As an organization who has supported remote teams and leaders for more than fifteen years, we’ve had a lot of conversations around what makes remote work, work. This year has seen an increase in volume in the number of conversations we are having with teams around what they need, given that many are not “remote by choice” but “remote by chance”.

As you step into the last couple of months of the year, it’s likely that remote work, or hybrid work (part remote, part in-person) may be the norm. Be sure to:

Build in time for connecting in with others on the team and other key stakeholders - Connections are critical for remote professionals. We don’t operate in isolation. We need others to grow, get results and income.  What is important for you? What amount of time are you spending in CONVERSATION with others?

Build in time to acknowledge the efforts of others - What amount of time have you spent acknowledging the efforts of those on the team? Are you dedicating time in your meetings to focus on acknowledgements within your team? Have you “been catching people doing things right”?

Build in time for feedback - How much time has been spent this year on feedback across the team? One of the downsides to remote work, is that we don’t have the same opportunities to get feedback – both constructive and positive feedback.  Stay tuned for more on feedback during Thursday’s post.

Build in time for team development - Teams are the engines of many businesses and while teams have not been able to get together regularly, it’s key to provide teams with time to focus on what’s important for them.

Build in time for renewal – It’s been a long year, and many are feeling the impact of too much time on the screen. What are you doing to inject some fun and renewal?

What else is needed?
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Enjoy your conversations!
Jennifer

It’s the weekend which means that it’s time for another Weekly journaling prompt at the Teams365 blog. This week our prompt is “Relationships which are important to me are….”.

One of the more challenging parts of 2020 has been the physical and social isolation felt during times of lockdown, quarantine and social distancing.

What are the relationships which are important to you?

What are you doing to celebrate them?

What’s important for you to dedicate some time to right now?

Enjoy the reflection!
​Jennifer

We’re returning back to pitfalls this week, building onto what I discussed last week, given that many are concerned with what pitfalls can look like.

This week, sound the alarm! It’s all about taking a moment as a team to STOP. PAUSE. And consider what pitfalls you are experiencing. What are the pitfalls which are present in your work right now?

Consider pitfalls for the team like:

• Lack of communication
• Meetings for the sake of meetings
• Not involving the right people in decision making
• Assumptions which go unsurfaced

What are the pitfalls the team is facing right now?

Likewise, what are the pitfalls present for the organization?
Consider pitfalls like:

• No planning process in place
• Reactivity
• A strategic plan that hasn’t been updated since the pandemic

What are the pitfalls for the organization?

Finally, what about pitfalls due to technology?

Consider:

• People not feeling connected to others and the work they do, or the organization
• People not feeling like they have a voice or an input channel
• People not feeling heard

​Each of these pitfalls has a significant business cost which can get magnified quickly in the remote space. What’s important to note about these pitfalls and what do you want to do about it?

Enjoy the conversations!
Jennifer

While social distancing has put in-person events on hold, there’s a plethora of amazing things you can do virtually. From online conferences, to taking an entire post-secondary course, to virtual coaching groups and speed networking on Zoom, there is a wide variety of different options of what you can be doing virtually.

Today’s post gets you to think about three things when organizing or hosting virtual events, both large and small. You may want to read today’s post in conjunction with yesterday’s Teams365 blog post – 3 Ways to Stand Out Virtually.

When hosting our own virtual event, keep the following in mind:

Be clear about expectations. There are so many different types of virtual events, that it is important to clarify what your event is going to be like and what level of interactivity people can expect at your virtual event.

Clarify the small details – verbally and in writing. This might include email copy, a welcome video and a welcome email. Remember that not everyone is likely to read their email so if there is any pre-work required before people get in the room, note that you’ll want to reinforce key details in multiple ways.

Consider a balance of learning, reflection and dialogue. It’s likely that since the beginning of the pandemic you have been part of multiple learning events. Consider which ones allowed you to be an active learner, or whether you were being “talked at” during the session. 

As someone who started off her career as an experiential educator, I value the three-part cycle of learning and action, reflection, and then dialogue. What that can look like in the virtual space is a mix of learning something (i.e. a lecture), then a reflection piece of focusing of doing some individual work/worksheets and then dialogue- talking it out virtually with one or more people.

Get people “in the room” before the event to get them thinking about the experience. In cognitive science we call this “priming”.

