You’re struggling to lead a virtual team. How can you make your facilitation skills more effective?

Not only choose the right tools but also don’t be afraid to stop using a tool during the session if it’s not working for this particular group. The tool is there to further drive the conversation- if it’s hindering that then ditch it.

Preparing for meetings and workshops in advance and preparing the meeting flow makes facilitation much more comfortable and fluid during the meeting. It is very useful to review the short trainings of online facilitation tools in order to use efficiently for your purpose. Preparing surveys, presentations, questions and activities in advance and embedding them in the online tool you’re using for the meeting makes the meeting more effective and prevents the participants from losing their motivation. Sharing responsibilities within the team can also increase knowledge sharing, collaboration and engagement. And at the end of or after the meetings, feedback can be collected to see the challenges and improvement areas.

To enhance your virtual team leadership: 1.Focus on clear communication. 2. Set expectations. 3. Utilize collaboration tools such as: a)Slack for messaging, b)Zoom or Microsoft Teams for video conferencing, c)Google Workspace for document collaboration, d)Trello or Asana for project management, and e) Miro for virtual whiteboarding. 4. foster team engagement through regular check-ins, and 5.encourage open feedback for continuous improvement.

In our work at @altogetherbetter the main learning has been to make sure that working virtually should be as much fun as being together in a room. We are huge fans of @MarkMcKergow and his ideas around #hostleadership and it ALWAYS works for us. Plan every online session as though you are planning a party. Think about how you invite people into the room, create a space people want to be (and dont want to leave) think about their comfort and how to make them feel welcome but most of all have some fun! Making sure sessions are meaningful and fun is not frivolous it is backed up by our own research and evaluation at altogetherbetter.org.uk

Making the sessions more interactive , when sessions are interactive it drives participation. Paying attention to the participants so you can adapt and improvise where necessary

What I like to do in Miro for example is send every participant a tutorial beforehand on how it works. They have to go through the exercises that only takes a few minutes then. That really helps the people that have never used it before. I also send small instruction videos for exercises that I’ve noticed are difficult to understand, before hand so that it’s not the first time participants hear of them. This really helps during the workshop to stay in the flow and to stick to the time limitations you have.

When developing your Facilitation Plan, I recommend the following approach: 1?? Define Your End Goal: Define the desired outcome, then work backward to ensure your approach aligns with your desired results. 2?? Practice: Conduct a swift dress rehearsal to work out potential snags. 3?? Cultivate Ideas Proactively: Prompt your audience to contemplate ideas before the workshop, increasing your chances for success. 4?? Agile Adaptation: Be ready to pivot swiftly if the chosen approach isn't yielding the desired results. Adaptability is key to successful facilitation. ??

I've found regularity and structure to be vital to managing my virtual team. This helps me to stay on task as well as keeping my staff secure in being supported. To me this means regularly scheduled meetings; frequent emails. I also work hard to make meetings count. That means something that can be done via email or text message is done that way.

Also consider how to make your content sticky for the participants. Use shared spaces and folders to make sure presentations are accessible alongside any other useful resources that could apply to your topic. Share the recording of the meeting alongside any actions or takeaways for the group.

People tend to lose attention when they’re not seeing a reason to be there. By communicating the objectives from the invitation, I have noticed a higher level of engagement. It also helps make good practices clear when meetings get started (full attention, open cameras, pre-defined break times, roles and responsibilities, what the job is/is not, etc.)

Engaging in an open conversation to set expectations is definitely key. A virtual team might need more individual check ins prior to more demanding team activities. In other words, never assume people will show up in a virtual meeting with the right mindset, skillset, tools and motivation to achieve a specific goal in the first place.

Some strategies I’ve found useful: 1. Start Interactively: Initiate with attendees sharing initial thoughts or queries on the topic. E.g., in a session on change management, ask for the first word that springs to their mind or pressing questions. 2. Reference Initial Inputs: As the session unfolds, revisit and link initial shared words or queries. This reinforces relevance and deepens engagement. 3. Ensure Equal Participation: Ensure all voices are heard. Some attendees may be more reserved in virtual settings, proactively invite them to voice their perspectives or ask questions. 4. Add Interactive Elements: Incorporate polls or quizzes to boost engagement and break monotony. These methods create a lively, participative atmosphere.

Ask questions, provide feedback (both + and -), recognize people’s developmental needs and provide it even if it’s not your job description on this particular task, and delegate slices of the mission so people take ownership of it. Pick a couple of people who stand out early to run portions of meetings so they can grow into your position when you move up or out.

Ein wichtiger Aspekt für die Interaktion mit dem Publikum ist die Frage der Rolle. Als was stehe ich auf der Bühne? Ich kann z.B. Entertainer, Brückenbauer, Gastgeber, Zeremonienmeister oder Erkl?rer sein. Sobald ich die Rollen mische wird es gef?hrlich oder genial. Wer seine Rolle aber nicht kennt oder spürt, wird es schwer haben gut zu moderieren.

Please don’t overly structure your meetings to the point where “icebreakers” are an agenda item. Business is a human process, treat people like people and have conversations. Not a single person working for any company will enjoy feeling like they’re a part of an overly planned session. You’ll lose engagement 9 times out of 10 once someone feels like they’re a cog going through the motions. Moderate by keeping things on topic by being up front with what needs to be discussed and the results which are needed to move forward. Keep things brief, conversational and speak plainly so everything is understood. It can be a difficult thing to communicate you don’t understand something. Keep that in mind with the way you talk to people.

