With the rise of remote and hybrid work models in recent years, organizations have needed to find solutions for communication and collaboration.
Slack was one of the work communication platforms that was up to the task. However, staring at your computer screen all day during working hours without engaging in social activities can harm your productivity.
Didn’t we say Slack was up for the task? Here are a few interesting integrations for your distributed teams:
- Tic-Tac-Toe
You’ve probably played this game with pen and paper in the past, and you can now do so digitally in your workplace using Slack. Just be careful because you can easily lose track of time playing this game, especially since sessions have no time limit.
To begin playing, navigate to your Slack App directory and install the game. To populate the board, slide into a channel of your choice and hit /ttt. Then, using the @mention command, you can start playing with any of your colleagues on the channel.
The rules of the game are simple. Each participant takes turns placing an “x” or an “o” on the board until one person has the same three letters in a column, row, or diagonal.
- Code Names
Here’s another timeless classic that you’ll enjoy playing on Slack with your coworkers. Simply install the game from the Slack App Directory, then type /codenames to launch it and begin playing. If you know the game’s rules, you can jump right into the action.
After starting the game in a channel, you must have at least two players join the red and blue teams before pressing the Start Game button. You can quickly learn how to play the game if you are unfamiliar with it.
- Donut
We’re sure you’ve missed the random conversations around the water cooler. Those spontaneous social activities helped you get to know your coworkers better and improve collaboration.
So, if you’ve been wondering how to set up a virtual water cooler at work, you can do so right here on Slack with Donut. Simply add it to your Slack workspace, and it will invite members and provide conversation starters to break the ice. This tool can pair people from different departments to ensure that everyone has an opportunity to communicate with one another.
Donut can also assist in introducing new hires to onboarding colleagues in order to smooth the transition.
- Icebreakers
Answering Slack icebreaker questions is a quick and easy way to get to know your coworkers and welcome new hires. But you don’t have to worry about coming up with questions on your own. Simply install Icebreakers in your Slack workspace, add it to a channel, and it will generate entertaining questions for you and your coworkers to answer.
To add to the fun and make it more competitive, you can award points for creative answers based on the difficulty of the questions. This isn’t just for entertainment. Knowing your coworkers will increase employee engagement and productivity.
- Word of the Hour
Do you enjoy learning new languages? You can add Word of the Hour to your Slack workspace to help you and your coworkers expand your vocabulary. Every hour, this Slack app generates a new word and its translation in a variety of languages, including German, Italian, French, and Spanish.
After you’ve installed Word of the Hour, use the following commands to get started:
/getword displays the word of the hour; /getword help displays a list of all commands.
/getword<language> to display the word of the hour in the specified language \s/getword channel to send the current word to a channel
This Slack app might come in handy on your next foreign trip.
- BirthdayBot.
Celebrating your colleagues’ birthdays is a great way to show them how much you appreciate them while also sharing a positive experience or cherishing a memory you shared with them. The issue is that you may not always remember everyone’s birthday.
BirthdayBot can be added to your Slack workspace to notify everyone about upcoming birthdays. Begin by adding BirthdayBot to your workspace and creating a channel in which you’d like to wish your coworkers a happy birthday. If your workspace is overcrowded, you can set up separate channels for different departments.
People who prefer to keep their birthdays’ private can opt-out of receiving at any time.
- ChessBot
Chess is one of the world’s oldest and most popular games. Those well-known checkered boards bring people from various cultures and backgrounds together for a fun and intense intellectual challenge.
ChessBot can be used in Slack for a good mental workout and challenge. Once you’ve installed ChessBot and challenged a colleague, the program will display a playing board once your invitation is accepted.
Move the pieces whenever ChessBot announces your turn until a winner is determined, or make your moves whenever you have a short break and then return to work. ChessBot also offers computer analysis at the end of the game, allowing you to learn from your mistakes and improve your playing strategy.
- Giphy
You can’t go wrong with Giphy if you’re looking for a tool to make internal communication more enjoyable. This integration gives you access to a large collection of animated GIFs to help you express yourself more entertainingly.
After installing Giphy in your workspace, you can customize its integration settings based on the type of GIFs you want to post. From there, you can type /giphy <subject>, and you will get a corresponding GIF. For example, /giphy dog to display a dog GIF. You can also shuffle through the options.
With These Slack Apps, You Can Increase Team Building and Productivity.
Working from home can be both stressful and isolating. Making a virtual water cooler and playing games can help your remote teams bond and de-stress.
