Engagement and interactivity is key in moving away from a death by conference call mind set in virtual calls today. When using platforms such as WebEx, Abode Connect or even Zoom, getting our participants active with annotations and/or whiteboards can move the presentation from a one way mode into an interactive conversation.

Many virtual platforms will provide participants with annotation tools such as a pen, highlighter and/or typing ability. Consider how you can get people to use these during a virtual meeting or presentation. Consider the following:
Get people to use the text function to reply to a question posed on the screen (i.e. in your PowerPoint Deck). This is great when group numbers are bigger and the chat function may move to fast with the responses.
Provide a list of attributes - for example characteristics of a great leader - and have people put a check mark beside the two they most agree with or an X beside something you think doesn't belong.
Before your call starts, have the welcome slide show a map and have people dot where they are located. This can create a sense of connection, and interest.

Whiteboards are usually another function. You can create your own with a blank slide, or if a platform provides it, get people to capture their notes in breakouts using the whiteboard. They can then share it with other breakouts  in the main plenary.  Just like in a face to face meeting, these notes can be captured by others for overall learning and record.

What can you do this week to enhance the interaction in your virtual work? What will make it more hands on for people?

Have a great Tuesday,
Jennifer

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Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Retreats.
Author of From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (Jossey-Bass, 2013) and Effective Group Coaching (Wiley, 2009)
Follow us on Twitter @Teams365
Phone: (416)996-8326

This week’s team building question gets you to think about the question “ What does engagement really mean for this team?” It gets you to think about a commonly used word in today’s context of engagement. WE do know that engaged employees are generally happier and more productive.

Engagement can mean different things on different teams including going the extra mile. Having each others backs, giving 100% or other.  Enagement can also be linked to styles and motivation, so what engages one person on the team, might not mean engagement for another.

What does engagement mean to your team?

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Retreats
Follow us on Twitter @Teams365
Phone: (416)996-8326

Join us in November for the 5 week Virtual Facilitation Essentials online learning program. We've taken some of the core "essentials" of our longer virtual train-the-trainer and packaged it into a shorter course. Join me live starting November 1st. More info here.

Today’s post gets you thinking about using breakouts in your work virtually. Many facilitators shy away from breakouts as they are concerned that “they won’t work”. If you don’t try, you may be missing an essential ingredient for engaging virtual learning – interactivity and connection!
Many virtual platforms enable you to use breakouts including Web Ex, Zoom, Maestro Conferencing and others.

Key things to keep in mind when using breakouts:

• Make them 3-4 group members. When breakouts are too small, one person may be left hanging if the other person has technological issues. When breakouts are too big – i.e more than 4-5 it’s natural for people to feel disconnected.
  
• Consider similar pairings over time so people get to know each other and develop continuity
• Think through how people can view the reminder of what they are supposed to do. They may not have caught your instructions the first time round and if they can’t see your screen when they go to breakout, how will they know what to do.
• Consider assigning roles before you have people more off into rooms. One role might be note taker, one time keeper, one facilitator of the dialogue (who writes the question(s) down before you go!). What roles will support your group best?
• One or two questions are usually enough to get people into sharing and dialogue. Make sur eyou provide enough time for people to connect, figure out their plan or process, and then move into dialogue
• If you can, drop in the first couple of times people are doing virtual breakouts to check nd see if they have any questions or challenges
• Walk through instructions a couple of times before you send people off and pause to see if they have questions
• And most of all- have fun! If you are stressed, likely your group will be too! As facilitators we set the tone, so if you are not comfortable with breakouts, practice these with friends, colleagues and even loved ones!
  

What tips do you have around making virtual breakouts engaging and easy?

Have a great Wednesday
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Retreats
Follow us on Twitter @Teams365
Phone: (416)996-8326

Join us in November for the 5 week Virtual Facilitation Essentials online learning program. We've taken some of the core "essentials" of our longer virtual train-the-trainer and packaged it into a shorter course. Join me live starting November 1st. More info here.

Key to creating engaging and interactive virtual evenest in pace and interactivity To avoid the death by conference call mode, consider ho you are able to adjust pacing for maximum interactivity.
Different ways to change pace include –
Asking a question

Getting people to annotate using pens, markers

Asking people to comment in the chat box

Creating breakout groups. Just like in person events, many services allow you to use breakout groups. Whether you pair people automatically or manually these can provide for a deeper level of conversation. Consider what opportunities you can leverage with breakouts and also how much time is needed for people to have a good discussion. It can take people several minutes to set themselves up as they arrive in their virtual domain.