Flexibilité ?? Avoir un plan B (et même C) pour les outils de collaboration est essentiel. Se familiariser avec plusieurs plateformes nous assure une transition fluide en cas de problème technique. Communication ?? Dans des situations imprévues, une communication efficace est cruciale pour garder l’attention des participants. Une explication claire et rapide du plan d'action aide à maintenir la sérénité et la concentration de l'équipe. Implication ?? Encourager les membres de l'équipe à prendre des initiatives et à proposer des solutions pour renforcer leur implication. Les membres de l’équipe se sentiront ainsi concernés et participeront efficacement.

Conclude every part of the meeting with an interim summary, emphasizing the inclusion of each member's opinion. Wrap up each meeting with a sharing session (also called reflection) to evaluate the meeting's quality, and use the feedback to improve future meetings. By empowering your team members to contribute to the common goal and giving them freedom, your meetings become less vulnerable to disruptions and distractions, given your team members are actively engaged in the company objectives. For example, if the internet connection fails, team members dependant on the manager will feel lost, and team members empowered to act will find a way to continue productive work despite the disruption, say, over the chat.

Yes, always have a plan and always be prepared to adapt or even abandon it. Acknowledging and responding to the needs of a group is critical. Failing to do so clearly communicates a disregard for their interests. At a simpler level, if a piece of tech doesn't work - move on quickly to Plan B.

If its in a small group, you can even ask the group to support you. Create a sense of shared ownership for the success of the meeting. Instead of being amused observers, participants will get more ownership and will do their best to support you in your challenge.

Areas that needs close look could be: 1.Audio and visual clarity 2. Vocals being strong 3. Rate of speech should be medium paced 4. Pronunciation or neutralized accent 5. Intonation for gaining proper attention 5. Asking simple questions and soliciting answers 6.Involve through creative activities like quizzes, puzzles, recreation of old poems etc 7. Understand the objective of meeting 8. Break the objective into smaller tasks 9.Let the team accept, swallow and digest their part of the tasks 10. Define timeliness 11. Let people be accountable 12. Be there and help them through 13. Let this be people driven rather than an individual 14. Clarify scale and scope of the objective and its impact 15. Ofcourse internet

This is so often the bit that gets forgotten - I keep a journal on hand to note reflections straight after a session. It's also something you can encourage participants to do as a learning log.

Am Ende eines gr??eren Meetings (insbesondere mit vielen Teilnehmern), ist es perfekt zeitnah mit einer kleinen Retrospektive Feedback einzuholen. Auch immer gut funktioniert, wenn z.B. "Austauschbereiche" wie Gruppen (LinkedIn) oder im firmeninternen Tool (Slack, Teams, etc.) gegeben werden. Dort kann man dann auch aktiv regelm??ig nach Feedback fragen und davon lernen.

I like asking some simply evaluation questions to the group such as: What material did you find most useful? (they can use the chat feature or you can survey - then, double-click by asking why they found it useful) AND, What materials did you find least useful? (again, asking why or it what way could it be improved for the future?)

So wie das Setzen und Kommunizieren des Ziels am Anfang des Meetings unabdingbar ist, ist auch eine kleine Retro am Ende wichtig. Haben wir das Ziel erreicht? Was k?nnen wir fürs n?chst Meeting beibehalten oder verbessern

Faites appel à votre réseau. Invitez d autres facilitateurices à venir assister à une de vos séances, et inversement. Ensuite débriefez ensemble : quelles surprises? Quelles événements marquants ? Quelles évolutions de l énergie du groupe ? Si cela s'avère trop complexe à organiser, vous pouvez aussi participer à un cercle d échanges. Partagez vos idées, vos difficultés, vos apprentissages.

Consider accessibility. Not all participants will thrive in a virtual space and need recorded meetings, transcripts, closed captions, pre-reading material, and other tools or resources to ensure everyone can participate the same way.

I've been leading virtual teams since before the pandemic and there's one thing I've seen even the seasoned leaders ignore. The importance of helping each team member see the big picture and understand the purpose of their work. If this was important in leading co-located teams, it's doubly important in virtual teams. Virtual teams are expected to operate with a much higher level of autonomy than their co-located counterparts and this makes it even more crucial for them to know the why. I continue to find innovative ways to create dialogue around the purpose of our work. This also inspires confidence in my team members that our purpose isn't just written for our "About Us" page but it's something each of us are actively working towards??

When leading a virtual team, remember that a sense of real human connection is vital and is frequently under valued in favor of closely monitored activity efficiency. People are not robots and to prevent "quiet quitting" that leads to real quitting, we must treat our team like the awesome whole people they are! Here's how I have built bonds and team commitment across large virtual teams: -- set aside dedicated "water cooler" time that is missed in the virtual space -- build in opportunities to have small talk and chit chat during facilitation -- host virtual game times -- bring your sense of humor and make space for laughter -- Communicate, communicate, communicate!

In the virtual space we tend to focus on tasks and efficiency and forget the social aspects of work that are naturally part of co-located teamwork, such as going for lunch together or having coffee. This is not only important for personal wellbeing and social needs, but also to increase coherence and solidarity among team members. So virtual leaders, build social rituals into your online meetings.

Not everyone wants to be on camera for a myriad of reasons. This should not be a mandatory and used as a way to collect attendance. Tell people in advance that cameras will be used and should they not want to be on camera, they can create a backdrop to showcase elements about themselves or this program which are insightful.