must agree which items are most important for their survival.

Download and print our team-building exercises worksheet to help you with this exercise.

This activity builds problem-solving skills as team members analyze information, negotiate and cooperate with one another. It also encourages them to listen and to think about the way they make decisions.

What You'll Need

Up to five people in each group.
A large, private room.
A "lost at sea" ranking chart for each team member. This should comprise six columns. The first simply lists each item (see below). The second is empty so that each team member can rank the items. The third is for group rankings. The fourth is for the "correct" rankings, which are revealed at the end of the exercise. And the fifth and sixth are for the team to enter the difference between their individual and correct score, and the team and correct rankings, respectively.
The items to be ranked are: a mosquito net, a can of petrol, a water container, a shaving mirror, a sextant, emergency rations, a sea chart, a floating seat or cushion, a rope, some chocolate bars, a waterproof sheet, a fishing rod, shark repellent, a bottle of rum, and a VHF radio. These can be listed in the ranking chart or displayed on a whiteboard, or both.
The experience can be made more fun by having some lost-at-sea props in the room.

Flexible, but normally between 25 and 40 minutes.

Instructions

Divide participants into their teams, and provide everyone with a ranking sheet.
Ask team members to take 10 minutes on their own to rank the items in order of importance. They should do this in the second column of their sheet.
Give the teams a further 10 minutes to confer and decide on their group rankings. Once agreed, they should list them in the third column of their sheets.
Ask each group to compare their individual rankings with their collective ones, and consider why any scores differ. Did anyone change their mind about their own rankings during the team discussions? How much were people influenced by the group conversation?
Now read out the "correct" order, collated by the experts at the US Coast Guard (from most to least important): - Shaving mirror. (One of your most powerful tools, because you can use it to signal your location by reflecting the sun.) - Can of petrol. (Again, potentially vital for signaling as petrol floats on water and can be lit by your matches.) - Water container. (Essential for collecting water to restore your lost fluids.) -Emergency rations. (Valuable for basic food intake.) - Plastic sheet. (Could be used for shelter, or to collect rainwater.) -Chocolate bars. (A handy food supply.) - Fishing rod. (Potentially useful, but there is no guarantee that you're able to catch fish. Could also feasibly double as a tent pole.) - Rope. (Handy for tying equipment together, but not necessarily vital for survival.) - Floating seat or cushion. (Useful as a life preserver.) - Shark repellent. (Potentially important when in the water.) - Bottle of rum. (Could be useful as an antiseptic for treating injuries, but will only dehydrate you if you drink it.) - Radio. (Chances are that you're out of range of any signal, anyway.) - Sea chart. (Worthless without navigational equipment.) - Mosquito net. (Assuming that you've been shipwrecked in the Atlantic, where there are no mosquitoes, this is pretty much useless.) - Sextant. (Impractical without relevant tables or a chronometer.)

Advice for the Facilitator

The ideal scenario is for teams to arrive at a consensus decision where everyone's opinion is heard. However, that doesn't always happen naturally: assertive people tend to get the most attention. Less forthright team members can often feel intimidated and don't always speak up, particularly when their ideas are different from the popular view. Where discussions are one-sided, draw quieter people in so that everyone is involved, but explain why you're doing this, so that people learn from it.

You can use the Stepladder Technique when team discussion is unbalanced. Here, ask each team member to think about the problem individually and, one at a time, introduce new ideas to an appointed group leader – without knowing what ideas have already been discussed. After the first two people present their ideas, they discuss them together. Then the leader adds a third person, who presents his or her ideas before hearing the previous input. This cycle of presentation and discussion continues until the whole team has had a chance to voice their opinions.

After everyone has finished the exercise, invite your teams to evaluate the process to draw out their experiences. For example, ask them what the main differences between individual, team and official rankings were, and why. This will provoke discussion about how teams arrive at decisions, which will make people think about the skills they must use in future team scenarios, such as listening , negotiating and decision-making skills, as well as creativity skills for thinking "outside the box."

A common issue that arises in team decision making is groupthink . This can happen when a group places a desire for mutual harmony above a desire to reach the right decision, which prevents people from fully exploring alternative solutions.

If there are frequent unanimous decisions in any of your exercises, groupthink may be an issue. Suggest that teams investigate new ways to encourage members to discuss their views, or to share them anonymously.

Exercise 2: The Great Egg Drop*

In this classic (though sometimes messy!) game, teams must work together to build a container to protect an egg, which is dropped from a height. Before the egg drop, groups must deliver presentations on their solutions, how they arrived at them, and why they believe they will succeed.

This fun game develops problem-solving and decision-making skills. Team members have to choose the best course of action through negotiation and creative thinking.

Ideally at least six people in each team.
Raw eggs – one for each group, plus some reserves in case of accidents!
Materials for creating the packaging, such as cardboard, tape, elastic bands, plastic bottles, plastic bags, straws, and scissors.
Aprons to protect clothes, paper towels for cleaning up, and paper table cloths, if necessary.
Somewhere – ideally outside – that you can drop the eggs from. (If there is nowhere appropriate, you could use a step ladder or equivalent.)
Around 15 to 30 minutes to create the packages.
Approximately 15 minutes to prepare a one-minute presentation.
Enough time for the presentations and feedback (this will depend on the number of teams).
Time to demonstrate the egg "flight."
Put people into teams, and ask each to build a package that can protect an egg dropped from a specified height (say, two-and-a-half meters) with the provided materials.
Each team must agree on a nominated speaker, or speakers, for their presentation.
Once all teams have presented, they must drop their eggs, assess whether the eggs have survived intact, and discuss what they have learned.

When teams are making their decisions, the more good options they consider, the more effective their final decision is likely to be. Encourage your groups to look at the situation from different angles, so that they make the best decision possible. If people are struggling, get them to brainstorm – this is probably the most popular method of generating ideas within a team.

Ask the teams to explore how they arrived at their decisions, to get them thinking about how to improve this process in the future. You can ask them questions such as:

Did the groups take a vote, or were members swayed by one dominant individual?
How did the teams decide to divide up responsibilities? Was it based on people's expertise or experience?
Did everyone do the job they volunteered for?
Was there a person who assumed the role of "leader"?
How did team members create and deliver the presentation, and was this an individual or group effort?

Exercise 3: Create Your Own*

In this exercise, teams must create their own, brand new, problem-solving activity.

This game encourages participants to think about the problem-solving process. It builds skills such as creativity, negotiation and decision making, as well as communication and time management. After the activity, teams should be better equipped to work together, and to think on their feet.

Ideally four or five people in each team.
Paper, pens and flip charts.

Around one hour.

As the participants arrive, you announce that, rather than spending an hour on a problem-solving team-building activity, they must design an original one of their own.
Divide participants into teams and tell them that they have to create a new problem-solving team-building activity that will work well in their organization. The activity must not be one that they have already participated in or heard of.
After an hour, each team must present their new activity to everyone else, and outline its key benefits.

There are four basic steps in problem solving : defining the problem, generating solutions, evaluating and selecting solutions, and implementing solutions. Help your team to think creatively at each stage by getting them to consider a wide range of options. If ideas run dry, introduce an alternative brainstorming technique, such as brainwriting . This allows your people to develop one others' ideas, while everyone has an equal chance to contribute.

After the presentations, encourage teams to discuss the different decision-making processes they followed. You might ask them how they communicated and managed their time . Another question could be about how they kept their discussion focused. And to round up, you might ask them whether they would have changed their approach after hearing the other teams' presentations.

Successful decision making and problem solving are at the heart of all effective teams. While teams are ultimately led by their managers, the most effective ones foster these skills at all levels.

The exercises in this article show how you can encourage teams to develop their creative thinking, leadership , and communication skills , while building group cooperation and consensus.

* Original source unknown. Please let us know if you know the original source.

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20 Non-Cheesy Five-Minute Virtual Team Building Activities (+ Bonuses)

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Key takeaways.

Team building in remote environments can be more challenging than in-person.
Remote workers are more prone to loneliness and disengagement.
Remote team building can be fast and fun with the right tools and approach.

Every remote manager knows how important it is to find the right team-building activities for their team, as remote team building comes with unique challenges. Remote teams are dispersed across locations and time zones, often lacking the casual interactions that unite teams who share a physical workspace. Moreover, remote teams may struggle more with loneliness and isolation, which puts team spirit and well-being in managers’ focus.

Many managers will schedule long team-building exercises and virtual happy hours to try and unite their teams. But these long meetings are often inconvenient because they get in the way of finishing work and require remote workers to meet outside of working hours. Also, most of them are painfully cheesy.

You don’t need to schedule full hour-long Zoom meetings for effective remote team bonding. The fun games and activities below can fit at the beginning or end of regular team meetings or even as ongoing Slack conversations.

Keep reading for 20 unique activities to help your team:

Break the ice
Bond and build trust
Enhance their problem-solving skills
Get their creative gears working
Boost morale
Increase engagement
Build a healthier work environment and company culture
and more...

Build connections on Slack

Spark conversations with a remote team with meeting roulettes, watercooler prompts, and interest groups, all in Slack.

The 3 resources all teams need to bond successfully

To organize successful virtual team-building activities, you only need three things.

You can't expect your employees to work for eight hours straight and then stick around for two more hours for a team bonding exercise. They are most likely tired, hungry, and their loved ones, who have been patient all day, require their attention. This is why you need to include them in your daily schedule.

2. Resources

While you can have an amazing team building activity for remote teams without spending a single dollar, you must provide them with the right tools. Platforms like Skype, Zoom, Slack, Google Meet, etc., can be very useful for video chats, and make sure you have good tools for messaging since you will definitely use that a lot. Try a couple of different ones to see which one works best, and then choose one and stick with it.

3. The right attitude

Nobody likes change, at first. Implementing something that requires your remote employees to talk, draw, or reveal personal details won’t necessarily be met with great enthusiasm. If you really want to achieve your desired results, you need to assign a dedicated person to encourage participation and help your coworkers relax and enjoy themselves.

Make sure you choose someone who is well-liked and knows most of the employees, so their message will get across more easily.

Virtual team-building activities for new teams

New teams can feel a bit awkward in the beginning. Ice-breaker games and group activities can help your team feel more comfortable from their very first team meeting.

Here are four quick team-building activities to get past the awkward phase of guess-who and start building the foundations of camaraderie in your team.

1. Hot Seat

Hot Seat is a great team-building activity to introduce an individual to the rest of the team. Get everyone on a video conference and ask specific questions about their background. Make sure the questions stay fun and light and that everyone is comfortable participating.

Some icebreaker questions to ask:

What was your favorite band growing up?
What’s on your bucket list?
What is the first vacation you remember?
What book would you bring to a desert island?
How did you feel when you landed your first job?
Is there any notable accomplishment you remember from middle school?

2. Seman Drawkcab

Seman Drawkcab (“Backward Names,” spelled backward) is a simple way for new remote employees to learn one another’s names. You can play the game, even with large groups of people, in 5-10 minutes.

The rules:

Every person pronounces their name backward, one by one
The group has to guess the real name of each person that has said their name backward

3. Two truths and a lie

Two truths and a lie is an excellent way to show off your team members’ creativity, sense of humor, and unique personal history. You can play this game with large groups but if your team exceeds 20 people, consider splitting into breakout rooms.

Ask each team member to write down two truths and one lie about themselves on a sheet of paper before the meeting
Make sure these facts are personal anecdotes rather than work-related facts
During the meeting, take each set of two truths and one lie and read it in front of the entire team
Ask each member of the team to guess which are facts and which are lies
The person who makes the most correct guesses wins the game

4. Dinner Party

Dinner Party is a quick trivia game that prompts new team members to reveal fun personality facts. You can limit the game to five minutes or play longer.

At the beginning of your meeting, ask each team member to name three people, living or dead, they would invite to a dinner party
Have them explain why, especially if it’s a unique choice

Virtual team-building activities to challenge problem-solving skills

The following team-building games will help your team get their problem-solving skills on point—just enough to “warm up” for the real business problems your team solves.

5. Word Association

Word Association is a fun team game that only takes 5-10 minutes, even with a large group. The goal is to stimulate your team’s creativity and show how everyone thinks differently.

Give your team a word and ask them to say (or write) the first thing that comes to mind
Continue associating based on the previous word
After a few rounds, compare responses to see each person’s association journey

6. Object Memory

Object Memory is a five-minute team-building activity that will train your team’s brains while teaching an important lesson about the power of teamwork and communication skills. Small teams can play the game in under five minutes. It may take longer for larger groups.

Write down 30 words on a virtual whiteboard and share your screen for 30 seconds with the team
Ask the team to write down as many words as they remember in 30 seconds
Split the team into small groups
Ask each group to work together to remember more words and pool together everything they find

7. Get Them to Draw It

Get Them to Draw It is a fun activity that only takes about 5-10 minutes. The game’s primary goal is to help everyone pay attention, challenge assumptions, and think outside the box.

You can play the game in large teams, but it works best in groups of fewer than five people.

Select one remote team member and secretly show them an image of overlapping triangles, circles, and squares drawn on a piece of paper
Ask the selected team member to get the rest of the team to replicate the drawing without mentioning its elements (circle, triangle, and square)
The team may struggle to perfectly replicate the image
In the end, point out that you never mentioned whether or not the describer can show the original drawing to the team during the game

8. Dog, Rice, and Chicken

Dog, Rice, and Chicken is a logic and problem-solving game you can play in Slack or over video calls. Regardless of the group size, it will only take 5-10 minutes.

The basic rule is simple: one of the team members is the Farmer, and the others are the Villagers. The Farmer has “a dog, rice, and chicken problem”, and the Villagers have to find a solution.

The Farmer’s problem:

The Farmer needs to get a dog, bag of rice, and chicken across the river to get home but can only carry one item at a time on the boat
If they leave the dog alone with the chicken, the dog will eat the chicken
If they leave the chicken alone with the rice, the chicken will eat the rice
How can the farmer safely get all three items on the other side of the river?

The solution:

First the farmer should carry the chicken, leaving the dog and the bag of rice behind
Next they should go back and carry and pick up the rice
Once the rice is safely on the across the river, they should carry the chicken back to the starting point
Then they should leave the chicken at the starting point and pick up the dog
Once the dog is across the river, with the bag of rice, the farmer will simply need to go back one last time to take the chicken across the river

If you enjoy Dog, Rice, and Chicken, check out this collection of similar riddles .

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Ongoing virtual team-building ideas.

Some team games can be played one time, but these games and activities can be a throughline for weeks, months, or even years.

9. Meeting Roulette

Meeting Roulette is a fun way to help your teammates get to know each other. The game is beneficial for full-remote and hybrid teams where people from different departments might not interact with each other much.

You can use Connections (by Deel) to automatically connect random teammates to introduce themselves and chat for a few minutes. You can set up Connections to run for as long as you want to, and it can also help onboard new teammates by introducing them to the rest of the group.

10. Articulate

Articulate takes five minutes for groups of 15 or fewer people. You can play it over several weeks, taking turns as the main character.

Give your main player a list of 10 words
Ask them to describe the words in front of the other team members
They cannot use the actual words you’ve given them, but they have to give the other members clues that indicate what the words actually are
If the main player manages to have the team guess one of the words, they move on to the second, third, etc.
Once all words have been guessed, select a new main player

For an additional level of challenge, have the main player describe the 10 words with charades instead of verbal clues.

