Virtual teamwork: How business games promote remote working
Virtual teamwork is here to stay, but it presents challenges. What is missing are shared experiences, clear communication, and a genuine team focus. Business simulations like MARGA provide a practical, interactive learning experience.
Virtual teamwork
How business games promote remote working
For many people remote work has become the norm. However, fully digital working models also create new challenges: Beyond scheduled meetings, continuous exchange is often missing. Questions remain unanswered for long periods, information gets lost across different chats and tools, and important feedback arrives too late. Decisions that would have take only a few minutes in the office stretch out digitally slowing down the workflow. Even though modern tools make many thinks possible, there is often a feeling that nobody is really pulling together. Instead of truly collaboration, team members work next to each other but not together.
Challenges of virtual teamwork
Communication barriers: With chats, mails and video calls misunderstandings arise more quickly. Information gets lost or decisions remain unclear.
Lack of team spirit: Without in-person interactions, it becomes harder to build trust, share a laugh, or consciously appreciate small interim successes.
Coordination across distance: Different time zones, working styles, and priorities increase the need for coordination and demand a high level of self-organization from everyone involved.
Motivation & Engagement: Remote work can create freedom but also isolation. Without shared experiences, it is harder to stay engaged and motivated in the long term.
What once felt natural in the office can therefore quickly be lost in a virtual environment. The consequences range from misunderstandings and inefficient processes to declining motivation and growing distance within the team.
Despite all these challenges, remote work also offers great potential that both employees and employers would not want to miss.
Access to global talents and divers perspectives
Remote work makes it possible to assemble teams in a way that makes sense from a professional and strategic standpoint regardless of location. A product team with a UX designer in Portugal, a data analyst in Poland and a developer in Germany? No problem with remote teams. The mix of different backgrounds and ways of working also leads to greater diversity of thought, more innovative solutions and an international working culture that becomes a real competitive advantage for many companies.
Greater flexibility for companies and employees
Remote work allows employees to make better use of their individual daily rhythms without projects losing momentum. Some start very early; others work more focused in the late afternoon. Companies often report that this flexibility increases both productivity and team satisfaction.
Strengthening digital skills
Anyone who works remotely automatically becomes more confident in using digital tools. Teams that once stood in front of a whiteboard in the office now use virtual design or project boards, for example. These tools not only create more efficient workflows but also build digital skills that are increasingly becoming a basic requirement of the modern workplace.
More efficient processes when designed well
emote work forces teams to structure processes more deliberately: clear responsibilities, transparent communication, proper documentation. Since spontaneous desk-side clarifications are no longer possible, processes must be documented more clearly. As a result, projects often become more transparent and robust. When implemented well, this leads to less coordination chaos, faster decisions, and ways of working that would also be more efficient in an office setting.
Attractiveness as a modern employer
Remote-friendly companies score points in recruiting by offering location independence. Many talents today neither want to relocate nor give up flexible working models. Companies that genuinely embrace remote work significantly expand their talent pool and position themselves as modern employers.
To ensure these advantages truly take effect, suitable learning and training formats are needed that promote teamwork across distance. Business simulations such as the MARGA Business Game can be a valuable tool here to strengthen team cohesion: They create a realistic, motivating training environment in which teams learn independent of location to communicate more clearly, align decisions more effectively, and take responsibility together.
How business simulations strengthen virtual collaboration
Online business simulations such as the MARGA business game create a realistic environment in which remote teams don’t just talk about collaboration in theory, they actively experience it. In the simulation, participants jointly manage a virtual company, analyze market developments, make strategic decisions and face the consequences of their actions – fully online and as a team.
Making decisions together even from a distance
In the simulation, teams must regularly make decisions regarding strategy, investments, or market positioning. These decisions are not made in isolation but emerge through the exchange of different perspectives. For example, a team might discuss whether to invest more in marketing or sales, or whether expanding production capacity is necessary. While one person sees opportunities in market growth, another points out financial risks. The group learns to articulate arguments clearly, set priorities, and align on a common approach. These are precisely the skills that often fall short in everyday remote work.
Building team spirit through shared experiences
Virtual collaboration often suffers from a lack of genuine shared experiences. Unternehmensplanspiele können das ändern. When a team suddenly climbs the rankings after several decision rounds or successfully navigates a difficult market phase, a shared sense of achievement emerges. Conversely, poor decisions lead to tangible consequences that the team analyzes together. These emotional moments create bonds even when team members never meet in person.
Strengthening role awareness and accountability
In the simulation, participants take responsibility for an entire company. Every decision impacts other areas. It quickly becomes clear that an aggressive marketing strategy without financial backing carries risks, or that investment and production decisions affect liquidity and market position. Experiencing this interplay fosters cross-functional thinking and enhances mutual understanding.
Training agile and connected work
Business simulations are designed to be dynamic: market conditions change, competitors respond, and new information arises. A team that succeeds in one round may need to adjust its strategy in the next. This dynamic trains exactly what remote teams need in daily work: analyzing quickly, taking feedback on board, questioning decisions, and iteratively improving without lengthy approval loops.
Higher motivation through playful elements
The playful nature of simulations drives significantly higher engagement than traditional online training. Competition with other teams, visible results, and direct feedback on decisions make progress measurable and tangible. Many participants report that in this format they communicate more intensively, take on more responsibility, and feel more involved.
Remote work needs new learning formats
Virtual teamwork is here to stay, but it presents challenges that tools alone cannot solve. What is missing are shared experiences, clear communication, and a genuine team focus. Business simulations like MARGA provide a practical, interactive learning experience that strengthens, connects, and empowers remote teams. They create a space for collaboration that combines motivation, knowledge transfer, and team spirit, laying the foundation for successful digital teamwork.
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