How Virtual Reality will change Team Building events

Virtual reality has grown into a convenient technology with the ending of a decade that has seen the development of many creative virtual reality applications.

It has changed from just a gaming technology to an important means by which groups of people can work together to achieve a common goal.

The future of virtual reality in team building is inevitable as more businesses are in demand of cost-effective, reliable and effective means to manage team building activities in localized or different geographical locations.

Our future and Virtual Reality

Although the use of virtual reality has not swept the world over yet, it has been predicted that a quarter of a billion virtual reality headsets will be sold by 2020. As more people start using and get exposed to its technology, more team building events shall become feasible.

You may have not used virtual reality yet but it is interesting to note that soon there will be day-to-day events that will require virtual reality just like you need a smartphone today. There are many virtual reality applications that hint its importance in the near future in fields such as real estate, travel, tourism, sports, marketing, and security just to name a few.

In some companies, there comes a time when a demonstration by team members is inevitable. If the involved parties don’t prefer traveling to a physical meeting location, they can meet virtually in much less time and for far less cost.

Hugo Barra, the vice president of Facebook, said the power of the idea of virtual reality connecting people in different locations is so significant that you almost have to believe it is going to happen.

Team building will be affected positively in many ways due to the advantages of Virtual Reality

1. Communication

The first and most obvious way is the team building goal of communication. Every business with a team of employees relies on communication for organizing the flow of activities and work.

In a business setting, communication has various aspects. Interpersonal communication, role development, leadership and critical thinking are some aspects that can be improved using team building.

Since the goal of team building is to increase the effectiveness of teamwork, in the modern job industry where team members may be in different geographical locations, virtual reality may play an important role in team building activities for such teams, since virtual reality can be used among team members positioned in different areas of the globe.

2. Cost Reduction

For companies that look to shed off the cost for team building activities, virtual reality shall come in handy. Cost reduction can be witnessed on the expenses of carrying out team building activities such as travel, hotel bookings and space rentals for members.

3. New Experiences

A great way that virtual reality can enhance team building is by using the multitude of virtual reality games and experiences available for team building activities. Virtual reality games and simulations can be customized with company logos, services or products for a bespoke feel. They can be further customized by including business-oriented tasks that will help members to improve on teamwork and business skills at the same time.

Most virtual reality experience providers give guests the opportunity to decide and choose the general appearance and feeling of a prospective team building event based on what the team members are expected to accomplish. Customization helps to balance the entertainment factor and skill improvement capability of virtual reality events.

4. Updated Softwares

Another advantage of virtual reality is frequent updates of software and the release of more sophisticated virtual reality gadgets. There is hardly any alternative means of team building where thousands of new features are created each year.

Unlike traditional methods of team building, virtual reality software are improved with time providing new features to excite your teams and new skills to work on. Most virtual reality software providers integrate the latest equipment and extend device compatibility with each update hence more virtual reality gadgets are able to execute a given software. Team building games and simulations are being created as more consumers become enlightened on the need for virtual reality in team building.

5. Flexibility

The flexibility of virtual reality where you are able to create any type of event for your team gives it an edge over other team-building methods.

There are thousands of virtual reality experiences available from providers such as virtualrealityrentals.co from which you can choose the best option for you and your guests.

Some virtual reality experience providers have pre-event strategy options where you decide on what goal you want to achieve. The feeling conveyed by each event can be tweaked to provide the desired environment that suits the aim or objective of the activity.

Team members may be presented in a fictional environment such as in space trying to survive on a foreign planet, or even as footballers in a loud stadium trying to focus amidst the noise, giving the team a sense of friendliness or a sense of competition as seen fit.

It is not often that a team may be offered an opportunity to create memories they will never forget while working together on a traditional team building event.

6. Measure Performance with Statistics

The statistics and performance of employees can easily be monitored using integrated analytics software.

Statistical data for traditional team building events is hard to establish and liable to corruption and errors. This data is handy to human resource departments that need to identify the strengths and weaknesses of its workforce.

For team building activities intended for gathering information, important data on member’s performance helps to identify areas that need to be worked on. Such statistics may be used to set thresholds for team members so that they can proceed to the next activities only if they pass the threshold.

You may use such data to organize team members at work based on their performance. You may also be informed on job areas that need reinforcement in terms of skills, show the teams their performance and even award best performance based on the data.

7. External Factors

Traditional team building events are affected by external factors such as bad weather.

Since virtual reality is best used indoors, the conditions of an event can be easily controlled to the comfort of participants.

8. Reusable equipment

Virtual reality team building only needs a handful of gear that can be reused on all team building event unlike most traditional team building activities such as back to back drawing which require the use of fresh equipment for each round of the event.

The Excitement of the Virtual Reality world

The idea of hopping into a virtual world is exciting. Wouldn’t you be happy to experience Mount Everest without risking your life on the real Mount Everest? This could be much more fun if experienced by people who work together, treading through the snow and assisting each other to make it to the top. Such virtual reality activities have a unique vibe that makes them more interesting than traditional team building activities.

Traditional team building activities can be made much more exciting by adding features that are only possible in a virtual world.

There are thousands of virtual reality software available for team building events. They range from communication-intensive activities such as ‘keep talking and nobody explodes’, where team members work together to diffuse a bomb, to competitive activities such as ‘NBA 2K’, where team members compete with each other while testing their basketball skills.

One of the most popular experiences of all virtual reality is ‘job simulator’ where team members explore a virtual workplace. A good advantage of this event is that you get to identify your best virtual employee.

Team members could also unleash their creativity on artistic virtual reality simulations such as ‘Soundstage’, a virtual reality music maker in which guests collaborate to make their own custom songs. This is a great option if you are looking to have your team leave the event with a collective accomplishment.

Objective Definition

It is important to consider the objectives before picking a virtual reality event for your team. An activity that involves critical thinking may not be suitable for the objective of aggressiveness and competition.

However, the chosen objective should involve the goals of any team building activity which are to encourage bonding of team members, developing communication and leadership skills of all team members, stimulating teamwork and most important to foster full participation by generating excitement among team members.

Conclusion

Virtual reality is a relatively new technology which offers up to par team building activities. Some businesses are already aware of this opportunity and it is to their advantage if they act on it.

Virtual reality experience providers such as Virtual Reality Rentals offer this service for a fraction of the general cost since you don’t have to buy the virtual reality gadgets, you can rent them.

It is widely known that businesses which embrace new technology and embrace change are the ones that can stand the test of time. Ultimately, there are lots of benefits to choosing virtual reality team building events. The list of which will grow as more sophisticated virtual reality hardware and software continue to be made, and more companies get informed and adapt to the virtual reality technology