11. The Slipper Dilemma

The Slipper Dilemma is one of our favorite 5-minute team meeting ideas. It can be played by 5-10 people, and it’s a fun way to incorporate the unique “work from home” vibe into your team games.

During any of your meetings throughout the workday, if someone in your team shouts “Slippers,” everyone has to move their camera to their feet, showing what they are wearing
Make sure people are aware of this activity before you kick off the game!

12. The Jukebox

The Jukebox is an excellent game for teams of all sizes. The facilitator creates a Spotify playlist each month, following a theme. They ask the team members to add a song to the playlist that fits the theme.

Some “Jukebox” theme ideas could include:

The first band I saw in concert in high school
The band I will always like listening to
One song that always energizes me
Summer vibes
Halloween jump scares

Create a playlist with a new theme every week or every two weeks to make this a recurrent team activity. Not sure where to start? Check out some of the playlists we like to listen to at Deel for inspiration.

Virtual team-building games for large groups

Larger groups and teams will require quicker and more simple games and activities if the goal is to keep them short and fun. Below is a selection of activities we find very effective for big teams.

13. Virtual scavenger hunts

Scavenger hunts energize a team, improve teamwork, and bring a bit of humor into your remote-working life. The good news is that you can play them as virtual activities too, and many versions are available—including five-minute ones.

Create a list of items people typically have around the house and give the whole team five minutes to find those items. Whoever finds them first wins the game.

14. Meme Chat

Meme Chat is another five-minute team-building activity people get a kick out of. Ask team members to find a meme representing the company, the day, or the project they are working on.

You can discuss the memes in meetings (allowing no more than five minutes for each description). Alternatively, ask everyone to post their memes in a Slack channel and have the rest of the company vote for the best one. It works with emojis too!

15. This or That

This or That helps people spark discussion and get to know each other better. You can play it with a group of any size, via video chat or in your preferred chat tool. Ask a “this or that” question every week and let people discuss their answers.

Set a time limit for all the chats or move them to a dedicated Slack channel where people can chip in whenever they have a few minutes.

Connections is a great tool to help you automate and schedule your questions!

Possible questions include:

Mountain or ocean?
Jazz or rock?
Comedy or action?
Breakfast or lunch?

16. International Holidays

One of the best things about remote teams is their diversity. Bring this diversity into your company culture by allowing people to share their culture and holidays.

Ask each team member to enter their country’s holidays in a spreadsheet and set up automated Slack messages a couple of days before every event to notify team members. During the next team meeting, ask the team member who added the holiday to share a quick overview of how they celebrate it back home.

Self-managed remote team-building activities

Some activities don’t need to be part of a meeting, conference call, or team-building event to effectively strengthen your team’s cohesion and engagement. Enabling employees to participate in their own activities and interact with their team members in the ways they see fit is an equally powerful tool for remote teams to bond.

While these activities aren’t strictly five-minute ones, they don’t need much time allocated either and can be easily adapted to fit any schedule.

17. Virtual book club

This is a rapport-building classic. Readers in your team can interact during virtual meetings, in their own Slack channel, or even asynchronously via email to suggest, discuss, review and discover books they love.

Similar interest groups can be started for any other topic, not just books. You might have musicians, gamers, amateur cooks, or arts and crafts experts in your organization. Give them a place to discuss what they love.

18. Virtual coffee

A lot of face-to-face bonding happens at the water cooler or by the coffee machine. You can maintain the benefits of these relaxed moments of interaction by having quick virtual coffee calls, where people from different teams or departments can have a chance to quickly get to know different members of the organization.

19. Online games

While gaming might not be for everyone, there are many online game options for all skill levels and preferences. From Pictionary to pool, to virtual escape rooms, to murder mysteries, to the latest viral success, online bonding options through gaming are truly limitless.

Letting employees wind down while playing something fun and interactive can be a great way to build connections and re-energize the team (and remember to have a company leaderboard!).

20. Show and Tell

Sometimes, simple ideas are the most effective, and this one is straight from primary school. Have a member of the team show and talk about something they are passionate about or interested in.

You can allocate just a few minutes per person, so the whole team gets a go, or ask one team member to present each week or month.

Bonus ideas to take your virtual team building to the next level

Virtual team building in Paris

Ever wished you could whisk your team off on an extravagant trip to Europe? Okay, who're we kidding - ever wished you could just treat yourself? Well, now you can and guilt-free.

Woyago Teams specializes in providing high-quality virtual team building experiences. And we're not talking about the kind of virtual reality where you put on a headset and flail your arms around an empty room. Woyago's team will take you on a guided tour of some of Europe's most iconic landmarks from the comfort of your office chair all while bringing your team closer together.

Guinness world record

Raise the stakes and go for fame on this unusual team building idea by challenging your team to a Guinness World Record. On our to-do list as a team, beat the current world record of fastest office at 87 mph.

Don’t forget a good virtual office party

While most of our suggestions here are about short and easy activities that can be sprinkled into daily video conferencing and meetings, don’t forget that a good virtual event can work wonders. From virtual trivia to karaoke and game show activities, it’s never a bad idea to dedicate an hour to a good party.

The Amazing Online Race

If you are working with a competitive bunch, this game will definitely be the right fit. The Amazing Online Race is one of the best virtual team building activities for inspiring collaborative and competitive spirit.

Split everyone into teams, and come up with a list of challenges they need to do. On a virtual whiteboard, track their success and the number of points they've achieved. Set a fixed number of challenges or a time period, so they know they don't have all the time in the world. Come up with a prize for the winning team. Teams race to complete online assignments such as "beat the high score in Pac Man" or "make and upload a lip-sync video to Total Eclipse of the Heart."

Throughout the day, you and your group members will check-in via video call to gauge each other's progress. The team that completes all challenges first wins!

Personal User Manuals

Have you ever thought to yourself - Oh, I wish these people knew how I like to work! Or wandered that about someone else, but you were too afraid to ask? Well, now you don't have to! The goal of this game is to get to know each other better, without the pressure of revealing too much or the fear of public speaking. Have everyone in your team create a personal user manual - what they like, prefer, and can't stand when working with others. Attach them all in a single file, and share them with the team. This will guarantee better cooperation and understanding.

It's always a great time to start a challenge!

Working with others can be highly beneficial because you can always count on support, advice, and friendship. And that can all be part of your team's culture even if you are working remotely. Start by coming up with a list of possible challenges - exercise, healthy lifestyle, vegan diet, books, number of taken steps, or water drunk throughout the day... Don't pressure anyone into participating, and let them join groups of their own volition. Track the progress in real-time and make sure that everyone who is struggling has enough support and encouragement.

Long-term remote team activities

But what if your company has always been remote, and the global shift to remote work didn't change anything in your way of working? Well, that is great since it probably means you have already tried most of the games we have offered so far. But no worries. We are ready to take you to the next level. Once you are done with the easier and less time-consuming activities, you can start implementing games and initiatives that require more time, energy, and participants.

We suggest looking into these ideas to get started.

Debate club

If you have a lot of strong-willed, opinionated people in your company, this is a great activity for you. Let everyone interested sign-up, come up with teams, and give them a topic to debate about. Assign moderators, judges, audience, get as many people involved as you can. This is a great way to promote constructive and argumentative thinking that can help any business. Make sure that you choose neutral topics so the discussion doesn't get too heated.

Virtual time capsule

Burying time capsules has been a tried-and-tested way to get communities, classes, and teams to bond and enjoy a shared activity. Just because your team is remote, that doesn't mean that you can't enjoy this as well! Have everyone contribute with a digital item - a picture, a letter, a video... Zip all the files and set up a password. Hide the file, so only one person has access to it. Set a time limit and let everyone get excited about it. Remind them occasionally about it, to keep the interest high and the conversation frequent.

Pen Pal Club

And while we are on the topic of letters, and long-forgotten traditions, have you ever been a part of a pen pal club? Modern times allow for new traditions, but that doesn't mean that the old ones should be forgotten! Simply adjust this long lost custom by paring up employees that don't really cooperate or have the need to work together. Give them instructions - send at least one email every week to your Pen Pal about anything you would like. There are no limitations nor mandatory length. It is important to get them to start writing. They will do the rest themselves!

Collaborative craft projects

If your team has been forced to work apart after spending countless days together in the office, then this is a great idea for you. Providing that you are able to use the local post office, assign them this task, and see their reaction. The idea is for the team to work on a single, physical project together. How? Well, first you should agree on what you will make, together. Then you get to organize the order. The first person starts crafting, and at a certain point, they mail the project to someone from the team. This goes on and on until the project is finished. You can even take the game to the next level by encouraging them to send little gifts and notes, as well.

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Deel makes remote work feel less remote , helping you build your company culture and keep your teams engaged and organized.

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Unleashing Creativity: 23 Group Activities Ideas For Problem Solving

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The use of group activities to include everyone in problem-solving is growing in popularity. Individuals can get together to work on an issue that impacts their team, company, or even community by participating in a group activity.

Group activities may be a terrific approach to improve communication, leadership, and creative abilities in addition to teaching people how to cooperate towards a shared objective. This blog article aims to offer suggestions for group activities that might improve problem-solving skills and a sense of cohesion among group members.

In this article, we will discuss 23 group activities ideas for problem-solving, including virtual team-building problem-solving activities.

Read More: 15 Group Activities For Social Work Students That Are Fun And Engaging!

Why Problem-solving Activities Are Good For A Group?

Team-building activities that involve problem-solving are quite effective. They not only enhance communication, but they also foster creativity and raise output.

People learn to trust one another and depend on each other’s abilities when they cooperate to solve challenges.

As a result, people are better able to grasp one another’s skills and how to collaborate. Additionally, problem-solving exercises inspire individuals to think creatively and beyond the box.

16 In-Person Group Activities Ideas For Problem-Solving

Word Association: Word association is a game in which groups must collaborate to come up with a list of words that are connected in a given amount of time.
Picture Association: Teams must cooperate in order to connect a collection of images to create a narrative.
Mystery Case: By assembling information and drawing conclusions, teams must work together to solve a mystery case.
The marshmallow Tower Challenge: Requires groups to construct the tallest tower using just marshmallows and toothpicks.
Wild Goose Chase: To finish first, teams must race through a variety of chores, locate buildings, and solve riddles in the great outdoors.
Trivia Challenge: Teams must cooperate to respond to as many trivia questions as they can in the allotted amount of time.
The Price is Right: Teams must collaborate to estimate the cost of various things.
The Blindfolded Obstacle Course: Teams must lead a blindfolded participant through an obstacle course.
The Tower of Hanoi: Teams must cooperate in order to tackle the Tower of Hanoi Puzzle.
The Sponge Race: Teams must move a sponge from one bucket to another using just their bodies.
The Balloon Race: The balloon race requires teams to race while using just their bodies to propel a balloon from one end of the room to the other.
Domino Effect Challenge: Teams are given a set of dominoes and instructed to start a chain reaction that will eventually fall every domino.
Reverse Pyramid: Teams are required to construct a pyramid construction, but there is a catch: they must do so backward, beginning at the top and moving downward.
Crime Investigators : Teams are assigned a crime to investigate, and they must cooperate to obtain information and identify the offender.
Egg Drop: Teams are given materials to create an apparatus that will keep an egg from cracking when dropped from a specific height in the Egg Drop competition. The goal is to determine which team’s invention is the most successful.
Cardboard Boat Building Challenge: During this exercise, groups are entrusted with constructing a cardboard boat. The goal is to see which team’s boat can hold the most weight without sinking.

7 Virtual Team Building Problem-Solving Activities

If your team is working remotely or is compelled to do so, virtual group activities for problem-solving could prove to be a tremendous boon for the communion and engagement of the team members, all while they work from the comfort of their own homes.

Virtual Trivia: Teams can participate in a virtual trivia tournament and respond to inquiries about a variety of topics. Preparation : You’ll need a platform like Zoom, Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams to host the game in order to prepare for a virtual trivia contest. You’ll also require a database of trivia questions and answers or a website that offers such information. Virtual trivia is frequently played on websites like Kahoot, Quizlet, and TriviaMaker.
Virtual Scavenger Hunt: Teams can take part in a virtual scavenger hunt, deciphering clues to locate the next one. Preparation : To hold a virtual scavenger hunt, you’ll need a platform, such as a video conferencing application or a platform for virtual events. You’ll also need to make a list of things or assignments that participants must locate or do. Using a website like GooseChase, Scavify, or Adventure Hunt, you may design a scavenger hunt.
Virtual Murder Mystery: Teams can participate in a virtual murder mystery game where they must collect evidence and solve the case. Preparation : You’ll need a platform to host the game, such as Zoom or Google Meet, in order to host a virtual murder mystery. Additionally, you’ll want a murder mystery script or kit that contains the tale, the characters, and the clues. Virtual murder mystery kits are sold by a variety of businesses, including Murder Mystery Games , Virtual Murder Mystery, and Mystery Escape Rooms.
Virtual Escape Room: Teams can cooperate to solve riddles and make their way out of a virtual escape room using this game. Preparation : You’ll need a platform to host the game, such as Zoom, Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams, in order to host a virtual escape room. A platform that offers a virtual escape room experience, such as Puzzlomatic, Escapologic, or Unlock, is also required.
Virtual Jeopardy: Teams can take part in a virtual Jeopardy tournament by responding to questions about a variety of topics. Preparation: You’ll need a platform to host the game, such as Zoom, Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams, in order to host a virtual Jeopardy game. Using a website like Kahoot, Quizlet, or TriviaMaker, you may make your own Jeopardy game.
Virtual Minefield: Without verbal contact, teams must follow directions to move through a virtual minefield. Preparation: You’ll need a platform to host the game, such as Zoom, Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams, in order to host a virtual minefield. Using a website like Kahoot, Quizlet, or TriviaMaker, you may design your own digital minefield.
Virtual Jigsaw Puzzle: To finish a virtual jigsaw puzzle as rapidly as feasible, teams must cooperate. Preparation: A platform to host the game, such as Zoom, Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams, is required in order to host a virtual jigsaw puzzle. A virtual jigsaw puzzles platform like Jigsaw Planet, Jigsaw Explorer, or JigZone is also required.

Things To Consider When Making Problem-Solving Activities For A Team

When creating problem-solving activities for a team, it’s essential to consider the following:

Goals : What is the goal of the activity? Is it to improve communication, boost creativity, or increase productivity?
Team Size : How many people will be participating in the activity? This will impact the type of activity that can be done.
Time : How much time do you have for the activity? Some activities may require more time than others.
Equipment : What equipment do you have available for the activity? Some activities may require special equipment.
Budget : What is your budget for the activity? Some activities may require a larger budget than others.
Virtual Platform : What virtual platform will you use for the activity? Some activities may require specific virtual platforms.

Frequently Asked Questions [FAQs]

What are some benefits of problem-solving activities for a group.

Answer: Problem-solving activities improve communication, boost creativity, increase productivity, and strengthen bonds between team members.

Can Problem-solving Activities Be Done Virtually?

Answer: Yes, problem-solving activities can be done virtually. Many virtual team-building problem-solving activities exist, such as virtual trivia, virtual scavenger hunts, and virtual escape rooms.