Depending on the type of event you are hosting getting people in the room might include:

• A pre-call with each person to learn more about them, cover key logistics and answer any questions they have – this is ideal for small groups.
• For medium sized or larger groups, it might include a pre-call concierge experience. This could entail welcoming people into your “room” or platform for some pre-event networking, so they can meet others, and also “road test” the technology. This provides the benefit of providing a focus, connection point and networking experience for people.

 
Leave time to take action on WHAT IS THE NEXT STEP? Critical for virtual events, where running from one Zoom room to the next is the norm, is leaving time to take action, or at least schedule, the next step. Be sure to leave time in your programming to focus in on what’s the next step – for them, and for your next touchpoint.

Let us know which of these three areas are most resonant for you. I look forward to hearing from you.

Jennifer

PS – Don’t forget that this week I’m kicking off the Stand Out Virtually Fall 2020 program. Join us live on either Mondays from 1:00 – 2:30 or Fridays from 1:30 – 3 pm ET for the next 7 weeks. We’ll be exploring these tips and many more, geared to support you in creating your most powerful virtual programming. Check it out here. 

This past week I hosted a 5-day challenge called “Stand Out Virtually – Corporate Edition”. We explored what’s needed to create interactive, and memorable, corporate engagements, whether you are working in organizations that are for-profit, not-for-profit, public sector, start-ups or associations. Those who attended were coaches and other learning professionals, leaders, and entrepreneurs, who lead programming for organizations and have had to pivot or expand their virtual offerings.

Three key themes we talked about this week around creating memorable and impactful virtual calls are what I term in my book – Effective Virtual Conversations – “Death By Conference Call” or today’s term of “zoom fatigue” were:

#1 - Invite people to interact and get active – Conversations are not meant to be a passive endeavor. They need to be active. Talking at people one way is not having a conversation. Be sure to use the “engagement levers” available to you – from chat, to annotation, polling or breakouts. Different size virtual rooms, and different platforms will provide different options available.
Task: Review one of your current presentations this week. What is one way you can create more active focus on the part of participants? Note incorporating this every 7-10 minutes is often a good rule of thumb.
 
#2 - Improve your questions – Leadership in the remote and virtual space is via influence. This is another reason why conversational skills become so important virtually. Consider what questions will elicit the response and action you are looking for.

Questions are usually asked one at a time, only 4 to 6 words in length, and the most open-ended questions usually (but not always) start with WHAT. Why questions may put people on the defensive if trust levels are not high. How questions will move people into a process orientation.

Asking two questions at a time is often referred to as stacking and may lead to people not knowing which question they should refer to.

Task: Spend some time thinking about and reviewing the questions you want to ask in an upcoming presentation. Are they clear? What do they invite people to do – connect the dots, look to the bigger picture, etc?
 
#3 - Consider the visuals – One of the main channels we have in communication is visual. What are the visual elements you are using in your presentation or conversation? Is there an opportunity to create a metaphor to make a more complex topic simpler? Or a graphic or illustration which could synthesize new ideas.

Task: Consider your visual elements this week – photos, colors, metaphors and images.  What is important to note about your visuals?

Just a reminder, that this week we are starting the Stand Out Virtually Fall 2020 Incubator.

If today’s blog post is a topic of interest to you and you want to learn more about creating WOW conversations for the corporate arena, I’ll be hosting a seven week virtual learning series this fall on Mondays from 1:00 – 2:30 pm ET called the Fall 2020 Stand Out Virtually Incubator. Each week we’ll host a live learning call, you’ll participate in viewing some micro-learning and you’ll also be paired with a peer accountability partner to support you in building out and positioning your work. Whether you are external or internal to an organization, this program will build your tools, clarity and confidence around standing out virtually. Click here to learn more and register. 

The program runs from Monday October 19th to Friday December 4th.

Best wishes,
​Jennifer

Our brain processes images faster than text or words. With that in mind, what can you do to use more screenshots in your virtual events, particularly if you have met over multiple sessions? In former in-person events, one of my favorite activities was to a gallery walk at the end of the program. In the event virtual space, we can do that by showing some of the screenshots we’ve taken as we’ve gone throughout our journey.

The best practice is to always be sure that you have permission or have indicated that you will be sharing screenshots from an event.

Consider these software and apps for taking screenshots:

• The snipping tool in Windows
• Snagit (a software)
• Lightshot - if you are on a Mac or apple product
• Check out these different options as well – Best Free Screenshot Options for Windows 
• How to take  a screenshot on android 

​Beyond the HOW TO’s, think about the screen shots which will capture the themes, funny moments and highlights of your current conversations. What’s going to support you?