Creating a pause where you get people to take notes or complete an activity in silence real time

Introducing a different media – i.e. showing a video you have created, or introducing a cartoon

What approaches do you want to use to introduce different pace changes?

Have  a great week,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Retreats
Follow us on Twitter @Teams365
Phone: (416)996-8326

There is a bit of a myth that virtual events only need to be 60 or 90 min in length. While 90 minutes is the long edge of continuing to run without a break, in recent years I have been experimenting with virtual retreat formats where we are together for 3 or even six hours. In the last few years this has been expanded onto corporate engagements where we have translated day long training programs into full day virtual learning events.
Key to making these longer virtual events just as engaging as in person events, are several factors.

Key to creating engaging and interactive virtual evenest in pace and interactivity To avoid the death by conference call mode, consider ho you are able to adjust pacing for maximum interactivity. Pacing should be changed every 3 -10 minutes at maximum.

Different ways to change pace include –
Asking a question and opening the floor for dialogue
Getting people to annotate on the screen using pens, markers
Inviting people to share their thoughts using chat
Creating breakout groups
Creating a pause where you get people to write things down

Many people will find traditional engagement channels such as speaking - asking a question, connecting with others in virtual breakout rooms - similar to engagement as in the in-person realm.

What opportunities to you have to review and revisit the optimum design length of your virtual programs? What could you do to make them more interactive and engaging?

Have a great week,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Retreats
Follow us on Twitter @Teams365
Phone: (416)996-8326

Join us for the 15 hour Virtual Facilitation Skills Intensive program a robust virtual train-the-trainer. Looking for a shorter program? Join us in November for the Virtual Facilitation Skills Essentials - a five week introduction to the best practices and skills of creating engaging and impactful virtual learning events

Today's 6 Leadership Questions a day post explores the topic of Employee Engagement which was a focus in several of our posts this week (Teams 365 #665 - Leadership Myth E - Employee Engagement is Overrated).

Six questions to consider as you look at employee engagement:

1. How engaged is my team (How do we compare to what's been written - i.e. 54% disengaged)?
2. What will support people to bring their best to work every day?
3. What impacts engagement in our team? What can I (and others do about it)?
4. Trust is a key foundation of engagement. What's the state of trust in our team right now? What needs attention?
5. What gets in the way of engagement?
6. What will help all of us to do our best work over the next 60 days until year end?

Jennifer Britton, MES, CPT, PCC
Potentials Realized
Author of From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (Jossey-Bass, 2013) and Effective Group Coaching (Wiley, 2010)
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Retreats
Everything DiSC® Authorized Partner
Contact us and let us know how we can support you in helping your team reach its' full potential: (416)996-TEAM (8326)

In today's business context we hear a lot about how engaged employees are. Many organizations participate in semi-annual surveys around how engaged their employees are. Current research continues to find trends int hat approximately 54% of employees are not engaged in their work, and only about 28% really are. This is cited in numerous places including this article from Crim and Seijts.

Engagement is critical in today's business environment. The older style of leadership by command no longer applies in many contexts where things are changing rapidly and each team member has a different piece of the puzzle required for success. Autonomy is being requested by many professionals as well, where they are "captains of their own ship". Likewise, many employees are expecting to be an active participant in their work rather than being told what to do.

There has been so much written on the topic of engagement, I thought it would be best to point to a number of articles who dig more deeply into employee engagement, so that you can see if it's overrated.

Here's what Custom Insight found out with their research which explored the characteristics of the top 20% of engaged employees vs the top 10% of engaged employees. You can read their article here..

Another interesting study is Aon's 2015 Trends on Global Engagement. You can view it here.

View a great article from Ivey Business School on the 10 Cs of Employee Engagement here.

Finally, links to Gallup's employee engagement articles can be accessed here.

What's important about employee engagement for you as a leader or team member? What conversations would be useful to have?

Best wishes,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, MES, CPT, PCC
Potentials Realized
Author of From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (Jossey-Bass, 2013) and Effective Group Coaching (Wiley, 2010)
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Retreats
Everything DiSC® Authorized Partner
Contact us and let us know how we can support you in developing and running your year end retreats or planning sessions (416)996-TEAM (8326)