How Do Problem-Solving Activities Help Improve Team Communication?

Answer: Problem-solving activities encourage team members to work together, listen to each other’s ideas, and express their thoughts and opinions. This leads to improved communication and better collaboration among team members.

What Are Some Advantages Of Virtual Team-building Problem-Solving Activities?

Answer: Virtual team-building problem-solving activities offer the convenience of being able to participate from anywhere with an internet connection, and they allow teams to participate in activities that may not be possible in person, such as virtual escape rooms or virtual murder mysteries.

How Do I Choose The Right Problem-Solving Activity For My Team?

Answer: Consider the goals of the activity, team size, available time, necessary equipment, budget, and virtual platform when choosing a problem-solving activity for your team. It’s also a good idea to take into account the interests and preferences of your team members.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, problem-solving activities are an excellent way to build strong, effective teams. They promote creativity, communication, and collaboration, and can be done both in-person and virtually.

When creating problem-solving activities for a team, it’s essential to consider the goals, team size, time, equipment, budget, and virtual platform.

With these 20 group activities ideas for problem-solving, virtual team building problem-solving activities , and things to consider, you’re well on your way to creating engaging and productive problem-solving activities for your team.

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22 Unbeatable Team Building Problem Solving Activities

Problem-solving is a critical skill for professionals and with team building problem-solving activities, you can sharpen your skills while having fun at the same time.

Updated: March 1, 2024

In the professional world, one thing is for sure: problem-solving is a vital skill if you want to survive and thrive. It’s a universal job skill that organizations seek in new potential employees and that managers look for when considering candidates for promotions.

But there’s a problem.

According to Payscale, 60% of managers feel that new grads entering the workforce lack problem-solving abilities – making it the most commonly lacking soft skill.

Problem-solving skill needs to be practiced and perfected on an ongoing basis in order to be applied effectively when the time comes. And while there are tons of traditional approaches to becoming a better problem-solver, there’s another (much more interesting) option: team building problem-solving activities.

The good news? This means learning and having fun don’t have to be mutually exclusive. And you can create a stronger team at the same time.

16 In-Person Team Building Problem Solving Activities for Your Work Group

1. cardboard boat building challenge, 2. egg drop , 3. clue murder mystery, 4. marshmallow spaghetti tower , 5. corporate escape room, 6. wild goose chase, 7. lost at sea , 8. domino effect challenge, 9. reverse pyramid , 10. ci: the crime investigators, 11. team pursuit, 12. bridge builders, 13. domino effect challenge, 14. hollywood murder mystery, 15. code break, 16. cardboard boat building challenge, 6 virtual team building problem solving activities for your work group , 1. virtual escape room: mummy’s curse, 2. virtual clue murder mystery, 3. virtual escape room: jewel heist, 4. virtual code break , 5. virtual trivia time machine.

6. Virtual Jeoparty Social

There are a ton of incredible team building problem solving activities available. We’ve hand-picked 16 of our favorites that we think your corporate group will love too.

a cardboard boat building challenge for problem solving team building

Split into teams and create a cardboard boat made out of just the materials provided: cardboard and tape. Team members will have to work together to engineer a functional boat that will float and sail across water without sinking. Once teams have finished making their boats, they will create a presentation to explain why their boat is the best, before putting their boats to the test. The final challenge will have teams racing their boats to test their durability! Nothing says problem-solving like having to make sure you don’t sink into the water!

egg drop is a great team building problem solving activity

Every day at work, you’re forced to make countless decisions – whether they’re massively important or so small you barely think about them.

But your ability to effectively make decisions is critical in solving problems quickly and effectively.

With a classic team building problem solving activity like the Egg Drop, that’s exactly what your team will learn to do.

For this activity, you’ll need some eggs, construction materials, and a place you wouldn’t mind smashing getting dirty with eggshells and yolks.

The goal of this activity is to create a contraption that will encase an egg and protect it from a fall – whether it’s from standing height or the top of a building. But the challenge is that you and your team will only have a short amount of time to build it before it’s time to test it out, so you’ll have to think quickly!

To make it even more challenging, you’ll have to build the casing using only simple materials like:

Newspapers
Plastic wrap
Rubber bands
Popsicle sticks
Cotton balls

Feel free to have some fun in picking the materials. Use whatever you think would be helpful without making things too easy!

Give your group 15 minutes to construct their egg casing before each team drops their eggs. If multiple eggs survive, increase the height gradually to see whose created the sturdiest contraption.

If you’re not comfortable with the idea of using eggs for this activity, consider using another breakable alternative, such as lightbulbs for a vegan Egg Drop experience.

solving a crime is a great way to practice problem solving skills

With Clue Murder Mystery, your team will need to solve the murder of a man named Neil Davidson by figuring out who had the means, motive, and opportunity to commit the crime.

But it won’t be easy! You’ll need to exercise your best problem-solving skills and channel your inner detectives if you want to keep this case from going cold and to get justice for the victim.

do a spaghetti tower for team building problem solving activity

Collaboration is critical to problem solving.

Why? Because, as the old saying goes, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. This expression reflects the fact that people are capable of achieving greater things when they work together to do so.

If you’re looking for a team building problem solving activity that helps boost collaboration, you’ll love Marshmallow Spaghetti Tower.

This game involves working in teams to build the tallest possible freestanding tower using only marshmallows, uncooked spaghetti, tape, and string.

The kicker? This all has to be done within an allotted timeframe. We recommend about thirty minutes.

For an added dimension of challenge, try adding a marshmallow to the top of the tower to make it a little more top heavy.

Whichever team has the highest tower when time runs out is the winner!

corporate escape rooms are unique team building problem solving activities

If you’ve never participated in an escape room, your team is missing out! It’s one of the most effective team building problem solving activities out there because it puts you and your colleagues in a scenario where the only way out is collaboratively solving puzzles and deciphering clues.

The principle is simple: lock your group in a room, hide the key somewhere in that room, and have them work through challenges within a set time frame. Each challenge will lead them one step closer to finding the key and, ultimately, their escape.

At Outback, we offer “done-for-you” escape rooms where we’ll transform your office or meeting room so you don’t have to worry about:

Seeking transportation for your team
Capacity of the escape rooms
High costs
Excessive planning

That way, you and your team can simply step inside and get to work collaborating, using creative problem solving, and thinking outside the box.

wild goose chase is a great scavenger hunt problem solving team building activity for work

In this smartphone-based scavenger hunt team building activity , your group will split into teams and complete fun challenges by taking photos and videos around the city. Some examples of challenges you can do in this activity are:

Parkour: Take a picture of three team members jumping over an object that’s at least waist-high.
Beautiful Mind: Snap a photo of a team member proving a well-known mathematical theorem on a chalkboard.
Puppy Love: Take a photo of all of your team members petting a stranger’s dog at the same time.

It takes a ton of critical thinking and problem-solving to be crowned the Wild Goose Chase Champions!

your teammates will love lost at sea team building activity

Can you imagine a higher-pressure situation than being stranded at sea in a lifeboat with your colleagues?

With this team building problem solving activity, that’s exactly the situation you and your group will put yourselves. But by the time the activity is over, you’ll have gained more experience with the idea of having to solve problems under pressure – a common but difficult thing to do.

Here’s how it works.

Each team member will get a six-columned chart where:

The first column lists the survival items each team has on hand (see the list below)
The second column is empty so that each team member can rank the items in order of importance for survival
The third column is for group rankings
The fourth column is for the “correct” rankings, which are revealed at the end of the activity
The fifth and sixth columns are for the team to enter thee difference between their individual and correct scores and the team and correct rankings

Within this activity, each team will be equipped with the following “survival items,” listed below in order of importance, as well as a pack of matches:

A shaving mirror (this can be used to signal passing ships using the sun)
A can of gas (could be used for signaling as it could be put in the water and lit with the pack of matches)
A water container (for collecting water to re-hydrate )
Emergency food rations (critical survival food)
One plastic sheet (can be helpful for shelter or to collect rainwater)
Chocolate bars (another food supply)
Fishing rods (helpful, but no guarantee of catching food)
Rope (can be handy, but not necessarily essential for survival)
A floating seat cushion (usable as a life preserver)
Shark repellant (could be important when in the water)
A bottle of rum (could be useful for cleaning wounds)
A radio (could be very helpful but there’s a good chance you’re out of range)
A sea chart (this is worthless without navigation equipment)
A mosquito net (unless you’ve been shipwrecked somewhere with a ton of mosquitos, this isn’t very useful)

To get the activity underway, divide your group into teams of five and ask each team member to take ten minutes on their own to rank the items in order of importance in the respective column. Then, give the full team ten minutes as a group to discuss their individual rankings together and take group rankings, listed in that respective column. Ask each group to compare their individual rankings with those of the group as a whole.

Finally, read out the correct order according to the US Coast Guard, listed above.

The goal of this activity is for everyone to be heard and to come to a decision together about what they need most to survive.

If your team works remotely, you can also do this activity online. Using a video conferencing tool like Zoom , you can bring your group together and separate teams into “break-out rooms” where they’ll take their time individually and then regroup together. At the end, you can bring them back to the full video conference to go through the answers together.

colleagues thinking outside the box with a domino effect challenge team building problem solving activity

Many problems are intricately complex and involve a ton of moving parts. And in order to solve this type of problem, you need to be able to examine it systematically, one piece at a time.

Especially in the business world, many problems or challenges involve multiple different teams or departments working through their respective portions of a problem before coming together in the end to create a holistic solution.

As you can imagine, this is often easier said than done. And that’s why it’s so important to practice this ability.

With a collaborative team building problem solving activity like Domino Effect Challenge, that’s exactly what you’ll need to do as you and your group work to create a massive, fully functional chain reaction machine.

Here’s how it goes.

Your group will break up into teams, with each team working to complete their own section of a massive “Rube Goldberg” machine. Then, all teams will regroup and assemble the entire machine together. You’ll need to exercise communication, collaboration, and on-the-fly problem solving in order to make your chain reaction machine go off without a hitch from start to finish.

reverse pyramid is a team building activity that makes colleagues think about problems in new ways

Being a great problem-solver means being adaptable and creative. And if you’re looking for a quick and easy team building problem solving activity, you’ll love the reverse pyramid.

The idea here is simple: break your group out into small teams and then stand in the form of a pyramid.

Your challenge is to flip the base and the peak of the pyramid – but you can only move three people in order to do so.

Alternatively, rather than doing this activity with people as the pyramid, you can do another version – the Pyramid Build – using plastic cups instead.

This version is a little bit different. Rather than flipping the base of a pyramid to the top, you’ll need to build the pyramid instead–but in reverse, starting from the top cup and working down.

With this version, you’ll need 36 cups and one table per group. We recommend groups of five to seven people. Give your group 20 to 30 minutes to complete the activity.

To get started, place one cup face down. Then, lift that cup and place the subsequent two cups underneath it.

The real challenge here? You can only lift your pyramid by the bottom row in order to put a new row underneath – and only one person at a time can do the lifting. The remaining group members will need to act quickly and work together in order to add the next row so that it will balance the rest of the pyramid.

If any part of your pyramid falls, you’ll need to start over. Whichever team has the most complete pyramid when time runs out will be the winner!

solving a crime is a great way for team members to use problem solving skills

The value of being able to approach problems analytically can’t be overstated. Because when problems arise, the best way to solve them is by examining the facts and making a decision based on what you know.

With CI: The Crime Investigators, this is exactly what your team will be called upon to do as you put your detective’s hats on and work to solve a deadly crime.

You’ll be presented with evidence and need to uncover and decipher clues. And using only the information at your disposal, you’ll need to examine the facts in order to crack the case.

Like many of our team building problem solving activities, CI: The Crime Investigators is available in a hosted format, which can take place at your office or an outside venue, as well as a virtually-hosted format that uses video conferencing tools, or a self-hosted version that you can run entirely on your own.

team pursuit team building is great for problem solving skills

Each member of your team has their own unique strengths and skills. And by learning to combine those skills, you can overcome any challenge and solve any problem. With Team Pursuit, you and your team together to tackle challenges as you learn new things about one another, discover your hidden talents, and learn to rely on each other.

This team building problem solving activity is perfect for high-energy groups that love to put their heads together and work strategically to solve problems as a group.

Collaborate with your colleague to design and build different segments of a bridge. At the end, see if the sections come together to create a free-standing structure!

domino effect challenging is a brain busting winter team building activity

Together as a group, see if you and your colleagues can build a gigantic “chain-reaction” machine that really works!

In smaller groups, participants work together to solve the challenge of creating sections of the machine using miscellaneous parts, and at the end, you’ll have to collaborate to connect it all together and put it in motion.

The case is fresh, but here’s what we know so far: we’ve got an up-and-coming actress who’s been found dead in her hotel room following last night’s awards show.

We have several suspects, but we haven’t been able to put the crime on any of them for sure yet. Now, it’s up to you and your team of detectives to crack the case. Together, you’ll review case files and evidence including police reports, coroners’ reports, photo evidence, tabloids, interrogations, and phone calls as you determine the motive, method, and murderer and bring justice for the victim.

You’ll need to put your problem-solving skills to the test as you share theories, collaborate, and think outside the box with your fellow investigators.

code break is a cerebral indoor team building activity

Using Outback’s app, split up into small groups and put your heads together to solve a variety of puzzles, riddles, and trivia. The team who has completed the most challenges when time is up, wins!

Can you stay afloat in a body of water in a boat made entirely of cardboard? Now that is a problem that urgently needs solving.

With this team building problem solving activity, you and your colleagues will split into groups and create a cardboard boat made out of just the materials provided – cardboard and tape.

Team members will have to work together to engineer a functional boat that will float and sail across water without sinking. Once teams have finished making their boats, they will create a presentation to explain why their boat is the best, before putting their boats to the test. The final challenge will have teams racing their boats across the water!

colleagues doing a virtual team building problem solving activity

If you and your team are working remotely, don’t worry. You still have a ton of great virtual team building problem solving options at your disposal.

In this virtual escape room experience, your team will be transported into a pyramid cursed by a restless mummy. You’ll have to work together to uncover clues and solve complex challenges to lift the ancient curse.

team members doing a fun virtual clue murder mystery

You’ve probably never heard of a man named Neil Davidson. But your group will need to come together to solve the mystery of his murder by analyzing clues, resolving challenges, and figuring out who had the means, motive, and opportunity to commit a deadly crime.

This activity will challenge you and your group to approach problems analytically, read between the lines, and use critical thinking in order to identify a suspect and deliver justice.

escape rooms are fun and unique team building problem solving activities

If you and your team like brainteasers, then Virtual Escape Room: Jewel Heist will be a big hit.

Here’s the backstory.

There’s been a robbery. Someone has masterminded a heist to steal a priceless collection of precious jewels, and it’s up to you and your team to recover them before time runs out.

Together, you’ll need to uncover hidden clues and solve a series of brain-boggling challenges that require collaboration, creative problem-solving, and outside-the-box thinking. But be quick! The clock is ticking before the stolen score is gone forever.

try virtual code break as a way to use problem solving skills with teammates

With Virtual Code Break, you and your team can learn to be adaptive and dynamic in your thinking in order to tackle any new challenges that come your way. In this activity, your group will connect on a video conferencing platform where your event host will split you out into teams. Together, you’ll have to adapt your problem-solving skills as you race against the clock to tackle a variety of mixed brainteaser challenges ranging from Sudoku to puzzles, a game of Cranium, riddles, and even trivia.

