Case Study: Microsoft
Promoting Team Inclusivity With a Hybrid (Virtual and In-Person) Team Building Event
It has never been an easy task bringing team members together in a large organization, especially when that business has locations spread out around the world.
Of course, technology has changed the way we approach team building in recent years. While in-person events are still hugely successful, virtual team building activities have given us an easier way to connect with a larger, more geographically-dispersed, group of employees than ever before - for a fraction of the cost.
By making the most of today’s innovative video and audio collaboration technologies, organizations are able to bring their team members together for virtual and hybrid team building events that foster improved communication and stronger employee relationships.
That’s exactly what Microsoft set out to achieve with its latest hybrid team building event.
The Goal
Team communication and collaboration is a core value at Microsoft, proving the foundation for teams to work successfully and problem solve as a group. But how do you bring those team members together when they all work from different locations?
That’s why Microsoft turned to the help of Teambonders, hosting a hybrid team building activity (a mix of both in-person and virtual attendees) to provide an exciting but meaningful activity for the summer interns in its Microsoft Identity department.
The Microsoft Identity team works on the most challenging engineering problems, allowing the brand to solve complex issues. Serving over a billion users, the Microsoft Identity team runs a service that is critical to the day-to-day experience of all Microsoft Cloud users.
To bring together the summer interns of the Microsoft Identity team so they could seamlessly get to know each other and communicate with the Identity leadership, Microsoft reached out to Teambonders to host a hybrid Survey Showdown activity.
The main objectives of the event was to:
- Achieve team bonding
- Improve team coordination
- Achieve team trust
- Enhance Microsoft Identity’s diversity and inclusion program
- Drive new levels up intern morale
The hybrid Survey Showdown activity was a program of super-charged fun for Microsoft Identity’s summer interns. With a high production value that ensured attendees felt like they were actually on a real-life game show - complete with visual, sound effects, music and a high-energy host - the event was a fun, inclusive and collaborative experience.
The event kicked off with a breakfast served for its in-person attendees in the Microsoft office in Redmond, Washington, USA, with the team’s remote attendees also joining for an information chat over Zoom from various locations, including California, Dublin, Vancouver and Atlanta.
Attendees were separated into groups, with teams going head to head to guess the most popular answer from a range of exciting questions over the course of the next hour. The event was engaging, inclusive and really great fun for all involved.
For the winning team, each member won coffee gift cards. However, everyone was a winner coming out of this event! Each team member had an incredible time as they strengthened team bonds and enhanced collaboration skills.
The Results
Survey shown is no spectator sport, which meant all of Microsoft Identity’s summer interns were included in this exciting event - enabling all team members to get to know each other in a fun, enjoyable setting.
The result? The Microsoft Identity team was able to improve camaraderie, focus on team building and ensure the inclusion of all summer interns across the department - no matter where in the world they were located.
The hybrid format of the event was particularly successful, allowing those who could mingle in-person to do that, but still including those based in different geographic locations across the world, from the US, to Canada, to Ireland.
In fact, rather than the additional expense and time-consuming nature of flying everyone into one location, the Microsoft Identity team was able to accomplish a lot of the same results by hosting an exciting event that incorporated both in-person and virtual attendees.
The summer interns did not have to be inconvenienced with travel, and all members of the department were able to spend quality time with their peers.
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