What are the best ways to facilitate remote problem solving?

A pre-step is to ensure that you/participants understand the urgency & impact of the problem. Also, consider having the right people with the required skill sets/experiences that can contribute towards understanding the problem and solving it. When facilitating such sessions, I use a 5-step process: 1. Use 5Whys, Isakawa Digram and Urgency v/s Impact matrix to understand the problem 2. Then define the problem as a question using 'How Might We' 3. Brainstorming techniques to generate solutions using 'Crazy 8's', 'Brainwriting' etc. 4. Prioritize the solutions based on the impact they have and the effort it takes. 5. Build on the solution using the 'SCAMPER technique' or 'Six Thinking Hats'.

1. We must foster a healthy relationship with the team and have an open-door policy, so team members feel safe to seek advice from colleagues. 2. Ensure regular access to training tools, so team members can cultivate the habit of continuous learning. 3. It is important to get to the root of the problem. For eg: If someone in my sales team is not getting responses to their cold emails/ calls, it is either that they are not clear on what information and how much information has to be shared or they are unable to translate that properly in writing or while on a call. 4. Once you have clarity on the issue, you can create group learning sessions if others in the team are having the same problem, or choose to deliver training 1:1.

Remote collaboration is complex, but not impossible: you can very efficiently share information, or coordinate multiple actors in the implementation phase of a project or program, you can also increase exponentially peer to peer connectivity with AI tools to initiate new conversations that can lead to new ideas. To solve a complex or wicked problem, you need the requisite creativity and that implies Group Genius. Remote collaboration too often lacks the variety to be able to leverage collective intelligence. Group Genius is organic by nature, and self-sustaining for no-one drives it, controls it or owns it. It is not a structure, it is not a process, it is a phenomena governed by the laws of cybernetics.

I'm not going to go into tooling because depending on where you work you'll have access to different things. Tooling aside my recommendations are - Set a clear objective for the session - what do you want to achieve? - Don't overload the session - you will lose people early on if things seem too much to get through - Smaller groups work better - if there are too many people on a call, they hide behind others. Use break-out rooms if you need to - Take breaks - Create an atmosphere that fosters creativity and outside the box thinking - ice breakers, games and quizzes work

In my view setting up an environment for collaborative working is a key step. Understanding priorities, common goals , establishing personal connect is key activity to take place. Tools to communicate can be agreed during this step.

For me, no matter how big the group, or whether it is online or in person, the fundamental starting point is to define the problem. Easier said than done as multistakeholder perspectives complicate creating the problem statement. This cannot be skipped over. There must be consensual agreement on what the problem(s) is before anything else is considered. The number 1 step make sure all stakeholders are consulted

In my experience, clear goals and expectations are crucial, but fostering psychological safety and openness is essential for remote problem-solving. Without physical cues, teams solve problems more effectively when they feel safe expressing ideas and concerns. Encouraging open dialogue, acknowledging contributions, and managing conflicts with empathy are key. In a remote context, this means allowing time for discussions, being attentive to written communication nuances, and proactively engaging quieter team members. It's a shift to prioritize team dynamics and well-being, challenging yet rewarding for remote teams. This unconventional approach leads to innovative solutions and a stronger, cohesive team.

As a facilitator, I do agree that setting goals, expectations and norms are key. As others have stated, it is essential to have a discussion around these foundations and confirm understanding, but in, and agreement on the problem. Be open to differences in opinion and willing to flex when consensus takes things in a different, but more efficient or productive direction. Ultimately, a facilitator should be asking good questions and pivoting with the answers to guide the group toward high quality outcomes.

Group facilitation techniques help to make everyone aware of the respect that is expected of them, and of the listening skills that are needed to ensure that the meeting runs smoothly. The timekipper is mandatory! The meeting will be pointless if the expectations are not clear: the subject of the meeting must be clear, and the minimum expectations described in the invitation to the meeting.

In order to effectively solve problems, in teams it is crucial to establish goals and expectations. Clear goals provide team members with an understanding of what they're working towards and what is expected from them. To establish goals and expectations remote teams can utilize project management tools such as Trello or Asana to create and assign tasks, set deadlines and monitor progress. Additionally, communication tools can be utilized by teams to ensure that everyone is on the page and has access, to the necessary information. At the end of each day, a team huddle is mandatory to reflect and dicuss upon the day's progress, and set next day's targets and expectations as well.

In my experience, positive and safe environment helps and motivate team members to resolve issues or problems more effectively and faster. Constructive feedback is a very good approach to foster positive and supportive environment.

A positive environment where employees or team members feel empowered and encouraged can really do wonders. History narrates that the ownership bolstering has never backfired. Appreciation should also be practiced within the periphery of success regardless of impact percentage. Even the smallest of the positive change requires appreciation for others to queue up. Above all, treating them as individual human beings with different needs is an essential part of supportive team management.