Curious to see how a virtual team building activity works? Check out this video on a Virtual Clue Murder Mystery in action.

trivia is a great problem solving activity for colleagues

Step into the Outback Time Machine and take a trip through time, from pre-pandemic 21st century through the decades all the way to the 60’s.

This exciting, fast-paced virtual trivia game, packed with nostalgia and good vibes, is guaranteed to produce big laughs, friendly competition, and maybe even some chair-dancing.

Your virtual game show host will warm up guests with a couple of “table hopper rounds” (breakout room mixers) and split you out into teams. Within minutes, your home office will be transformed into a game show stage with your very own game show buzzers!

And if your team loves trivia, check out our list of the most incredible virtual trivia games for work teams for even more ideas.

6. Virtual Jeoparty Social

Virtual Jeoparty Social is a fun high energy virtual team building activity

If your remote team is eager to socialize, have some fun as a group, and channel their competitive spirit, we’ve got just the thing for you! With Virtual Jeoparty Social, you and your colleagues will step into your very own virtual Jeopardy-style game show—equipped with a buzzer button, a professional actor as your host, and an immersive game show platform! Best of all, this game has been infused with an ultra-social twist: players will take part in a unique social mixer challenge between each round.

With the right team building problem solving activities, you can help your team sharpen their core skills to ensure they’re prepared when they inevitably face a challenge at work. And best of all, you can have fun in the process.

Do you have any favorite team building activities for building problem-solving skills? If so, tell us about them in the comments section below!

Learn More About Team Building Problem Solving Activities

For more information about how your group can take part in a virtual team building, training, or coaching solution, reach out to our Employee Engagement Consultants.

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I love how this blog provides a variety of problem-solving activities for team building. It’s a great resource for anyone looking to foster teamwork and collaboration!

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17 team building problem-solving activities that actually work

Wouldn’t it be great to go to work every day and everything just … works? While that’s a lovely daydream, in reality, we face challenges from time to time.

And when it comes to challenges, one thing remains true: Having a team you can rely on makes whatever it is way easier to deal with.

It’s time to support your team in their personal growth and work on those problem-solving skills. The best way to do that is through some targeted team building activities .

We’ve compiled a list of the best problem-solving activities, sorted by duration and your team’s needs. Bonus point: A lot of them are free !

Effective team building problem-solving activities

One of the most daunting aspects of team building is looking up ideas for things to do, not knowing whether they work. So we did the hard part for you and hand-picked the best team building activities to overcome obstacles.

1. Improve collaboration with Work Buddy

Price: 14-day free trial, afterwards 7€ per user

Time : 15-20 minutes

Best for: Improving collaboration through understanding other team members' work preferences

Work Buddy is an innovative way to get teams on the same page! It's a fun and interactive quiz that helps team members understand each other better, leading towards improved collaboration. Through this session, you'll gain insights into your colleagues' working style - hours they prefer communicating during, their long-term goals, and more - which can help create stronger relationships within the workplace for more effective achievement of shared objectives. Work Buddy is free to try .

Boost team performance with Gomada's activity 'Work Buddy'

2. Practice to become a Communication Master

Best for: Exploring and understanding communication biases in the team

You're not alone if you've noticed misunderstandings or inefficient communication in your team. According to a recent study, 86% of knowledge workers report experiencing communication issues at work . Shortcomings in communication are estimated to lead to losses in profit of more than one trillion $ each year in the US alone.

Communication Master is an activity that helps your team practice explaining ideas in a clear and efficient way. It's challenging and fun, and you can try it for free .

Improve communication within the team with Gomada's Communication Master activity.

3. Follow the GROW process

Price: Free

Time : 2-3 hours

Best for: Taking a tried and tested approach to problem-solving

Arguably the best way to tackle organizational problems is by applying a model already tried and tested in business coaching. The GROW model is precisely that. GROW is an acronym in which each letter represents a step in the problem-solving process.

How it works:

G - Goal: Align on the goal(s) you want to achieve. Be as precise as possible and include numbers, time frames, etc.
R - Reality: Observe where you are on the journey to achieve your goal. What still lies ahead of you?
O - Obstacles & Options: Which obstacles does your team currently face, and which challenges do you anticipate in the future? Consider various approaches to overcoming the (possible) roadblocks.
W - Way forward: Write down concrete action steps that you will take moving forward, including responsibilities and timelines.

Watch this role play video to see how you can put GROW into action.

4. Assess personality types

Price: Free Time: 60-90 minutes

Best for: Increasing empathy and enhancing teamwork

If your teammates constantly clash with each other, chances are they have different personality types. Understanding differences within your team is critical for good collaboration and teamwork, the pillars of successful problem-solving. To get going, take a personality test together and learn about each other's strengths and weaknesses. Have a follow-up discussion to talk about how you can collaborate better in the future.

Question starters for your discussion:

Were you surprised by your results?
Where does your personality benefit your work?
How can you balance out each other's weaknesses?
How can you build on each other's strengths?
Have you found a new appreciation for your teammates?

5. Have a well-being talk

Price: Free Time: 60 minutes ‍

Best for: Making sure your team is mentally prepared to tackle problems

If you feel like your team is lacking motivation and not on the top of their game, it may be time for a well-being check-in. Have an open conversation about mental health and your employees' feelings. Identify triggers for stress in the workplace; these typically include:

Content of the job
Role within the organization
Professional development
Work relationships
Company culture
Working conditions
Personal reasons

Once you have identified the most prominent issues, create an action plan to improve your team’s mental well-being. If you need help facilitating this, Confetti offers a Mental Health Workshop led by a professional expert.

6. Online hackathon

Price: Free

Time: 24-48 hours

Best for: Boosting teamwork and innovation; Solving a specific problem in your organization

A hackathon is an event in which people of different disciplines come together to solve a common, real-world problem. It is the perfect activity for quickly innovating processes within your organization. Hosting a hackathon online allows you to invite team members from all around the world.

There are already great resources about organizing virtual hackathons available. To get you going, here’s a quick rundown on the most important steps:

Settle on the problem that your team should tackle, develop the deliverables, and invite industry experts to serve as a jury
Choose a video conferencing platform so the participants can stay in touch throughout the hackathon
Divide your team into smaller action teams. This works best if you involve different departments to mix and match different strengths and skillsets
When the day of the hackathon arrives, hold a kick-off meeting to explain the process of the event
Have fun and get excited about great results

Leah Buchholz

Remote Expert & Jr. Content Marketer

Large groups

Prep required

Share fun facts and bond with a team quiz

Have your participants choose from a list of questions they’d like their coworkers to answer about them, before watching as they guess the right answer.

share-fun-facts-and-bond-with-a-team-quiz

Run a guided recognition activity

run-a-guided-recognition-activity

Organize a virtual cooking class

Hire a professional chef to help your team cook a delicious lunch or dinner. May be difficult for co-workers with families. To find providers and get tips, read our blog about virtual cooking classes.

organize-a-virtual-cooking-class

Hire a stand-up comedian

hire-a-stand-up-comedian

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Discover virtual team building with Gomada

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Virtual team building problem-solving activities

If your team is working in a remote or hybrid setting and you’re looking for some fun games that strengthen problem-solving skills, the following activities are a match.

Related : The best team building software tools & apps.

7. Yes, and …

Time: 5-15 minutes

Best for: A quick game to foster creativity and flexibility

One of the best ways to strengthen your team’s ability to think quickly and adapt to unknown scenarios is through improv games. This one is perfect for beginners as it doesn’t require any acting, and your team can participate from the comfort of their home office chairs.

To play the game, one person begins to tell a story, and the rest of the team has to build on it by replying with "yes, and". One after the other, everyone contributes one or two sentences, but people have to react quickly to keep the flow of the story going.

You can determine the order in advance, for example, by first name or age, or keep it open to increase the difficulty level.

8. Flash of genius

Time: 15- 20 minutes

Best for: Quick thinking, boosting creativity, healthy competition

Have you ever had a flash of inspiration at a random moment? The one that prompts you to jot down your brilliant idea on a piece of paper or a napkin? That’s what this game is all about.

Before the game starts, you have to prepare several problem statements. These can be real, like ‘A team from another department constantly messes up your work. What do you do?’ or imaginative, such as ‘Aliens have landed on planet earth and kidnapped humans. What do you do?’. During the session, the participants then need to develop solutions to these problems.

Split the team into small groups and ask everyone to write down their approaches on a digital collaboration board
After two minutes of brainstorming, every team gets one more minute to decide on their number one solution
For the finale, everyone presents their approach to the rest of the group

9. Codenames

Time: 15-30 minutes

Best for: Thinking outside the box, risk evaluation, communication

Codenames was initially released as a card game but is now also available as an online version. In this game, two teams must try to identify agents hiding behind codenames.

The playing field consists of 25 cards labeled with codenames (random words)
Both teams assign one spymaster who gets to see under which cards the agents for their team are hiding. The spymasters take turns giving their team members clues to find the right cards, but with one big restriction – they can only say one word.
The goal is to find all the right words before the other team finishes.

To be the fastest team, it is useful to give clues that connect different terms, but players have to be careful not to guess the cards that belong to the other group. Thus, the participants must find the right balance between risk-taking and passing on an opportunity to score.

10. Domino effect

Price: 0- 29€/person

Best for: Collaborating asynchronously and working together on one goal

The idea behind this activity is simple; you knock over one object that sets a second in motion, which is followed by a whole chain of reactions. What makes it difficult is that the team has to create this domino effect without being in the same place. Therefore, each team member has to create one part of the process and film it.

This is what it looks like:

Person 1 begins the series by knocking over a random object and making a video of it; let’s say they choose a ball that knocks down a book
They inform person 2, who creates a video of a book falling onto a bottle.
Then, person 3 has to start their video with a bottle falling on the object of their choice and so on.
In the end, all videos are cut together.

The activity requires strategic thinking and good communication to have a consistent string of domino effects and is perfect for teams who work across different time zones. You can either set it up yourself or get a professional agency to support you.

11. Escape room

Price: 0-30€/person

Time: 15-90 min.

Best for: Refining attention to detail and logical thinking with a gamified experience

If you’re not already familiar with the concept of escape rooms, you’re missing out! In short, your team has to solve various puzzles and riddles while following a mystery tale. Only if they find the hidden clues will they reach the solution and escape the room.

This makes escape rooms an excellent problem-solving team building activity for adults. Participants have to practice their patience and logical thinking. Virtual escape games usually take place over a video conferencing tool so participants can discuss their ideas as the game proceeds. One of our favorite escape room experiences is this Sherlock-inspired detective story.

12. Panel of Experts

Time: 15-30 min.

Best for: Helping team members to step out of their comfort zone through improvisation

Panel of Experts is another improv game that is great for fostering creativity and spontaneity as your team will have to create dialogues without any prior preparation and script.

How it works:

You determine one show host and two to four ‘experts’; the rest of the team will act as an audience.
Everybody in the audience can call in a topic they would like the group to discuss for two minutes. Collect all ideas and agree on a topic to start with.
The actors now have to engage in a conversation in their respective roles.
After each round, assign the roles to new team members.

Your team will have collaboratively put up some entertaining scenes, and who knows, maybe you will discover some actual special-interest knowledge.

13. Sort the group

Time: 10-15 minutes

Best for: Improving communication; Getting to know your team

Sort the group exercises are exactly what they sound to be: As a team, you have to get in order following different attributes like height, age, duration at the company; you name it. The difficulty lies within the fact that you aren’t allowed to talk or write. Team members have to develop other ways to communicate and get in order.

Pro tip: You can open a shared document, write down the names of the participants and rearrange them until everyone agrees on the final result.

Trust Activity

Ups & Downs

Core dimension

What cheers us up and tears us down can be very different. Get to know your team’s motivators and demotivators.

Offline problem-solving activities for team building

If you’re pumped to do some team building in person , we’ve picked the right activities for you.

14. The minefield

Price: 0-10€

Best for: Practicing communication and listening skills and advancing trust between team members

This classic team building activity works very well to build trust in your team without the awkwardness of trust falls or entangling human knots. You’ll have to prepare a playing field beforehand, consisting of a starting and finishing line, and put some obstacles (e.g., bottles) in between.

Divide the team into several small groups. Each team lines up at the edge of the playing field.
Each participant is given a blindfold to put on when it is their turn. You can use face masks or anything else to cover the eyes.
After giving the go, the groups must try to guide their 'blind' teammates through the minefield using verbal instructions alone. If a person touches an object, they have to start over. If they make it through the minefield, the next person can start.
The fastest team wins.

Pro tip: To make the game more difficult, you can rule that players cannot give directions (front, side, back) but must think of a code to guide their teammates.

15. Picking up trash

Time: 30 minutes - 3 hours

Best for: Teams looking to make a real impact beyond simple games

What better way to connect with your team than simultaneously doing something great for the environment? Have your team walk around the area around your office and pick up trash together. Afterward, you come together and brainstorm ideas on how to tackle the garbage problem. Maybe your neighborhood could profit from some more trash cans? Higher fines for littering? A better deposit system? Get creative!

You can also turn it into a challenge. To do so, divide your crew into smaller groups and assign each one the task of collecting as much rubbish as they can. After some time, you evaluate who had the most original approaches and picked up the most trash.

Either way, you train your problem-solving skills on a real-world issue and do some good for nature.

16. Speed-dating

Time: 10-20 minutes

Best for: Fostering 1:1 conversations around work issues

While speed dating is best known for finding new romantic partners, it can also be applied to the working environment.

Here is how it works:

Divide the team into two groups, one of which positions itself in an inner and the other in an outer circle. There should always be two people facing each other. If you’re an uneven number, create one pair that always moves together.
A game leader asks a question for which both partners have one minute to answer.
Then the inner circle moves so that two new team members are facing each other.
The game ends when everyone has returned to their original partner.

Some questions to inspire your own:

If you could change one thing in your workday, what would it be?
Would you rather have more time or more money? Why?
What would you do if your laptop suddenly just stopped working?

17. Scavenger hunt

Price: Varies

Time: 2-3 hours

Best for: Fostering cross-team collaboration and boosting team morale

Another classic team-building activity that is great for promoting problem-solving. You have to work together as a team to find clues that will ultimately lead you to a goal.

As far as preparation goes, you will have to decide between setting up the activity yourself or a professional provider. Depending on which option you choose, you will have to invest more money or time (yes, we are referring to the last game here). Either way, your joint search will have your team think outside the box and socialize with others.

What are the benefits of problem-solving team building activities for businesses?

Problem-solving is an essential skill for every team. In particular, strengthening your team member’s decision-making and adaptability skills will ensure that your daily operations run a bit smoother; say a new process isn’t going as planned, or an essential co-worker falls sick, your team will be able to handle it. You also set out your organization for success when facing more drastic challenges, such as, uh, a global pandemic or changes in the company’s strategy.

Some of the skills your team will improve on when regularly engaging in problem-solving team building activities are:

Out-of-the-box thinking
Communication
Creativity
Flexibility
Collaboration

Using team building problem-solving games

Investing time into team building activities that support problem-solving is the best way to empower your team in their abilities to overcome work challenges. Whether you’re an experienced leadership team looking to boost your decision-making and critical thinking skills or a young team working on collaboration and communication , these activities set you up for success.

