This article was originally published on CareerWise – “Your source for career development news and views.”

Whether your team is suddenly working remotely due to COVID-19, or is accustomed to being apart, it’s important to continue to cultivate a sense of community. This can combat loneliness and isolation, and build trust among team members. Not only will being more connected help team members feel happier, they may work more effectively together.

While team building may call to mind in-person activities, there are many options for bringing people together online. Many of these activities are most easily facilitated through a video conferencing tool, but if you need an asynchronous or low-bandwidth option, try adapting some activities to your group chat, email or conference call.

Hold a games night (Or afternoon, or lunch hour …)

There are many games that you can play virtually with team members. Create your own trivia (or join a local pub trivia that’s moved online), play a Pictionary-style game (or build your own using Zoom Whiteboards or Miro), get together for bingo, play a virtual version of the popular boardgame Codenames, find a game on Board Game Arena, or chat and play games together on the Houseparty app.

Show and tell

Children are popping into Zoom calls, dogs are barking in the background and we’re getting to know each other’s work-from-home wardrobes – in other words, our work and personal lives are blending together in new ways. Why not embrace this with some show and tell? Team members can give a guided tour of their home office, introduce their pet, share a funny or meaningful photo, or show off that novelty mug on their messy desk.

You can also make it into a game of “show and guess” by having people submit photos in advance – of their home working space or a baby photo, for instance – and then getting co-workers to guess whose it is.

Brush up on your skills

There are a wealth of learning opportunities available online right now. Have your team sign up for a course, workshop or webinar together, and then set up a time to discuss takeaways. CharityVillage routinely offers free webinars and has a variety of online courses available for nonprofit professionals.

Also, from our article “Resources for career professionals navigating COVID-19,” here are some organizations offering regular webinars for career professionals and jobseekers: ACCES Employment; APCDA; BambooHR; BCCDA; BC Centre for Employment Excellence; Brandon Hall Group; Career Professionals of Canada; CCPA; CDAA; CERIC; CharityVillage; Conference Board of Canada; CPHR Manitoba; Crisis and Trauma Resource Centre; Hire Immigrants; Mental Health Commission of Canada; MENTOR; NCDA; OACM; Ontario Nonprofit Network; Pay Scale; Psychometrics; Respect Ability; Resume Writing Academy; World Education Services.

[Insert your activity here] club

While a book club or movie club might immediately come to mind, you can create team clubs around many different types of activities. Knitting, baking, TV show binging, writing – let your imagination run wild. Set up meetings to discuss or do activities together. (Pro tip for movie or TV clubbers: If everyone has a Netflix account, you can watch movies together and chat by downloading the free Chrome extension Netflix Party.)

Have a ‘just for fun’ chat

Whether in Slack, a WhatsApp group – or whatever instant messaging platform you keep in touch with co-workers – consider creating a chat that’s just for sharing gifs, memes, pictures, music and other fun things. These small moments of connection can put a smile on people’s faces and bring co-workers together around common interests.

Create a masterclass

Many workplaces host “lunch and learns” to help team members share skills, learn new things and develop presentation skills. That doesn’t have to change – but now that everyone is at home, consider how you could broaden it to add a little levity and fun. In addition to sharing their expertise in areas that can help their team members with their work, encourage people to give short presentations on their non-work-related interests or hobbies. For instance, “How to create your own sourdough starter,” “Home workout basics,” “Sew your own face mask,” “Writing short stories” or “Woodworking 101.” These are best conducted live, so people have the opportunity to chat and ask questions, but could also be recorded.

Cheers to long-distance happy hour

This could be an opportunity to show off your mixology skills, but virtual happy hour can also be alcohol-free. Grab a coffee, a snack – whatever – and bring the team together for an end-of-day, casual hangout. No shop talk! This is an opportunity for people to relax and talk casually; save the to-do lists for meetings. If your work schedule permits, consider carving out some time at the end of the workday instead of asking people to join in their personal time.

An alternative to this is a virtual lunch break or virtual water cooler chat. (The CERIC and Counselling Foundation of Canada teams have been getting together regularly for “recess” since we’ve been social distancing!) Set up a recurring video call or chat at the same time each day and invite people to stop by when they want to.

Capture the highlights in a newsletter 

If they are no longer working together on a daily basis, team members may not be aware of all of the great things their colleagues have been doing since they’ve been apart. Create a weekly or monthly email newsletter to celebrate tiny wins, acknowledge hard work and commend accomplishments. You may also want to share some personal news from colleagues. You can build something simple in email, or take it up a notch with a newsletter builder like MailChimp or Tiny Letter.

Get quizzical

There’s nothing quite like a personality assessment to get your team chatting about everyone’s strengths and unique qualities. While career professionals may be more accustomed to administering formal assessments with clients, there are quick and free options available online that can work as conversation starters. (And for the Potterheads out there, you can learn a lot about a person by through a patronus quiz.)

Ideas and inspiration for this article came from:

Lindsay Purchase oversees CERIC’s tri-annual magazine, Careering, and the CareerWise website, along with the CareerWise Weekly newsletter. She has a background in journalism, having worked previously as a digital editor and reporter. Lindsay is a graduate of Wilfrid Laurier University’s Global Studies program.