Enjoy the conversation!
Jennifer

Back in the second year of the Teams365 blog I did a spotlight on matrix management. I thought it would be useful to return back to this post given that its’s a key focus for many in the virtual space. How many teams do you report to at the moment?
 
Consider how these tips might support you:

Matrix Management is a common part of global leadership reporting arrangements. Whether it is a local supervisor also supporting your global team members, leading in the matrix can also require some fine-tuning on your leadership. Today's post explores four keys for making matrix management work:

1. Creating Shared Expectations - Given that your staff members will be managed by two or more sets of people, creating shared expectations among the three (or more) of you is key. Who do you report to on what? What does success look like to all the parties involved? What are everyone's various expectations and priorities? How do these align? Conflict?

2. Clarity - Clarity around roles and responsibilities, reporting relationships, goals and who does what, is key in successful matrix management. Taking time to be extremely clear is key to success. Having a plan and process in place to address lack of clarity issues can also be important.

3. Checking Assumptions - Given that matrix management relationships often occur at a distance, it is important to check the various assumptions. Assumptions about priorities, flow, pace, quality may be a starting point for discussion on a regular basis.

4. Frequent Touch Points and Adjustments - Regular and frequent touch point amongst the three parties can be very useful, along with an understanding that regular adjustments will need to be made. In my former world of work, I usually tried to aim for quarterly or semi-annual three-way meetings (both supervisors and employee). While this took some planning time, it was often identified as a critical success factor.

What other tips do you have for others around matrix management?

All the best!
Jennifer

Last week I had a lot of FUN connecting in with professionals who are scaling their virtual conversations into the virtual marketplace. Whether you are an entrepreneur, coach or a leader inside an organization, it’s critical that we get better at communicating our messages for the remote space.

Some of the key themes touched on last week include:
The importance of having a robust toolkit of virtual engagement strategies. The days of “talking heads” are done, and so are the days of the Death By Conference Call (check out my posts from 2014 on this). Most people in the remote space EXPECT as interactive a conversation as possible – whether the engagement is via chat, voice, annotation or polls.

The importance of creating a clear business case. What’s important about this topic? What is the cost of not doing something? What is the cost of building capacity, or training people, or….?

In such a volatile business context, one of the only certainties is that virtual conversations and remote work is here to stay. To build up your toolkit of virtual engagement strategies be sure to check out the 5 Week Virtual Academy I am kicking off this Friday. We’ll be exploring the following topics:

• What’s your virtual offer
• Designing an Engaging Virtual program
• Building a Business Case for your Virtual Event, Training or Conversation
• Contracting
• Masterful Delivery
• Remote Team Needs

 
We’ll be taking a deep dive through on-demand modules and live sessions. I hope that you will consider joining us.

With best wishes,
Jennifer

This week’s Effective Virtual Conversations tip is one I cover in Chapter 6 of the book – the Latency and Recency Effect. This neuroscience principle asserts that we remember the start and end of things. The things that fall in the middle are forgotten (unless reinforced).

So, what are the implications of this for virtual calls? Consider what are the elements you want to reinforce or specify at the start and end of calls, given that these are the things which will be best remembered by those participating.
To make a start of a virtual call memorable:

• Let people know:
  • What the purpose is.
  • What level of engagement is expected. It’s different to attend a call when you are spoken to, versus a call where you are actively shaping the agenda and focus, feeding into discussions and dialogue.
• Provide an opportunity for people to “Get Grounded” and connected to the topic of the meeting. We move from one video call to another these days and it’s important to provide an opportunity for people to be able to focus on where you are going. What’s the question which will get people connected into the topic of the conversation?

​Capture people’s attention. What is going to e unique or memorable?
 
In terms of the end of the call, provide an opportunity to focus in on:

• What were key messages or topics covered?
• What are the next steps?
• Who is responsible for what and what are the different accountabilities?

 
Enjoy your conversations!
Jennifer

This week’s blog posts focused on several areas including:

• Saturday’s Weekly Journaling Prompt of “To Go Deeper Means…”
• Friday’s focus on Reducing Digital Distractions
• Thursday’s focus question for teams – Communicate in a way that works for you.
• Wednesday’s focus on The Different Bells and Whistles of Engagement of Zoom Calls
• Tuesday’s focus on this past week’s Stand Out Virtually Challenge – Corporate
• Monday’s Effective Virtual Conversations tip #170 on Mirror Neurons

Best wishes,
​Jennifer