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The importance of problem-solving skills in today’s workplace

According to a 2019 report by McKinsey , soft skills are increasingly important in today's world — and problem-solving is the top area in which skills are lacking. A company or team’s success weighs heavily on the willingness of managers to help employees improve their problem-solving abilities. Team building activities targeting focus areas like communication and collaboration, adaptability, or strengthening decision-making techniques help.

All problem-solving processes start with identifying the problem. Next, the team must assess potential courses of action and choose the best way to tackle the problem. This requires a deep understanding of your team and its core strengths. A problem-solving exercise or game helps identify those strengths and builds problem-solving skills and strategies while having fun with your team.

Problem-solving games aren't for just any team. Participants must have an open mind and accept all ideas and solutions . They must also have an Agile mindset and embrace different structures, planning, and processes. Problems usually arise when we least expect them, so there's no better way to prepare than to encourage agility and flexibility.

Another aspect to keep in mind when engaging in problem-solving games and activities: There are no winners or losers. Sure, some games might end with a single winner, but the true goal of these exercises is to learn how to work together as a team to develop an Agile mindset. The winning team of each game should share their strategies and thought processes at the end of the exercise to help everyone learn.

Here’s a list of fun problem-solving activity examples to try with your team. From blindfolds to raw eggs, these problem-solving, team-building activities will have your team solving problems faster than Scooby and the gang.

Classic team-building, problem-solving activities

1. a shrinking vessel.

Helps with: Adaptability

Why adaptability is important for problem-solving: Adaptability is highly associated with cognitive diversity, which helps teams solve problems faster , according to the Harvard Business Review. Innovation and disruption are happening faster than ever before . People, teams, and organizations that can adapt will come out on top.

What you’ll need:

A rope or string

Instructions:

1. Using the rope, make a shape on the floor everyone can fit into.

2. Slowly shrink the space over 10-15 minutes.

3. Work together to figure out how to keep everyone within the shrinking boundaries.

2. Marshmallow Spaghetti Tower

Helps with: Collaboration

Why collaboration is important for problem-solving: “Collectively, we can be more insightful, more intelligent than we can possibly be individually,” writes Peter Senge in The Fifth Discipline . We can solve problems better as a team than we can alone, which means developing your team’s collaboration skills will lead to better problem-solving outcomes.

What you’ll need (per team):

20 sticks of uncooked spaghetti
1 roll of masking tape
1 yard of string
1 marshmallow

1. The goal of this exercise is to see which team can use the materials provided to build the tallest tower within an allotted time period. The tower must be able to stand on its own.

2. To make this exercise more challenging, try adding a marshmallow to the top of the tower. This team problem-solving exercise helps people think on their toes while building camaraderie and leadership.

3. Egg Drop

Helps with: Collaboration, decision-making

Why decision-making is important for problem-solving: Making decisions isn’t easy , but indecision leads to team paralysis, stagnant thinking, and unsolved problems. Decision-making activities help your team practice making quick, effective choices. Train your team’s decision-making muscles and they will become more adept at problem-solving.

A carton of eggs
Basic construction materials such as newspapers, straws, tape, plastic wrap, balloons, rubber bands, popsicle sticks, etc., tarp, or drop cloth
A parking lot, or some other place you don’t mind getting messy!

1. Each team gets an egg and must select from the construction materials.

2. Give everyone 20-30 minutes to construct a carrier for the egg and protect it from breaking.

3. Drop each egg carrier off a ledge (i.e. over a balcony) and see whose carrier protects the egg from breaking.

4. If multiple eggs survive, keep increasing the height until only one egg is left.

4. Stranded

Helps with: Communication, decision-making

Why communication is important for problem-solving: More employees work remotely than ever before. Good communication skills are vital to solving problems across virtual teams . Working on communication skills while your team is together will help them solve problems more effectively when they’re apart.

Here's the setting: Your team has been stranded in the office. The doors are locked, and knocking down the doors or breaking the windows is not an option. Give your team 30 minutes to decide on ten items in the office they need for survival and rank them in order of importance. The goal of the game is to have everyone agree on the ten items and their rankings in 30 minutes.

Creative problem-solving activities

Helps with: Communication

What you'll need:

1. Divide everyone into small teams of two or more.

2. Select an overseer who isn't on a team to build a random structure using Lego building blocks within ten minutes.

3. The other teams must replicate the structure exactly (including size and color) within 15 minutes. However, only one member from each group may look at the original structure. They must figure out how to communicate the size, color, and shape of the original structure to their team.

4. If this is too easy, add a rule that the member who can see the original structure can't touch the new structure.

A lockable room
5-10 puzzles or clues (depending on how much time you want to spend on the game)

1. The goal of this exercise is to solve the clues, find the key, and escape a locked room within the time allotted.

2. Hide the key and a list of clues around the room.

3. Gather the team into the empty room and "lock" the door.

4. Give them 30 minutes to an hour to find the key using the clues hidden around the room.

7. Frostbite

Helps with: Decision-making, adaptability

A blindfold
1 packet of construction materials (such as card stock, toothpicks, rubber bands, and sticky notes) for each team
An electric fan

Instructions: Your employees are Arctic explorers adventuring across an icy tundra! Separate them into teams of four or five and have them select a leader to guide their exploration. Each team must build a shelter from the materials provided before the storm hits in 30 minutes. However, both the team leader’s hands have frostbite, so they can’t physically help construct the shelter, and the rest of the team has snow blindness and is unable to see. When the 30 minutes is up, turn on the fan and see which shelter can withstand the high winds of the storm.

8. Minefield

An empty room or hallway
A collection of common office items

1. Place the items (boxes, chairs, water bottles, bags, etc.) around the room so there's no clear path from one end of the room to the other.

2. Divide your team into pairs and blindfold one person on the team.

3. The other must verbally guide that person from one end of the room to the other, avoiding the "mines."

4. The partner who is not blindfolded can't touch the other.

5. If you want to make the activity more challenging, have all the pairs go simultaneously so teams must find ways to strategically communicate with each other.

9. Blind Formations

1. Have the group put on blindfolds and form a large circle.

2. Tie two ends of a rope together and lay it in a circle in the middle of the group, close enough so each person can reach down and touch it.

3. Instruct the group to communicate to create a shape with the rope — a square, triangle, rectangle, etc.

4. If you have a very large group, divide them into teams and provide a rope for each team. Let them compete to see who forms a particular shape quickest.

Quick and easy problem-solving activities

10. line up blind.

1. Blindfold everyone and whisper a number to each person, beginning with one.

2. Tell them to line up in numerical order without talking.

3. Instead of giving them a number, you could also have them line up numerically by height, age, birthday, etc.

11. Reverse Pyramid

Helps with: Adaptability, collaboration

1. Have everyone stand in a pyramid shape, horizontally.

2. Ask them to flip the base and the apex of the pyramid moving only three people.

3. This quick exercise works best when smaller groups compete to see who can reverse the pyramid the fastest.

12. Move It!

Chalk, rope, tape, or paper (something to mark a space)

1. Divide your group into two teams and line them up front to back, facing each other.

2. Using the chalk, tape, rope, or paper (depending on the playing surface), mark a square space for each person to stand on. Leave one extra empty space between the two facing rows.

3. The goal is for the two facing lines of players to switch places.

4. Place these restrictions on movement:

Only one person may move at a time.
A person may not move around anyone facing the same direction.
No one may not move backward.
A person may not move around more than one person on the other team at a time.

13. Human Knot

1. Have everyone stand in a circle, and ask each person to hold hands with two people who aren’t directly next to them.

2. When everyone is tangled together, ask them to untangle the knot and form a perfect circle — without letting go of anyone's hand.

Our last two problem-solving activities work best when dealing with an actual problem:

14. Dumbest Idea First

Helps with: Instant problem-solving

1. "Dumb" ideas are sometimes the best ideas. Ask everyone to think of the absolute dumbest possible solution to the problem at hand.

2. After you have a long list, look through it and see which ones might not be as dumb as you think.

3. Brainstorm your solutions in Wrike. It's free and everyone can start collaborating instantly!

15. What Would X Do

1. Have everyone pretend they're someone famous.

2. Each person must approach the problem as if they were their chosen famous person. What options would they consider? How would they handle it?

3. This allows everyone to consider solutions they might not have thought of originally.

Looking for more team-building and virtual meeting games? Check out these virtual icebreaker games or our Ultimate Guide to Team Building Activities that Don't Suck.

Additional resources on problem-solving activities

Problem-Solving Model : Looking for a model to provide a problem-solving structure? This detailed guide gives you the tools to quickly solve any problem.
The Simplex Process: Popularized by Min Basadur's book, The Power of Innovation , the Simplex Process provides training and techniques for each problem-solving stage. It helps frame problem-solving as a continuous cycle, rather than a “one and done” process.
Fun Problem-Solving Activities and Games : Looking for more ideas? Check out this list of interesting and creative problem-solving activities for adults and kids!
The Secret to Better Problem-Solving: This article provides tips, use cases, and fresh examples to help you become a whiz at solving the toughest problems.

How to organize problem-solving activities with Wrike

If you want to make problem-solving activities more effective, consider using team collaboration software such as Wrike.

Wrike’s pre-built actionable meeting notes template helps you keep track of meeting discussions, assign action items, and keep everyone in the loop. It’s an effective tool to streamline your problem-solving sessions and turn insights into real projects.

Brianna Hansen

Brianna is a former Content Marketing Manager of Wrike. When she’s not writing about collaboration and team building games, you’ll find her in the kitchen testing out the latest recipes, sharing her favorite wine with friends, or playing with her two cats.

7 Teamwork Terrors and How to Conquer Them

Since the dawn of man, teamwork and cooperation has been the preferred method of getting things done. From the pyramids of Giza to the Golden Gate Bridge, we rely heavily on teams of engineers and architects to create such majestic masterpieces. However, where there is teamwork, there is work required to be a team. Too many voices and conflicting opinions can lead to a giant headache and bring productivity to a grinding halt. Throw in egos, politics, and laziness and you've got a recipe for disaster. Here are 7 barriers that harm the harmony of your team: 1. Anchoring Have you ever been part of a group brainstorming session where, once two or three ideas have been shared, new ideas stop flowing and the group sort of shuts down? That’s anchoring. Teams get mentally stuck on the first few ideas and stop thinking of new solutions. Avoid the anchoring trap with these 7 brainstorming tricks, including brain writing. Be sure to keep all types of workers in mind with team building exercises for remote workers, so everyone feels included in the creative conversation. 2. Groupthink This teamwork barrier occurs when a majority of the group conforms to one idea despite their own concerns and insights, perhaps due to laziness, fear of judgement, time limitations, or being subjected to peer pressure from other members of the group. Because this is another common brainstorming risk, techniques like Stepladder and Round Robin brainstorming encourage everyone in the group to share their thoughts before settling on a course of action. 3. Social Loafing "If I don't get around to it, then someone on my team will just do it for me." If you've said this to yourself, then you're guilty of social loafing. Don't pat your lazy self on the back quite yet, you might have just cost your team some valuable productivity! Social loafing is the act of putting in less effort for a team project than you would for a solo task. This forces other team members to pick up the slack and possibility grow to resent you. One way to avoid this is by breaking a project into individual tasks and holding each team member accountable for certain steps. See how Wrike can help you assign tasks and delegate big projects. 4. Unresolvable Conflict Even the most successful teams sometimes experience conflict due to differences in opinion, perspectives, and experiences. However, if there is no way to resolve the conflict, then conflict harms your project's outcome. Unresolvable conflict can be caused by unclear goals and expectations for the project at hand, so avoid it by clearly communicating goals with the team and helping everyone understand their role. 5. Confirmation Bias Confirmation bias is the tendency to only accept information or evidence that confirms your own preconceptions. This bias can quickly become a roadblock when trying to iron out team conflict or justify a decision, and it can potentially lead to the Halo/Horn Effect (see below) and compromise good decision-making. To ward off this bias, challenge your beliefs and play devil's advocate. The Six Thinking Hats technique can also help you see a different perspective on the issue. 6. Halo/Horn Effect The way you perceive an individual strongly affects how you interact with them. If they made a poor first impression, or an offhand comment rubbed you the wrong way, you may have a subconscious bias against them. When that individual voices an opinion, you might automatically be more critical than you normally would. This can work to the opposite effect too. When someone you like shares their opinion, you might have a tendency to agree. When making big team decisions, try to be aware of this bias and focus on the best outcome for the team. 7. Overconfidence Effect Your perceptions and experiences inevitably shape who you are — but they can also lead to subtle mental biases that result in flawed decision making. The Overconfidence Effect happens when you accept or reject an idea based purely off a hunch with no evidence to back you up. (In fact, studies show that entrepreneurs are more likely to fall for this mental fallacy, rejecting others' ideas because of the false belief that they know what's best.) Don't fall for this mental trap! Always research new information and seek objective evidence to combat confirmation bias (and hopefully learn something new as well). What other teamwork barriers have you experienced? We'd love to hear how you resolved your teamwork troubles in the comments!

13 Awesome Team-Building Games (Infographic)

Whether you want to do new hire orientation icebreakers or just bond your team closer together, check out our list of awesome team building games that you and your team will want to play over and over again.

6 Different Team Effectiveness Models to Understand Your Team Better

Understanding these 6 team effectiveness models can help you figure out which model to adopt for your own team. Or it may simply help shed light into what's working in your own group, and how to help improve what's lacking.

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Inspiration

34 team building activities for the world of remote work

Woman in yellow sweater eating breakfast and working on laptop in kitchen.

19 Oct 2021

Team building activities are more important now than ever.

The rise of remote work has dispersed teams, introduced more freelancers and contractors into teams that were once entirely in-house, and left a lot of people feeling like they’re not actually part of a team at all.

It’s tough for employees to feel connected to their teammates when they rarely (if ever) interact in person and there are few opportunities for casual conversations that help build relationships.

Team building activities (even silly ones) can help fill those gaps and bring your people closer together. And most team building activities also make great icebreaker games to welcome recent hires and solidify newly formed teams.

But not all team building activities are right for every situation. It’s wise to evaluate the needs and attitudes of your team so you can choose the best activities to meet your goals.

We’ve compiled a huge list of team building activities. But before we dive in, we’re going to start with a few tips on how to choose the right activities for your team.

How to choose the right team building activities

At best, choosing the wrong team building activity simply won’t help build your team. At worst, a poorly chosen activity can irritate people and make them feel resentful that they had to spend time on something that gave them no value.

Here’s how to avoid both of those scenarios.

Start with a goal

This is the most forgotten aspect of choosing team building activities. That’s because the purpose of team building activities seems to be set by the nature of the events: get people talking and having fun together…or something like that.

But every team building activity focuses on a certain aspect of teamwork. And you should select activities based on your current needs. That means the first step is paying attention to your team and discovering where they need help.

If your team struggles with communication, look for an activity that helps them practice communicating in a fun way. Other teams may just need some time to get to know each other on a more personal level (this is especially common in remote situations).

Choosing an activity that addresses the needs of your team will obviously have a more positive impact. And people will be more likely to participate and enjoy an activity if they get the sense that it will make their work life better.

