A few weeks ago I started the 10 Common Pitfalls in Virtual Facilitation series, exploring on a weekly basis different pitfalls that we can face when we are leading a virtual call - webinars, conference calls, or virtual coaching sessions. To newer facilitators these often represent the barrier to moving their conversations to the virtual space.

Take a look at our first two Pitfalls here.
Pitfall #1 - Read it here in Teams365 #1553
Pitfall #2: You can't upload your presentation - Read it here.

This week's pitfall, pitfall #3, gets you thinking about what happens if the group can't hear you. As I write:

"Solution:  Occasionally this crops up. You may need just to log in again. Some platforms allow you to do an audio test prior to the session, so you are confident you can be heard. If only one or two participants can't hear you, then it is likely their connection and not yours. Before you log off to reconnect (which may disrupt the system), check on how many people can't hear you."

There are a few other things that may be going on as well:
Your mike is muted
Your system volume is lower than it should be
There is a lot of background noise - consider wearing a headset or investing in a specialized mike OR making sure your calls are hosted in a place where you can close the door an minimize any ambient noise.

What is going to give your call sound the best quality? Have you done a test to see how you sound? It's easy to do and well worth taking a few minutes to check out before you host a call.

I cover these pitfalls in greater depth throughout Effective Virtual Conversations. If you haven't picked up a copy yet you will want to consider adding it to your bookshelf. Typical of my writing, it's a robust, practically written reference guide to creating more engaging, and interactive virtual events. Conference calls and video streaming doesn't have to be boring! Pick up a copy at Amazon here.

Given my own background as a virtual team leader I have always been hungry for more resources regarding what will help teams excel in the virtual space. A 2016 study by Culture Wizard found that only 22% of virtual teams had engaged in development of their team. How much focus do virtual and remote teams at your organization get in terms of their development? Sadly, I think "out of sight" does translate to "out of mind" for many organizations when it comes to the virtual and remote workforce.

​As I wrote on page 354 of my book, Effective Virtual Conversations:
​"“There are several factors that can make virtual team development challenging. It is not only the time zone differences, but different priorities, the perceived lack of connection, feelings, and that team members don’t understand your reality or the lack of every day cues.”

​How are these factors playing into team identity and culture?
​What can you be doing to help team members understand the different priorities they bring?
​What can you do to boost connection?

​Some recent posts you will want to check out is the 20 Activities for Your Virtual and Remote Team Series, along with focusing on spending intentional time identifying elements of your team culture.

More on this to come this month!

Best wishes,
​Jennifer

We are at the 34th tip in the Effective Virtual Conversations tips. Today's tip explores three more assumptions we all may be holding about virtual conversations. If you missed the first of the series last week, check out those additional assumptions here in Teams365 Effective Virtual Conversations Tip #33.


Let's take a look at this next series of virtual learning assumptions:

​1. They are not going to be tempted to multi-task. Rather than not assume that this is happening, consider how this will be likely. What are the ways you are going to engage the group so that that becomes more important that emails that need to get cleared out of the in-box?
Different strategies you will want to explore are:
​Using annotation - have people mark up the screen and annotate
​Using polls - many virtual settings allow you to use polls
​Using breakouts - split the group into smaller groups (think 2 - 4) and have them move to breakout and share their ideas/visions/goals around the topics you are using. Key to making these work is to provide a question for people to be in dialogue around, providing enough time for them to have the conversation, and providing clear instructions around time and what they should come back with.

​2. It has to be boring! Get creative while ensuring safety in your work, There are many hands on activities people can do during the calls, including working on things real-time. One group I was working with last month created their own videos during our time together, fusing together some of the learning we had been working on.
​Make a list of 5 things you can do to jazz things up.