Pour ma part, je dirai que le climat de travail est d'une grande utilité dans la résolution des conflits. Lorsque le milieu n'accorde pas d'importance aux a priori et aux stéreotypes, tout conflit est gérable et meme le maximum de conflit est évitable. Il faut créer un cadre assez flexible avec moins de hiérarchie et développer les compétences techniques afin d'éviter des stress inutiles. Une idée importance, lever la barrière des inégalités de sexe et de genre. Quelque soit la grandeur du groupe, personne ne doit se considérer comme opprimée, négligée et vulnérable face à une situation.

Feedback techniques foster trust, listening and personal development. It is a practice to be carried out during and after meetings.

Seja uma pessoa neutra, estabele?a ordem para a fala, crie um ambiente onde todas as pessoas possam participar e expor suas ideias.

Overprepared and understructured. Only when you have a plan, you can pivot into something else. I almost always change small things during my sessions to fit with the groups needs. A way to empower the participants is to help them co-create and decide how to spend out time. It can be as small as co-creating rules for the sessions, letting them set the culture to begin with. Other times I bring 2 different options for how to spend our time and give them the authority to decide which to go with. Being able to adapt on the go is the most important skill as a facilitator.

I encourage collective decision-making as much as possible. There's nothing worse than a manager deciding on his own. On the contrary, the more you consult your teams, the more they can join in the movement and participate in a collective momentum. Change is not an obstacle, it's an opportunity: it's a constructive way of moving forward in a changing environment.

Inspect and adapt shall be the policy need to be promoted and followed. Feedbacks are always taken into the consideration. Changes need to be embraced.

While it's important to adapt to changing situations (i.e., new information), facilitators should use their judgment to decide whether a new discussion direction is worth pursuing for the goal(s) of the discussion. Otherwise, the conversations might get easily derailed.

Its important to always factor in changes in any engagemwnt in life given that its the only thing that is constant. Inevitably, willingness to adapt is important because the adaptability would bring about remedies or potential solutions. With it too comes learning which will always enhance the acquisition of skills and knowledge thereby increasing competencies.

Emphasize that problem solving practices helps us to continuously improve. Leverage online tools such as Mural or Miro to create canvases to collaborate remotely. Make it anonymous if team prefers. State the problem statement clearly with description of what happened, when it happened, and the impact. Make sure the potential solutions to solve the problem comes from the team.

Feedback should be a two way street, make sure everyone has the opportunity to share their ideas, suggestions and brainstorm. When team members trust each other, they feel more comfortable sharing ideas, seeking feedback, and taking risks. Trust enhances communication.

At the end of the meeting, use a quick feedback tool like Agile ROTI, which allows everyone to find out what they thought of the meeting in just 1 click. Focus on the weakest and strongest votes. Secondly, anonymous questionnaires can be sent out with a free comment section so that everyone can give a cold impression of the previous meetings: this provides further information on your work.

Yes to a debriefing session, but I've always found _pre-briefing_ sessions are great too. Ask your group: who has worked on a problem like this before? What did you learn? Who are we missing, who _should_ be in this group?

Celebrate successful problem-solving efforts and acknowledge the contributions of team members. Positive reinforcement encourages a culture of collaboration and innovation.

My number one golden rule: never confuse a problem statement with a goal. In fact, they go together, e.g. "We want to [achieve this goal], but [this problem is in the way], and it has [current impact]. If we don't do anything about it now, [future impact].

Keep it visible - capturing a summarized version of participant feedback live will keep people engaged. Be okay with the quiet spaces - people need think time, even virtually. Have individual time where they consider possible reasons, then collate. Don't skip the problem exploration. No team ever is clear enough on the problem itself before trying to solve it. Spend time here. Make sure they can contribute live to a shared document or whiteboard. Virtual does not equal a video meeting where no one has hands on keyboard.

If possible or suitable for the goals of the discussion, send out prep work beforehand to collect people's thoughts on certain topics. This will help give facilitators a sense of the dynamics of the team, and the results could be used to move conversations forward or encourage more reserved/ introverted team members to speak up.

The main point in problem-solving is - to correctly identify the source of the problem. To do this, the team/company must have a culture where people openly speak about errors timely, not keep quiet about them. Managers/companies can prevent many problems by cultivating a culture of early detection and correction of errors.

Beyond the specified points, consider factors unique to your team and the nature of the problem at hand. This may involve acknowledging individual strengths, fostering a sense of autonomy, or addressing specific challenges associated with remote work. Tailoring your approach to these additional considerations enhances the overall effectiveness of remote problem-solving efforts.