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Get management involved

If there’s one sure way to fail at a team building activity, it’s to make the team run it themselves without the help of management.

It’s tempting to think that getting management out of the way will help people loosen up and enjoy themselves. But it’s still a work event, and managers are part of the team too.

Getting managers involved demonstrates that they care enough to show up and help build the team. But it also takes pressure off individual employees to manage the event, so they can focus on getting the most out of the activity.

Make sure the team is on board

This is especially important for mandatory team building events. If people must attend an activity, it has to be something they enjoy. Otherwise they’ll just feel frustrated that they had to show up for something silly.

Check in with your team and find out what activities they would enjoy. That way you don’t end up with a room full of people rolling their eyes and waiting for the moment when they can go back to their desks.

Set realistic timelines

Speaking of when people can leave, it’s really important to keep the timeline of your team building activities reasonable.

No matter when you host your event — during work or off hours — people could be doing something else. They will be less enthusiastic about your team building activity if it’s going to put them behind on their work or take a big chunk out of their free time.

A good general rule is to limit team building activities to 30 minutes or less, especially in remote situations where it’s easy for people’s attention to wander.

If you’re planning something longer, definitely check with your people to make sure they’re okay with the timeline.

Virtual team building activities

That brings us to our big list of team building ideas. We’ve sorted them into categories to help you find the ones that best fit your team. And what better place to start than in the virtual workspace?

Virtual team building activities have become some of the most important, since they work for remote teams. They’re a great way to introduce new team members, boost employee engagement , and nurture the relationships that make great teams.

1. Lateral thinking challenges

You probably know lateral thinking questions as riddles. The goal of lateral thinking challenges is to get people thinking about problems from different angles and examining a broader range of possibilities.

Lateral thinking challenges make great team building activities because they’re fun to tackle as a group and it gives everyone a chance to see how their teammates approach problems.

Here’s a starter lateral thinking question : There are a dozen eggs in a carton. Twelve people each take a single egg, but there is one egg left in the carton. How?

There are textbook correct answers. But the most valuable thing for your team is the discussion and group problem-solving.

2. Open mic minutes

You could also call this a tiny talent show.

Give everyone a few minutes to prepare a one-minute performance that shows off something they can do or showcases something they like. It can be a story, a joke, playing the guitar on camera, or anything else they can think of that would be fun or entertaining for their teammates.

This is a great meeting warmup or series of icebreakers for newly acquainted teams.

3. Positive reinforcement GIF party

This one is simple but powerful, and it makes a great online team building activity because GIFs are easy to share in most online communication and collaboration tools.

Here’s how it works: have everyone give another person in the group a shoutout on something they’ve recently done well, or that they do well all the time, and find a GIF to represent their kudos.

For example, “When my project fell behind last week, Joe stepped in and saved the day” might look something like this:

Once everyone chooses a GIF, have them give their praise and share their GIFs one by one.

4. “Whose answer is that?”

Ask the entire group the same question. Use a question that will generate unique answers like, “What kind of animal was your first pet?” or “Where were you born?” or “What was the name of your first stuffed animal?”

Have everyone write their answer on a piece of paper with their name or send their answer in a private chat message. Read each answer and have the group guess who’s answer it is.

Easy enough, right? But there’s a twist: the group must come to a consensus for each answer. And whoever owns the answer must avoid being spotted, so they must pretend that it’s not their answer. Once all the answers have been voted on, reveal who gave each one.

This activity encourages the team to ask each other creative questions and use clever interpersonal techniques to get information.

5. Fast fact recall

This is a great way to help teams get to know each other and build memory skills.

Ask everyone the same question and have each person give their answer to the group. It’s best to use questions that generate simple answers.

Asking for a book, movie, or show recommendation works well. Asking people their favorite food, color, or another favorite thing also works. Just do your best to ask a question that generates a fact about that person.

Once everyone answers, ask each person to recall someone else’s response. The catch is that they can’t use a fact that someone else has already mentioned. The game gets harder as the number of available facts gets smaller.

If someone is stumped, the group can help them out. This keeps the game moving and ensures that everyone stays engaged.

6. Emoji Pictionary

Have one person tell a story, summarize a current work project, explain what they did over the weekend, or anything really. But they have to do it using only emojis. Then have the rest of the team work together to interpret the emoji message and see if they can get it right.

You can add interaction by letting the team ask questions of the person who wrote the emoji message. But that person can only respond with more emojis.

7. Virtual socialization space

Create a virtual watercooler where people can gather when they need a break. The simplest way to do this is to set up a Zoom meeting and leave it open during the workday, so people can come and go.

This one works best in industries where even remote teams require a lot of ongoing interaction or for teams that transitioned from traditional office spaces to remote work.

If people are accustomed to working from home and only periodically speaking to co-workers, they’re not likely to appreciate a common break space. But it can be useful if people are accustomed to periodically aggregating for a quick break and a chat.

8. Virtual Pictionary

This is exactly what it sounds like — but over Zoom.

There are websites that enable you to host a more formal version of Pictionary, complete with cards and a virtual drawing board. However, it can actually be more fun to have people draw on a piece of paper and show it to everyone through their camera.

It might sound lame. But the challenge of showing a drawing on camera while the timer is running is often hilarious.

Just keep in mind that you may have to add a little time to account for showing the drawings on camera. You can also use this list of Pictionary words , if you don’t have the actual game handy.

9. Reverse virtual Pictionary

This is similar to playing virtual Pictionary, but the group has to tell one person how to draw something without saying the word itself.

It might seem redundant, but this game is actually less resource intensive than Pictionary because it’s less dependent on randomized words. Reverse Pictionary is more of an exercise in giving clear, precise instructions. And that can be done with nothing but a pen and paper.

10. Remote scavenger hunt

Come up with a list of items people might have at home. Then have them run and find each item. Do this one item at a time. Give kudos to the people who find an item the fastest and the person who found the most items from the list at the end.

This one is nice because it can be really quick, with just a few items. Or you can draw it out with more items or exotic items that people are less likely to have.

11. Remote show-and-tell

Have people show off their hobbies on a Zoom meeting by giving each person up to 10 minutes (or more if you have time) to show something they made or talk about something they like to do.

People who have active hobbies like rock climbing or mountain biking can create a short video and show that instead since it’s tough to show off a rock wall or mountain bike on a Zoom call. (Just make sure everyone knows how to screen share with audio on Zoom for this).

12. Virtual meeting bingo

This is one that you can use to spice up your usual team meetings. Create a bingo card with things that often happen during virtual meetings. Things like, “someone tries to talk while on mute” or “cat on camera.”

Also feel free to add things that are unique to your team. If someone always has a cup of coffee during team meetings, no matter the time of day, add that to the bingo card to make it more fun and interactive. Just make sure you distribute the cards ahead of time so people can be ready.

13. Remote coworking groups

One of the most challenging aspects of working remotely is that people don’t feel like they’re part of a team because everyone is at home, working by themselves. There’s very little casual team interaction, if any.

Creating remote coworking groups or just paring people up as coworking partners helps bring teams together. All they have to do is hop on a video call and work silently together. They don’t even have to keep their microphones on. Only the camera has to be on.

This method of coworking even increases productivity. It’s actually so effective that there are services that connect remote workers for this exact purpose.

So you’ll make your teams feel more connected and probably help them get more done.

14. Recipe sharing party

People are doing a lot more home cooking these days. So get everyone together on a video call and have them share their favorite homemade recipes. If you give people enough advanced notice, they can even bring the completed dishes to show off.

You can also mix things up by making it just recipes for a certain meal (breakfast, lunch, or dinner). Or have people present something they think no one else will like.

15. Virtual spaces cleanup party

No matter how organized you are, you probably have at least one folder on your computer that’s the digital equivalent of a junk drawer.

This might sound lame. But it can be fun to get the whole team together and clean up the desktop and folders on your computers together. You can have people share their screens while they organize their digital workspace. Or simply post before and after screenshots.

16. Office trivia

Trivia is a pretty standard team building activity. But you can tailor the game to your team by asking questions pertaining to your particular office or organization.

This can be especially fun if your team used to work in a physical office, because you can ask questions that show how well (or not so well) everyone remembers the space.

Read your trivia questions aloud, pop them in the chat, or wow them all by sharing your questions via a trivia video, like this one:

17. Remote campfire (with campfire stories)

The long and the short of this one is that you’ll host a group video call to tell ghost stories, play mad-libs, and even have people light candles at their desks to simulate a tiny campfire (or play a campfire video ).

This one is especially fun if you host regular review meetings at the end of the day or week. Add a little campfire theme to your wrap up meetings and close them out with a fun campfire story or game.

18. Only the worst ideas

This one is a great way to open meetings. To start off the meeting, present a work project or problem. Have people give only the worst, most ridiculous ideas for how to complete the project or solve the problem.

It gets everyone warmed up to think about the topic at hand. And it’s a great way to open a brainstorming session, because it encourages people to give their ideas, since they can’t be worse than the ones you started with.

Asynchronous team building activities

Asynchronous team building activities are activities that you can do without your team needing to interact in real-time.

These activities are especially handy for global teams or teams where members have different work schedules, because you don’t have to get everyone together at once.

19. Home office snapshot collage

Have everyone take a snapshot of their home office. Then make a collage of all the pictures and use it as a background in virtual team meetings. Or post your home office collage in a common space at your physical office.

Alternatively, you can have team members make a home office video tour, like that MTV show “Cribs.” They can have as much fun with it as they want, but it’s wise to set a reasonable time limit for the videos.

20. Learn the NATO phonetic alphabet together

The NATO phonetic alphabet is a standardized collection of words that represent the letters of the alphabet. It’s used for spelling words on the radio because the words of the phonetic alphabet are easy to understand (even on fuzzy radio transmissions) and can’t be confused with other letters.

For example, the letters “B” and “D” sound very similar. They’re easily confused on the phone or on the radio. But the words for these letters in the NATO phonetic alphabet — Bravo and Delta — are easy to separate.

Have the team learn it together, then send messages to each other using the phonetic alphabet. It’s fun. And knowing the phonetic alphabet is a useful communication skill.

21. Video recaps

This one can be more or less work related, depending on how well your work lends itself to video. But the long and the short of this activity is to have your team capture progress footage of a specific project. Have one person gather the footage and create a recap video once the project is complete. If your work projects aren’t great candidates for video footage, people can create recap videos for their personal projects instead.

It will be a bit like virtual show and tell, but with more focus on documenting the process of doing something such as building a planter box or even just cleaning up the spare bedroom.

22. “Whose office is that?”

Ask the whole team to take pictures of their home offices, then have everyone guess whose office is in each picture.

The rules are similar to “whose answer is that?” Whoever owns the office has to do their best not to be spotted. You can even encourage people to take pictures that will make it difficult to determine whose office it is.

You can also turn this into an activity your team does together on a regular basis. Invite people to share a picture of something in their office — a coffee mug, their headphones, etc. — and the team can guess who’s office the object is in.

You can create a Slack channel for this game or use another communication and collaboration tool . This gives your team a fun quirk that they can all chuckle about.

23. Company values and policy videos

You can do this one even if you already have company values and policy videos.

Have each team member choose a company value or policy and make a video that explains it in a way that would be engaging for a new employee. Then have everyone share their video with the team.

It’s a fun way to get everyone to engage with company values and policies. And if you’re in HR, you might even want to use some of the videos as part of your employee onboarding package.

Not sure where to start? Give them a few video templates (like the one below) to get their creativity flowing.

In-person activities

Even with the prevalence of remote work, in-person team building activities still have a place. Some remote teams are local enough for occasional get-togethers. And physical workspaces are still a thing, even if they’re not as popular as they used to be.

So keep these in-person team building events in your playbook.

24. Problem-solving escape

There are a lot of ways to set up critical thinking and problem-solving team building activities. You just need a collection of puzzles or problems to solve and some sort of game mechanic to gamify the process of working through the puzzles and problems.

Here’s an example to show you what we mean:

Pretend there’s a lava fissure in the middle of a room. The pool of lava expands by one foot each minute. For each puzzle or problem the team solves, they get a brick. They must get enough bricks to build a levy that stops the lava from filling the entire room.

You can change the game mechanic or invent your own altogether. Set the time limit based on how much time you have for your team building activity. And you can use fun puzzles or real-world problems from your company’s industry.

Regardless of how you set up the game, this is a great way to get your teams working together to solve problems.

25. “Salt and pepper”

This one takes a little prep. You’ll have to write down pairs of complementary items on separate pieces of paper (things that go together like salt and pepper, i.e. peanut butter and jelly, peas and carrots, hand and glove).

Give each person a piece of paper and have them tape it to their back. Each person must ask other people questions to figure out what’s written on their paper. The catch is that they can only ask yes-or-no questions. Once they’ve discovered which half of the pair they have, everyone must then find their mate.

You can have the game end there if you wish or you’re short on time. But you can also go one step further and have people talk to their salt-and-pepper partner to find things they have in common or to engage in some other get-to-know-you activity.

26. Blindfolded obstacle course

This is a great team building activity if you want to help your team build communication skills.

It’s simple: set up an obstacle course with chairs, waste bins, and other office items. Don’t go crazy, though, because a blindfolded person will have to navigate it.

The blindfolded person has to make their way through the obstacle course with verbal instructions from the rest of the team. The team must guide the blindfolded person through the obstacle course without any physical contact.

They’ll have to develop a communication strategy and clearly communicate to succeed. The cool thing about this game is that there are no diminishing returns from doing it more than once.

You can have everyone take a turn being the blindfolded person, and the team will develop communication skills each time because each person will respond differently to the chosen communication strategy.

This game is a delightful way to illustrate how different people communicate differently, and help teams work out how to communicate with each team member.

27. Active listening quiz

This can also be a virtual team building activity, but it’s especially fun for in-person meetings.

Host a team meeting as usual. But during the meeting, have one person say or do something that’s totally out of left field. Draw a cartoon character on the board while talking about the meeting agenda or add a totally nonsense statistic to a performance report.

Obviously, you have to be subtle enough that people don’t ask what’s going on immediately. That way, you can quiz the team about the odd happenings at the end and see what they remember.

28. Business problem simulation

If you prefer business-oriented team building activities for work, this one is for you. And it’s relatively simple.

Come up with some sort of problem that’s common in your company. Then run a tabletop simulation for solving that problem. These exercises are very common in organizations like firefighting crews, military units, and engineering firms.

In real-world scenarios, it can take days, weeks, or months to solve these problems because implementing the solutions takes a long time. The benefit of tabletop exercises is that you can compress the solutions into minutes and focus on decision-making strategies and considering different courses of action.

29. Back-of-napkin problem solving

“Back of the napkin” is mostly just a figure of speech. But taking it literally can make for a fun problem-solving activity.

The idea is similar to the business problem solving simulation. The difference is that each person must work out their contribution to the solution on a napkin. If you want to make the activity even more challenging, limit the whole team to using just one napkin.

30. Find the common thread

There are two variations of this activity.

The first is to split the team into groups and have them ask each other questions until they find something they all have in common. It can be a hobby, a favorite food, setting their morning alarm for the same time, or anything else. As long as it’s something the whole group has in common.