​3. You can't learn or connect without face-to-face connection - With today's multiple options for connection there are a wide variety of ways we can be building relationships with groups. From getting people to work in paired partners between formal calls, to having people stream where feasible, relationships and connection across virtual groups and teams can be as powerful as those in-person.
​It takes intentional focus, and creating safety, and shared expectations to ensure that group members feel that they can bring their best self to calls.

​I have got a couple more Assumptions coming for next week's Monday blog post, so please stay tuned!

​Enjoy the start of your week,
​Jennifer

There are a number of assumptions which we make when stepping into the virtual realm to lead conversations. In general, assumptions lay beneath the waterline, and while they can’t be seen they can be dangerous and/or influence our results.

This week’s Effective Virtual Conversation tip, along with next week’s EVC tip focuses on some of the more commonly held assumptions about virtual conversations including webinars, virtual coaching and/or virtual meetings. Consider if these are any of the assumptions you’ve made and/or what your beliefs are:
·         It’s just like working in person.
·         It’s going to be easy.
·         Everyone is going to have the same needs.
·         Everyone understands what I am saying.
·         They will follow up. 

Let’s take a look at each one of these in turn:

It’s just like working in person: While streaming technology has made the virtual space much more like the in person context, there are still many differences when leading virtual sessions including:
-          Lack of visual cues
-          Things taking more time
-          The threat of multi-tasking on the part of participants
It’s going to be easy – This is a big assumption which can get us into trouble. It’s often said that virtual calls require more planning than in person. “winging it”  is not usually an option. Key items to make the conversation “easy” for all is to:
Co-create the agenda/focus or Create a Shared Agenda. This could involve firming up the focus of the call before you get on the line. As you start off you’ll want to check in by asking each person to input around the questions “what do you want to get out of the conversation today” This works well for smaller sized calls but may be more challenging for larger calls.

Everyone is going to have the same needs: Just as in the in-person context, groups and teams we work with will usually be diverse – with different preferences around communication, engagement and approaches. Whether it’s generational, cultural or due to styles, working first from the  mindset of “everyone is going to be a unique individual” opens the space for more customized learning. One area you will want to make decisions in early on is what is the optimum group size for an engaging virtual conversation. While some platforms do allow for breakouts and other capabilities, it is important to utilize as many engagement strategies as possible (breakout, annotation, small group discussion, breakouts, individual reflection etc).

Everyone understands what I am saying – even if your group all shares the same working language be sure to bust the assumption early on that what you are saying is being interpreted in the way you intend it to be. When we have fewer visual cues, it is impossible to check for understanding by looking at people’s faces. We need to ask questions, invite comments by chat,  have people breakout and speak with each other. Providing support to what’s being said through visual channels (think workbook or slide share) helps to reinforce key messages.  Creating an environment where people can ask questions (big and small) is also important to ensure that messages are being received as intended. Finally consider any  post-session follow-up to reinforce key messages.

They will follow up: Keeping things visible after the training is of critical importance for any facilitated conversation. As discussed in other posts and my writing, the benefit of virtual training can be that people can apply things real-time during the call, or immediately thereafter. Consider how you will create more of a focus on follow-through or accountability.

​Next week, I'll take a look at more of the assumptions we can be making.

Enjoy the start to your week,
​Jennifer

Today’s post gets you thinking about how to boost collaboration in virtual teams. There are many barriers to collaboration in today’s virtual and remote workspace including:
#1 - The technology itself
When working within a global team it may be likely that some people may have different accessibility options to different platforms, for example, meeting streaming services or file sharing. While we need to work within technological constraints it is important to regularly revisit what the lowest common denominator may be. While a person may not be able to access something on a laptop or desk top, can they access it through the wifi on their phone?
Consider what applications and platforms are needed for the team to excel and what platforms and/or technologies should be revisited.
 #2 - Knowing each other.
An essential foundation to effective collaboration and team work is knowing each other. If we don’t know what each others roles, styles and priorities are, it is hard o collaborate. Spending time in team meetings and through information sharing about roles, priorities and styles helps team members understand how they may overlap.
Help the team visualize their connections. You may choose to create a team map where on a white board, team members identify the different touchpoints, roles and priorities they have around major projects, goals and/or deliverables.
# 3 - Building in time for the team to connect
Structure focused time for the team to connect to get to know each other. This might include special projects which are done in smaller work teams, peer mentoring or coaching pairs or some job shadowing. There is much that can be learned between team members at different locations.
What else is going to boost collaboration for your virtual team? You may want to check out other Teams365 posts which address issues related to collaboration here.
 

