The Benefits of Trivia for Remote Teams
Why is trivia great for remote and hybrid teams? It’s not just because it’s easy to organize or familiar. Trivia has some great benefits for distributed teams, and after two years of quizzing people all over the world, Anywhere League knows why.
…In 2020, early in the pandemic, online trivia became a go-to activity. It was easy to organize, people generally liked it, and it was far better than trying to keep conversation flowing on a video call after everyone had shown off their pets.
Now that more offices are adapting hybrid work models and we’re not just trying to fill the hours during lockdown, you might wonder if it’s still a good activity to do, and the answer there is a resounding yes. At Anywhere League, we’ve been watching teams bond over trivia for two years, we can tell you that it has some serious benefits for team engagement.
A Fun Way to Develop Psychological Safety
It can be hard to speak up in business meetings if you’re not sure you’re right or others sound more confident. Trivia sessions provide a low-pressure way to practice these skills. It’s easy to have confidence in your answer if, for example, you just re-watched the movie in question last week. The variety of questions helps keep things interesting and helps everyone feel safe and confident in making a contribution.
It works both ways, as well. Doing trivia provides good practice for those who need help listening to others and deferring to other’s opinions. Teammates learn to respect each other’s strengths and contributions and have productive discussions when there are disagreements. Getting a chance to do so in a relaxed social setting makes it easier when the stakes are higher.
Low-Risk Decision Making
This one is related to psychological safety, but is a common enough theme that we thought it deserved its own discussion. In a business meeting, people might be vying to provide the best response to something, but in team trivia no one wants to be the person who talks everyone out of a correct answer.
Each question involves a process of consensus-building and decision-making. Some are relatively easy, but others involve more discussion. Ultimately, teams work together to arrive at the best solution. Doing that 25 times in an hour makes it second nature.
Serious Social Bonding
One of the reasons we do team-building activities of any kind is to provide employees with a chance to get to know each other better. Trivia is uniquely suited to the purpose, since any session will provide a variety of topics for people to weigh in on. We’ve heard colleagues bond over college majors they didn’t know they shared or vow to give a teammate the chance to try good, homemade macaroni & cheese for the first time.
It may seem obvious, but one of the things remote workers lack is informal chances to get to know one another. Trivia has enough unstructured time for teams to chat together and share stories and experiences, but also provides facilitation and direction to keep the conversation from stalling out.
What Makes Anywhere League Even Better?
The benefits of trivia are made even easier with Anywhere League. Instead of a single event that leaves you feeling like you’re herding cats, Anywhere League’s unique six-week season means:
- Having regular, weekly opportunities to practice interpersonal skills allows them to develop more than infrequent events.
- Your colleagues can drop in during any of the offered quiz times each week, no need to reserve a spot.
- With six weeks of trivia, there’s bound to be a category that appeals to everyone.
- There’s less pressure. People can join if they have time, or skip a week if they don’t.
- Competing against other companies builds team spirit better than going up against your own coworkers.
Give Anywhere League a try and see how regular team-building can benefit your remote or hybrid employees! We have new seasons starting every month, and are happy to answer any questions you might have. Happy quizzing!