A fun extra step is to have each group come up with a group name based on the thing they all have in common.

The other variation of this game is a little more subjective.

Start with two people. Have them ask each other questions until they find something they both have in common. Once they’ve identified something, choose someone else from the group and ask questions to identify something that they like that’s related somehow to the thing the first pair had in common.

It’s best to approach this variation as a group. Once the first pair has identified the thing they have in common, everyone can start offering up ideas that might connect that thing to the one of the next person’s interests.

That way everyone is involved and the team is forced to examine things from every possible angle.

31. Puzzle negotiation

You’ll need puzzles for this one. In the interest of time, it’s best to use simple puzzles. Before you start, secretly swap a few pieces of the puzzles, so each puzzle has pieces from all of the other puzzles.

Split the team into two or more groups and give each group a puzzle. The goal is to complete the puzzles, but they’ll have to barter with the other teams to get the pieces they need. It’s a fun way to help the team develop negotiation skills.

32. Who sells it best?

This is a classic exercise from sales teams where one person must sell a random object to someone else or to the team as a whole, within a limited amount of time.

This activity is most efficient if you limit the team to pitching objects that are in the room or office. And it’s more team oriented if you have each person create a short pitch for their item and present it to the team.

Once everyone has given their pitch, have the team vote on whose pitch was the best.

33. Office “Nailed It”

This activity is based on the show “Nailed It.” Don’t worry if you’ve never seen the show. The activity is simple:

Choose a piece of art or a picture. Split the team into two or more groups. Have the groups recreate the image using objects from the office.

Once they’ve completed their masterpieces, have the managers or team leaders choose who most accurately recreated the picture. Tell the winning group that they nailed it.

34. Team Sudoku

Believe it or not, Sudoku can actually be a team game. And you can get free Sudoku puzzles on the internet.

You can have the whole team solve a single puzzle together. Or, split the team into groups and see who can complete their Sudoku puzzle the fastest.

Believe it or not, this team building activity is even better if not everyone knows how to play Sudoku. Rather than explaining to the whole team how the game works, just make sure at least one person in each group knows how to play. Let that person explain it to the rest of their group.

You can take this tactic one step further by prohibiting the person who knows how to play Sudoku from writing on the puzzle. That way they have to get the other team members involved. This stresses communication and helps team members work on their leadership skills.

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The 28 Greatest Virtual Games for Large Groups

Organizing and entertaining a big group can be tough but it doesn’t have to be dull. Whether you’re leading a remote team or bringing friends together, we’ve got an amazing list of virtual games for large groups that will turn any online hangout into a fun time for everyone. Ready to make your next group call unforgettable? Let’s dive in and create some online magic!

Large Group Scavenger Hunt

Let’s put a twist on a beloved classic. Everyone knows how a scavenger hunt works: teams work together to solve trivia and challenges, using their skills to find answers. The version by Slides with Friends is a photo hunt variation, where players are given prompts asking them to snap photos of certain items. The game comes in the form of an interactive, easily-customizable slide deck that is perfect for large groups.

Best for teams that love teamwork and problem-solving, online scavenger hunts are awesome for getting people active and engaged from the comfort of their homes. Adding a bit of friendly competition and teamwork in this setting helps improve communication and decrease the feelings of disconnect often felt by remote workers.

Art Heist: The Vanishing of Van Gogh

Ready to play art detectives? “ Art Heist ” is a virtual game where players solve a mystery and try to find Van Gogh's famous painting "The Bedroom" within 90 minutes. A pro host leads the game on Zoom and provides materials for team building. You'll even get team photos to share!

The game is ideal for team members who love solving mysteries, puzzles, and decoding clues. It’s an immersive experience where your group will team up, put their problem-solving skills to the test, and have lots of fun.

Remember how awesome it felt to peek into the homes of celebrities on MTV's Cribs? “Cribs Quiz” is actually a guessing game based on your team members’ living spaces. Here's how it goes: Ask team members to show their home office or shared workspace through photos or a video, then have players guess who the space belongs to.

“Cribs Quiz” is great for large online teams because it helps foster personal connections among team members. It's a game that goes beyond work and lets everyone share insights about themselves, building stronger connections and understanding among the group.

Ghost Hunt in the Haunted Mansion

Get ready to explore the eerie Winchester Mansion in a virtual escape experience full of supernatural mysteries. In this 90-minute Zoom adventure, your team will gather clues, crack tricky puzzles, and face the unknown with digital Ouija boards to unveil the mansion's dark secrets.

Ideal for groups seeking adventure and mystery, “ Ghost Hunt in the Haunted Mansion ” combines storytelling and teamwork, testing your smarts, bravery, and ability to collaborate.

Virtual Murder Mystery Party

“Virtual Murder Mystery Party” is a role-playing game where participants solve a mystery online. It's like acting out a murder story to figure out who the killer is. These games usually happen on video chats like Zoom or Google Hangouts and in some cases include professional actors and a director to help things run smoothly.

Great for teams into detective tales and problem-solving, virtual murder mysteries are a great way for coworkers to connect, especially with those they don’t usually see in the office. Not only do they bring teams together in a cool, interactive way but they also boost critical thinking, improve decision-making, and encourage teamwork.

Do you like shouting at your friends? If so, this game is just for you! “ Spaceteam ” is a group game where players work together to stop their ship from blowing up by shouting technical jargon. Everyone needs a smartphone to play through Zoom, Skype, Hangouts, or by downloading the Bunch app for in-game video chats.

Ideal for teams who like quick, cooperative challenges, this game boosts real-time teamwork under pressure, making it a blast to play.

Virtual Amazing Race

“Virtual Amazing Race” is a competition where teams race against each other to solve puzzles, play games, tackle challenges, complete scavenger hunts, and photo-related tasks. Teams can be split into Zoom or Microsoft Teams groups and you can also use Google Drive docs or Google My Maps to set the game up.

The game is perfect for teams who want exciting team-building adventures. It's a great way to bond, communicate, and collaborate while having loads of fun in a dynamic and fast-paced setting.

Virtual Trivia: Individual vs. Individual

This is a quiz-style game where individuals show off their knowledge. Slides with Friends offers a pre-styled template to show you how to create your own trivia game based on general knowledge or specific themes. The layout is similar to preparing PowerPoint slides, so participants should be able to get a hang of it pretty quickly.

“ Virtual Trivia ” is great for anyone who loves testing their knowledge and enjoys friendly competition. It's especially fun for large groups looking to have a good time together while showing off their smarts. The game sparks excitement and engagement by challenging players' knowledge on various topics, making it a thrilling and entertaining experience for everyone involved.

Featured on the Ellen DeGeneres Show, “ Heads Up! ” is a virtual guessing game with different categories spanning from guessing celebrities and singing to doing funny accents. To play, gather your team, open the app, pick a category, hold your phone to your forehead, and listen to your teammates as they give hints for you to guess the word before the time is up!

This hilarious game is perfect for teams looking for light-hearted games. Plus, “Heads Up!” uses your device's front camera cleverly—it records the game and displays the words you're guessing so you can later share your fun with everyone!

Coworker Feud

Experience the virtual twist on the classic game show “Family Feud”, adapted as an exciting team-building activity. In “Coworker Feud”, players guess popular survey answers, like reasons for being late to work or what to gift a coworker.

The game is perfect for teams that are into friendly competitions without needing tons of trivia knowledge. It’s about having fun together, bonding, and improving teamwork. Plus, it helps everyone understand how coworkers think.

The viral game “ Among Us ” is a blast to play with coworkers. In this game, players are on a spaceship completing tasks while trying to spot imposters among the team. The catch? Imposters look like everyone else, so crewmates have to watch for odd behavior or clues to figure them out. The game can be played on mobile, PC, or Nintendo Switch.

Ideal for teams keen on strategy and figuring things out together, “Among Us” is fun because it’s a mix of teamwork, cunning strategies, and clever deception.

Read My Lips

“Read My Lips” is a game where players use Zoom video without audio to figure out what someone's saying. The host picks a topic and gives it to a player who mutes their mic and mouths the word. Everyone has one minute to guess the word, and the player with the most correct guesses is the winner.

Great for teams up for quirky communication challenges, “Read My Lips” is fun because it adds humor and boosts observation skills.

Funny Pet Contests

Pets are awesome for photos—they’re adorable, hilarious, and full of surprises. So, if you want a fun photo contest theme, four-legged friends are the perfect choice. The “Funny Pet Contest” is all about using amusing pet pics or videos. How to join? Share your funny pet photos or videos and vote for the best!

This is an ideal game for pet owners and animal fans on your team. It’s enjoyable because it’s light-hearted and brings the team closer together. A simple yet fun way for team members to bond and learn more about each other.

Online Karaoke Contest

Are you ready to show off your singing skills? The “Online Karaoke Contest” is a virtual singing competition for teams conducted on platforms with high-quality audio and video like Zoom. Be sure to choose the songs and lyrics beforehand and check everyone’s mic before the karaoke session begins. Don’t feel like singing solo? No problem! Shy participants can simply watch others sing or join in duets with others.

Perfect for teams loving music and performances, online karaoke contests are an engaging way to break barriers, showcase talents, and relieve stress through entertainment.

Virtual Charades

“Virtual Charades” is a twist on the classic word-guessing game where players act out prompts without speaking and let others guess. To play, use a video platform that can accommodate a large number of people like Zoom or Google Meet, and make sure to choose themes that your team is interested in. Common choices include movies, celebs, wildlife, or inside jokes everyone knows.

Perfect for groups into lively and expressive games, “Virtual Charades” is fun because it sparks creativity, teamwork, and communication. Plus, it’s a relaxed way to ease stress and boost morale within the team.

Can You Hear Me Now?

"Can You Hear Me Now?" is a drawing game that combines drawing skills with listening. To play, pick one player to be the speaker and let others get creative. An online image generator creates a picture, and the speaker explains it using only geometric shapes in their speech. For instance, "draw a big circle and a triangle above."

This game is great for teams looking for a creative teamwork challenge. It not only promotes teamwork and good communication but also focuses on strategy as players have to find innovative ways to convey and interpret instructions accurately.

This is an online drawing and guessing game similar to Pictionary. Each player takes turns as the "artist," drawing a word or phrase while others guess. You can use a mouse or graphics tablet and tools like pens, brushes, and colors. When someone guesses right, both the guesser and the artist score points. “ iSketch ” offers word lists in 20+ languages, various difficulty levels, themes, and game types.

It is perfect for teams that love visual games and creativity because it is a perfect blend of artistic expression and guessing fun.

Superhero Academy

Why be just regular coworkers when you could be the Avengers at least for one day? “ Superhero Academy ” offers a comic-book-themed team-building adventure where your team will dive into alter-egos, brain teasers, and challenges, testing skill and teamwork.

Perfect for teams seeking an immersive, themed experience, this lively activity creates an engaging environment where your team can shine. It’s not just about individual skills; it’s about working together, strengthening bonds, communicating better, and discovering hidden talents within the team.

Virtual Two Truths, One Lie

"Two Truths and a Lie" is a classic icebreaker game adapted for virtual get-togethers. Each player writes three statements about themselves: two truths and one lie. The rest of the group guesses which statement is the lie. Once everyone has voted, reveal the correct answer and allow team members to ask follow-up questions!

This is an especially fun way for people who are new to the team to break the ice and introduce themselves. It is also perfect for virtual teams aiming to build connections, understand each other better, and show a more playful side beyond work!

Virtual Candyman

“Virtual Candyman” is an online card game with hidden roles. To play, use a virtual card deck to assign roles and achieve game goals. There are three main characters: Candyman with an Ace card, Police with a King Card, and buyers with different number cards. At the start, no one knows who the Candyman is, and the cop aims to reveal them quickly. Players who successfully buy candy can leave the game. The Candyman wins by selling all candies without getting caught by the police.

This is a great game for groups into virtual role-playing and strategy games. It’s also perfect for large online groups because it involves intrigue and strategy, making it engaging for many players at once.

“Wordle” is a web-based word puzzle where players guess a five-letter word in six tries, with hints in different colors. While usually a solo game, you can also play it with a large virtual team to help team members exercise the brain muscles of memory and attention.

Great for teams loving word games and puzzles, “Wordle” boosts communication, teamwork, and reasoning, skills useful in daily work. It’s not just about guessing words; it’s about problem-solving with your team and having fun while cracking the code.

Virtual Team Pictionary

If you are looking for a game that will let you and your teammates get creative while having lots of laughs, look no further. “Pictionary” is a drawing and guessing game where someone draws while teammates guess what it is. You can go for a hosted virtual Pictionary for added structure, or use paper and pencil or Zoom's whiteboard feature.

Easy to set up and offering an opportunity for everyone to participate, “Pictionary” is ideal for teams that enjoy creative and interactive challenges.

Perspective Drawing

“Perspective Drawing” is a virtual drawing game that highlights team members' unique perspectives. Here’s how it works: Everyone draws their idea based on a given prompt, then shares and talks about their creations.

The game is perfect for teams into creative expression and team bonding. It’s a fantastic way to explore how each team member sees things differently and how those perspectives come together. It’s especially great for large groups online because it encourages everyone to share their unique views, fostering a stronger sense of connection and understanding within the team.

Cards Against Humanity (Online Version)

Looking for a fun way to hang out virtually? Consider playing the well-known card game "Cards Against Humanity" with friends or coworkers. It’s an adult game where one player picks a question card, and others pick the funniest answers from their cards. This website lets you create an easy-to-play virtual game on your phone or laptop. Players join a digital game room through a link, seeing the game live while keeping their own cards private.

The game's humor and light-hearted competition make it engaging and enjoyable for a large number of players, fostering interaction and laughter among the group.

Online Scattergories

This online version of the classic word game is perfect for big groups on Zoom or Microsoft Teams. All you need is paper and a willingness to brainstorm words. Simply pick a topic and a starting letter (for instance, the first letter of the last name of the first person in the meeting), and let the creativity flow.

“ Online Scattegories ” is great for teams loving wordplay and creative thinking. It’s a fun icebreaker that brings in fun and a bit of friendly competition, boosting team spirit and strengthening team bonds.

Psych (Online)

“ Psych ” is a fun game where players come up with fake answers for real trivia questions. The player who picks the correct answer earns points. To play, download the app and invite your team. The game offers diverse and entertaining categories, perfect for trying out with your remote team.

This game is great for larger groups because it sparks laughter and encourages creative thinking. It’s an excellent way for many players to bond, share laughs, and showcase their imaginative side, adding a lively buzz to team interactions.

Online Cooking Challenge

This is a virtual cooking competition where participants make dishes inspired by a specific theme or ingredients in a limited time. They showcase their creations over a video call, sharing their cooking journey and inspiration. Winners can be chosen through votes from peers, a panel, or the audience.

Perfect for teams loving cooking and creativity, an online cooking challenge is a great way to bring the team together, encouraging a sense of togetherness and friendly competition.

Slides with Friends

“ Slides with Friends ” is a platform where you can personalize virtual games for interactive fun. It offers ready-to-use templates for team building, meetings, brainstorming, and more. Each template clearly states the number of slides, approximate time for playing, and recommended group size, making it easy to choose. There's always something new to enjoy without too much time for setup. All you need to do is make a slide show, start a Zoom call, and share your screen. Everyone can join the event using their phones to answer questions, type responses, vote, share pictures, make fun noises, and more!