One of the key topics of teams today is building trust. Without trust, it’s impossible to raise the issues which need to be raised. Without trust, it  is unlikely that a team will ever move beyond being a collection of individuals and form into a team.
What can we do to build trust in virtual teams? Here are a few ideas:
Trust doesn’t just form. Be intentional in creating opportunities for team members to meet and get to know each other. This may include creating both formal and informal opportunities. On the formal stage, team members may be paired with others on a quarterly basis, or in an informal sense, virtual teams  may make a point of coming together for a monthly meeting
Share what you are working on – Unlike the opportunity to rub shoulders every day, out of sight means out of sight. Being more focused and proactive in sharing your work is an important part of the process. What can you do to share what you are working on with others? Do you dedicate part of your monthly planning to this? Do you each take photos of key projects and share these internally to give a visual? Consider what mechanisms you have to share what you are working on.
Talk about your working preferences – in an intact face to face team it is possible to learn more about each other every day, through the conversations we have, and how people show up at work. In a virtual team, getting to know more about each other’s preferences and styles can be more difficult, especially as we may not see each other. Our styles and preferences influence how we communicate, make decisions, innovate, approach conflict and provide feedback. As a team member what do you know about each other? What are the questions you’d like to ask? What notes would you like to compare about your preferences? One area we do a lot of work in is around this area. From offering the Everything DisC to working with partners to offer the Hermann-Brain Development Index, contact us to explore how we could support your team.
Map out resources (see team tool post) – One of the team tools I shared last week was the Relationship mapping tool. You can apply the same principles to resources, helping people locate and identify resources available in the network. Spend some time this month mapping out the resources (which might include human resources, financial, material, technical etc).
Provide opportunities for issues to be raised and discussed. In today’s business context most team members are running hard daily. Unless time is created for a pause we usually won’t take one. How are you as a team creating that pause to raise and discuss issues. Doing this before issues get magnified is essential. It’s also important to note that not every one on the team may be comfortable with raising issues, so one-on-ones will continue to be important. If conflicts do emerge be proactive, and ensure people have the space and time and tools to work through disagreements.

Be sure to check out this past weekend's Teams365 video which highlighted different ways team members can build, and destroy, trust. You'll find that video here.

Best wishes,
Jennifer

This week’s Effective Virtual Conversation tip #32 comes from page 169 of Effective Virtual Conversations where I write:

“Less truly is more in virtual facilitation. First, everything you do, especially the first time, is likely to take more than when you expect…Since it is a natural impulse for most of us to try to put as much into a program as we can, this can lead to overwhelm”

In the virtual space, less is more, simpler is better. This goes from how many topics or ideas you want to cover in the call, to the approaches you might want to incorporate to the transitions you want to make. It usually takes more ime than you expect.

Over the past two decades I have worked with thousands of professionals – from leaders, to trainers, and coaches – who are designing their own group programs. Whether it is a one hour webinar or a full-day virtual retreat less is more in all aspects of design. Clarity is critical in the work that we do.

As you go to consider your design , ask yourself these questions,

• What does less is more mean in my work and programming?
  
• What is the primary focus?
• How does everything I am including relate to that?
• What are the elements which could be simplified?
• What are the instructions which could be simplified?
• How am I making, or how am I supporting connections back to that core?
  

