Distribute Holiday Cheer Across the Globe

3 Ways to Celebrate the Holidays with your Distributed TeamYour team may be slowing down for the holidays or in a mad rush to complete a project by the end of the year. Nevertheless, it is a time to celebrate and reflect on the year that is coming to an end. While it’s easy to get into the festive mood in the office, be sure to make the holidays a shared experience and include your distributed team members. Sleighing with SlackUtilize the tools your team is already using on a day-to-day basis. Consider creating festive Slack channels like #HolidayCheer or #HolidayCocktailRecipe to simulate holiday conversations that may be happening in the office. You can also create a shared Spotify playlist and encourage team members to add their favorite holiday tunes. This is especially fun if you have folks all over the world because you can jam to some local holiday music! If you’re using Trello, you can create a board for teammates to post individual holiday celebrations before, during, or after the holiday break - making time off a shared experience. Cheerful CompetitionWho doesn’t love some friendly competition? It is easy to host a distributed competition, and doing so encourages the team to think creatively. See who can sport the best “Ugly Sweater” over Google Hangouts or Zoom, or who can find the funniest “Holiday GIF” and share on Slack or Hipchats. Everyone votes for a winner and that winner can get a gift card to a local coffee shop for a festive drink! Special shout-out to our partner Zapier who hosted an international Dance Party with 170 team members across the world!Global Secret SantaTechnology allows us to extend the gift-giving tradition across offices and even country borders. With Elfster, a free platform to organize Secret Santa exchanges, you can include your distributed teammates in office gift exchanges. Bonus points for gifts that represent their local office so employees can learn more about each other’s background. With team members throughout the US, Nigeria, Kenya, and Uganda — this is a personal favorite for Andela. If December is a hectictime for your team and you can’t make the above work before the holidays, consider sending over swag to your distributed team members in the new year! #NewYearNewSwagHow do you spread holiday cheer across offices? We’d love to hear from you @Andela on Twitter. Happy Holidays!