The platform is perfect for teams looking for diverse and engaging virtual games. It's especially fun because it's flexible and inclusive for remote teams, fostering collaboration in a lively and interactive manner.

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Virtual Remote Group Problem Solving and Process Improvement

By: Scott Converse

Working remotely with virtual teams isn’t new, but with the recent pandemic, it’s become the new normal. While there are dozens of articles and blogs about how to be more effective in virtual meetings, a common question I’m fielding is, “how do I perform a group problem solving session or do an entire process improvement project when each of us is working remotely?” Here are some tips to help with your remote meetings and problem-solving sessions.

What’s the Problem?

A benefit of working with diverse teams is that each member has different experiences and viewpoints. Unfortunately, that strength can be an early roadblock. Even in face-to-face meetings there is often uncertainty about what it is that the group is supposed to analyze and improve. With remote gatherings it can be even more confusing.

The tools listed below have been around for decades and I find they are even more important to use with online meetings and remote problem-solving sessions. However, they should be created in advance, shared in advance, and then updated to reflect the information shared in the session. This list assumes you are working on a process; I have separate suggestions for non-process environments at the end of this message.

Tools to create a better understanding of the process problem:

A current state high-level process map that shows the start and end points, in addition to the steps required to create the output . If the map is less than four objects, it’s too simple. If it’s greater than a page, slide, or more than nine steps, it will require additional explanation and context for the whole group to have a shared and similar understanding.
A performance-based goal statement. SMART goals are nice, but in a process improvement problem solving session, I prefer to modify the SMART format. In performance-based goal statements, I include: • A description of the process that will be analyzed where boundaries are described, as well as the primary output and some description of the frustration or problem the end users are experiencing. This helps provide context for the goal statement as well as for the high-level process map discussed earlier. • An estimate of the current state performance. If you have any quantitative or qualitative data to support this, refer to it. If you don’t have data, don’t skip this critically important activity. Have the team use their diverse experience to make an estimate and assign the data collection as an action item after the meeting to capture relevant data or create an experiment that helps to show what is current state performance. Without a baseline for your process performance, you’ll have no insight as to whether you improved the system in future state. • An estimate of the future-state performance needed to reduce frustration and meet end-user needs. Same rules apply for your future state estimate as do for your current state estimate. • A timeframe for the goal to be reached. I also like to include any key milestones or key phases that require completion. For example, if you follow PDCA , when will each phase be completed?

Who’s Doing What?

It’s easy to bring everyone into a video conference, it’s much more difficult to have everyone agree on accountability related to the problem-solving analysis after the meeting. A roles and responsibility discussion is important. For small groups that meet frequently on other projects, this can be short and informal.

For newer and larger teams, it should be planned out in advance. Your planning should help create a conversation around how decisions are made, what is “good enough” or how quality levels will be determined for the work assigned, who should be consulted prior to decision making, and how the decisions should be shared with the group and the whole organization.

Classic tools used to foster a good conversation around roles and responsibilities include a RACI chart . At the end of the article I’ve included a template for a modified RACI chart optimized for a process improvement project.

What’s Not Going To Be Worked On?

Scoping is critical for any project. For virtual teams that are working on smaller or less complex projects there’s a tendency to not use classic scoping tools like a project charter or a statement of work. Be careful if you do decide to skip these tools.

At least create an In Scope/Out of Scope table that answers these questions: • Are there certain customer types that we will be focusing on? • Are there certain geographic regions that we will be considering? Certain branch locations? If not geography what about work shifts? Time zones? • Are there special product or service offerings that should be excluded? • Are there extremely complex requests that should be excluded from the group’s analysis? • Are there certain functional groups within the organization that we’ll be optimizing the system for at first?

How Long Is This Journey?

Part of goal setting and scoping is creating time estimates for project completion. If you know that you must resolve the issue in only one or two meetings, this signals to the team that “perfect is our enemy; very good is what we are trying to achieve.”

If you know you’ll be meeting 10-20 times, that doesn’t mean everyone should over-analyze or try to reach perfection, or worse yet, everyone can procrastinate because there’s so much time in the schedule. But this additional time does mean you have more flexibility in the level of analysis, the types of technology used, and the amount of parallel activity happening concurrently. Naturally, estimates on day one will be less accurate than later in the project lifecycle, but setting some reasonable timeframes that reflect business and end-user need is important and helps to level-set for the team.

Smaller Groups Whenever Possible

Large meetings are hard to manage and run effectively. Large virtual meetings are even more difficult. Divide the large team into smaller subgroups and work off-line whenever possible. Many technology platforms allow you to do this within the meeting. I find it just as productive to make the large meeting shorter and then have the smaller groups meet online afterward to do their important work tasks, brainstorming, idea vetting, diagram building, or group discussion.

What If You Don’t Have A Process?

Processes have a beginning, an end, a series of steps, and they repeat over and over again. What if the issue being analyzed has never happened before (no current state), there are no “steps” or flow yet determined, and begin/end/output is uncertain? Many of the tools and tips described earlier will be unusable when you aren’t dealing with a process (for example the high-level process map.)

For highly uncertain initiatives that are more about new process design or new product development, use incremental and iterative approaches. Don’t try to build the whole solution or solve the whole complex issue. Instead have the group work on one small piece of the puzzle with the goal of creating something of value or a minimum viable solution. Use the small item of value to gather feedback from end users and the organization. Then create another small piece of value in the 2nd, 3rd , 4th, iteration. After each iteration, improve the way the team works, how technology is used, how they share information, and how decisions should be made. In highly uncertain environments, this incremental and iterative approach often outperforms more classic methods of problem solving.

Additional Resources

For deeper dives into each of the topics discussed, please visit the following professional development programs offered at the Center for Professional & Executive Development : • Business Process Improvement Using Lean Six Sigma and Performance Metrics • Managing Teams Effectively • Effective Meeting Management and Facilitation

Please visit our blog for more articles to help you and your organization during periods of great change and transition.

Scott Converse teaches Process Improvement and Project Management programs for the Wisconsin School of Business Center for Professional & Executive Development. To learn more about these programs, view our Lean Six Sigma and Project Management Certificates .

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Group Dynamic Activity
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COMMENTS

14 Brain-Boosting Problem Solving Group Activities For Teams
Jeopardy. Problem-solving activities such as Virtual Team Challenges offer a great way for teams to come together, collaborate, and develop creative solutions to complex problems. 2. Problem-Solving Templates. Problem-Solving Templates are popular problem-solving activities that involve a group of people working together to solve an issue.
Top 22 Virtual Problem-Solving Activities For Teams
22. Ultimate Game Show. If you're looking for high-energy virtual problem-solving activities for competitive teams, then the Ultimate Game Show is the perfect fit. In this 90-minute virtual event, players bond together as a team while playing different quizzes to win the final prize.
Top 50 problem solving activities, games & puzzles for remote teams
Group problem solving activities are very efficient, especially for adults. These can be used in any setting to enhance problem solving skills. ... Famous virtual problem solving software. Traditionally watercoolers chat is a great way to bring people together and help team members interact with one another. A virtual water cooler has a similar ...
Problem Solving Games, Activities & Exercises for Adults
4. Sudoku. Sudoku is one of the most popular free problem solving games for adults. The objective of this game is to fill each box of a 9×9 grid so that every row, column, and letter contains each number from one to nine. The puzzle makes a great team challenge. To play Sudoku on Zoom, screen share the game board.
Best 20 Problem-Solving Activities to Challenge Your Team
Quick and easy problem-solving activities 12. Unpuzzled (in-person, virtual, hybrid) Activity Focus Areas: Communication, reasoning, collaboration under time pressure. Objective: Unpuzzled is an engaging team-building game that combines problem-solving and trivia elements. The goal is for each team to work collaboratively to solve a series of puzzles and then unscramble them to uncover a meta ...
Problem solving games online: for remote and hybrid teams
Group problem solving should be enjoyable, and the games you choose should be more fun than work. Virtual team problem solving games can be played online through video conferencing tools such as Teams, Zoom, Webex, and Google Meet, and involve solving different types of puzzles and problems as a team.
18 high-impact virtual team building activities and games
18 virtual team building activities and games. This isn't academic theory or some stuff we just made up. This is how real remote teams have fun and stay connected. Building bonds between teammates is extra-important when you're in remote or hybrid mode, as a growing body of research confirms. Whether an activity is just for fun or helps ...
13 Problem-Solving Activities & Exercises for Your Team
Here are nine easy-to-implement activities that can bring substantial change to your team culture and overall workplace dynamics. #1. Crossword Puzzles. Objective: To enhance problem-solving skills, vocabulary, and cognitive abilities through engaging crossword puzzles. Estimated Time: 15-20 Minutes. Materials Needed:
Virtual Team-Building Exercises
Holding these exercises regularly gives your team members fun ways to interact and get to know one another. It encourages them to connect and to collaborate, and this can benefit your team and the organization as a whole. You've accessed 1 of your 2 free resources. Virtual team-building exercises have real-world impact.
33 activities for virtual team building and engaging online
The Virtual Scavenger Hunt is a great team activity for Zoom and an online whiteboard - encouraging teams to be creative, gently competitive and work together to get the best possible result. Start by creating a list of items to be found online. You can see an example in the method below.
63 Fun Team Building Activities for Virtual Groups
Here are 8 lively team games perfect for virtual teams: 1. Scavenger Hunt Bingo. Create bingo cards filled with tasks like "Find something purple" or "Show a childhood stuffed animal.". Break into virtual teams and have groups race to find items that complete rows on their card and yell "Bingo!".
23 Problem-solving games for busy work teams
15. Sudoku. Sudoku has become one of the most popular problem solving games for adults. There are dozens of free app options, as well as paperback books that you can pick up. The goal of this game is to fill each box on a 9×9 grid so that every row, column, and letter contains each number from one to nine.
Team Building Exercises
How did team members create and deliver the presentation, and was this an individual or group effort? Exercise 3: Create Your Own* In this exercise, teams must create their own, brand new, problem-solving activity. Uses. This game encourages participants to think about the problem-solving process.
20 Non-Cheesy Five-Minute Virtual Team Building Activities ...
After a few rounds, compare responses to see each person's association journey. 6. Object Memory. Object Memory is a five-minute team-building activity that will train your team's brains while teaching an important lesson about the power of teamwork and communication skills.
Unleashing Creativity: 23 Group Activities Ideas For Problem Solving
16 In-Person Group Activities Ideas For Problem-Solving. Word Association: Word association is a game in which groups must collaborate to come up with a list of words that are connected in a given amount of time. Picture Association: Teams must cooperate in order to connect a collection of images to create a narrative.
22 Unbeatable Team Building Problem Solving Activities
Problem-solving is a critical skill and team building problem solving activities can help your team have fun while sharpening their skills. Phone 1-800-565-8735. Request a Quote. ... For more information about how your group can take part in a virtual team building, training, or coaching solution, reach out to our Employee Engagement ...
17 team building problem-solving activities that actually work
Virtual team building problem-solving activities. If your team is working in a remote or hybrid setting and you're looking for some fun games that strengthen problem-solving skills, the following activities are a match. ‍ Related: The best team building software tools & apps. ‍ 7. Yes, and … Price: Free. Time: 5-15 minutes
Virtual Team Building Activities: 39 BEST Ideas for Work
Virtual team building activities are group games, challenges and exercises via platforms like Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet. ... What Would You Do? foster fun and engagement, but this virtual team activity allows coworkers to learn each others' problem-solving processes in real-time. Here is a list of would you rather questions to ...
Top 15 Problem-Solving Activities for Your Team to Master
3. Egg Drop. Helps with: Collaboration, decision-making. Why decision-making is important for problem-solving: Making decisions isn't easy, but indecision leads to team paralysis, stagnant thinking, and unsolved problems. Decision-making activities help your team practice making quick, effective choices.
34 team building activities for the world of remote work
This game is a delightful way to illustrate how different people communicate differently, and help teams work out how to communicate with each team member. 27. Active listening quiz. This can also be a virtual team building activity, but it's especially fun for in-person meetings. Host a team meeting as usual.
14 Best Collaboration Games & Activities for Teams
Helium Stick is a great collaboration game that promotes teamwork, problem-solving, and communication skills. 14. The Human Knot. The Human Knot is one of the best collaboration games for students. Here is how to play the game: Gather a group of students, and have them stand in a circle facing each other.
The 28 Greatest Virtual Games for Large Groups
These games usually happen on video chats like Zoom or Google Hangouts and in some cases include professional actors and a director to help things run smoothly. Great for teams into detective tales and problem-solving, virtual murder mysteries are a great way for coworkers to connect, especially with those they don't usually see in the office.
Virtual Remote Group Problem Solving and Process Improvement
By: Scott Converse. Working remotely with virtual teams isn't new, but with the recent pandemic, it's become the new normal. While there are dozens of articles and blogs about how to be more effective in virtual meetings, a common question I'm fielding is, "how do I perform a group problem solving session or do an entire process improvement project when each of us is working remotely?"
Can science find ways to ease loneliness?
One Wednesday in May 2023, a small group gathered at an outdoor café in Barcelona, Spain, sipping coffee in the late morning sunshine and talking about their lives. ... have reported feeling lonely in a survey and signed up to help test whether building social support though a series of group activities in urban green spaces might help. On ...

14 Best Team Building Problem Solving Group Activities For 2024

What are the benefits of group problem-solving activities?

Popular Problem Solving Activities

2. Problem-Solving Templates

Problem Solving Group Activities & Games For Team Building

4. Crack The Case

5. Catch Meme If You Can

6. Puzzle Games

7. Virtual Code Break

8. Stranded

9. Letting Go Game

10. Wild Goose Chase

11. Human Knot

12. What Would You Do?

13. Crossing The River

14. End-Hunger Games

People Also Ask These Questions About Team Building Problem Solving Group Activities

Q: What kind of skills do group problem solving activities & games improve?

Q: What are problem solving based team building activities & games?

Q: What are some fun free problem solving games for groups?

Q: How do I choose the most effective problem solving exercise for my team?

Q: How do I know if my group problem solving activity was successful?

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Top 22 Virtual Problem-Solving Activities to Strengthen Any Team

What Are Problem-Solving Activities?

The Four P’s to Problem-Solving

Benefits of Developing Problem-Solving Skills in the Workplace

Better risk management

Better thinking

Better communication skills

Increased team cohesion

Efficiency / increased productivity

List of the Top 22 Virtual Problem-Solving Activities

1. Dumbest Idea First

2. Brainstorm Ideas

3. End in Mind

4. Stop, Start, Continue

5. Idea Mock-Ups

6. Be a Character

7. Idea Trial

8. Crossword Puzzles

9. Online Escape Rooms

10. Murder Mysteries

11. Virtual Hackathons

12. Treasure Hunts

13. Moral Challenge

14. Improv Games

15. Poem/Story Challenge

16. What Would You Do?

17. Lost at Sea

18. The Hunt

19. Coworker Feud

20. Virtual Code Break

21. War of the Wizards

22. Ultimate Game Show

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1. Decision making games

2. Teambuilding puzzle

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4. Team building riddles

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9. Group problem solving activities for adults

10. Problem solving activities for students

11. Problem solving activities for kids