Enjoy the start to your week,
Jennifer

With so much of our work these days involving virtual relationships where we might not actually ever physically meet, I thought it would be fitting to focus on today's blog post with tips for boosting your relationships and collaboration virtually. While some of these sound like common sense, are you putting these into practice regularly?

#1 - When meeting, be clear on why you are wanting to meet - Virtual meetings often benefit from more, not less, process and structure. A great starting point to keep the meeting focused includes some initial discussion early on around:
Why are we meeting?
What end results do we want?
What agenda items does each party have?
How much time is available?
Running through these questions early on makes it easier to keep virtual meetings from getting out of check. We don't see what's beyond the screen, so it's important to check any assumptions we might have.

#2 - Be clear on what you have to offer, and what  you need. Clarity is important. Watch for assumptions. What do you bring to the collaboration in terms of skills/knowledge and approaches? What does the person you are talking with

# 3 and 4 - Be aware of your style and what positives and negatives this may bring. Also, consider what the style of the other person is. Are you a big picture thinker? How will that shape the conversation? What does the other person you are speaking with need from you - more detail?,
Asking questions like:
What's important for you?
Tell me a more about....
can be useful doorways into these areas of conversation.

#5 - Be proactive in building relationships. Make it a regular focus. Out of sight does not mean out of mind. What are the key relationships you want to foster? When are you going to schedule in time for this?

As you consider your work virtually, what's important to build solid relationships, partnerships and collaboration?

Have a great Tuesday,
Jennifer

This week’s Effective Virtual conversation tip gets you thinking about how you can incorporate more visuals into your virtual presentations, conference calls and virtual meetings. Visuals create an anchor point for the conversation. It provides a starting point which can frame the conversation.
Different types of meetings will call on the need for different types of visuals – for example -
Videos to provide education and training for team members
Photos to prompt discussion
A virtual whiteboard to support brainstorming and decision making
Streaming to boost connection and trust across the team
Using emojis to solicit feelings on issues

Many times we forget to use visuals in the virtual space and focus solely on conversation.

Visuals help to frame, focus and also widen perspectives.

If you have my book, Effective Virtual Conversations, check out pages 244 -247 for many examples of different types of visual activities you might want to incorporate into your virtual conversations.

How might you use more visuals in your upcoming conversations?

Have a great start to your week,
Jennifer

Peer learning can be even more powerful than learning from a leader or formal instructor. In 1995, Griffiths, Housten and Lazenbatt from the University of Ulster identified 10 different models of peer learning. These included: peer learning cells, to mentor-mentee relationships, collaborative work, buddy systems and others. Check out Boud's article here which makes reference to them.
  
A 2017 study from Michigan State University[1] found that those undertaking an online course, learned better when hearing from their peers, than the instructor’s rationale. They scored 92 on an online test compared to 86. (Michigan State University. "Peers, more than teachers, inspire us to learn." Science Daily. ScienceDaily, 21 March 2017. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/03/170321110341.htm)
 
As the study states, “"We found that receiving the instructor rationale led to lower final grades than both the peer rationale and no rationale conditions," Roseth said. "This gives support to the idea that, motivationally, the fact that instructors control grades, tell the students what do to, and so on, may be working against their efforts to increase their students' appreciation of why the class is important."
 
In the virtual space, building in both formal and informal peer touchpoints can be invaluable for learning and engagement. Every time I put people into breakout they come back energized.
Peer touchpoints could include:

• Breakouts  - see this recent Teams365 post on using breakouts
• Peer partners who meet in between the formal peer touch points
• Mastermind groups where you learn from each other
• Reading groups
• Social Media Communities (Facebook Groups etc)

What enhanced peer connections can you create in your virtual programming?


[1] Tae S. Shin, John Ranellucci, Cary J. Roseth. Effects of peer and instructor rationales on online students’ motivation and achievement. International Journal of Educational Research, 2017; 82: 184 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijer.2017.02.001


Have a great start to your week,
​Jennifer