You're facing power dynamics in a virtual facilitation session. How can you keep participants focused?

I think an ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of a cure in this situation. Always know your audience and, when necessary, hold separate sessions for different hierarchical groups if power dynamics are identified as a risk to delivering a smooth and effective learning session. Culture is an important factor here, too. In some cultures, it is normal for only the highest ranking people to participate in a session and disrespectful for others to contribute verbally. Again, knowing your audience is crucial. Also, keep in mind that you will likely have introverts who learn best by listening and digesting the material on their own and extroverts who learn best from interacting with others. Once again - know your audience.

If You facing power dynamics in a virtual facilitation session and you want keep participants focused first of all please try to limit a number of people in a session. Limited number of people allow You as a facilitator give to everybody equal chance to contribute, actively listen everybody, provide valuable feedback etc.

Ensure every voice in the room is heard. Ideas piggy back on each other so encourage free flowing conversations. Be the moderator of the discussion. Encourage the quieter people in the group to share their thoughts. Tie together the various threads of discussion and equally share the credit amongst the group. The idea is to drive collaboration through discussion and quell power dynamics before they hijack the session.

One more tip: ensure the first ones sharing perspectives are not always the ones in a higher position. This influences power dynamics a lot. If the highest paid person or highest in hierarchy goes first, tendency is for the least experienced ones to shut down or simply agree. Exchange dynamics every now and then to ensure everyone has a fair chance to participate with no bias or influence

1. Establish Ground Rules 2. Use Structured Activities 3. Active Facilitation 4. Leverage Technology 5. Acknowledge Contributions 6. Break Down Power Structures 7. Encourage Reflection 8. Monitor and Adapt

Active listening isn't just about hearing words, it's about understanding feelings too. Show people you care by really listening. Summarize what they said, ask questions to clarify, and show you understand their point of view. This makes everyone feel heard and valued, even if you disagree.

Besides demonstrating reflective listening by summarizing the points and bouncing back questions to the participant who shared, we can also encourage active listening of all those who join. If we have breakout rooms, we could ask the breakout room participants to assign one member to share upon returning. To share the breakout room content, they will have to not only demonstrate active listening, but also use presentation skills.

Stick to your schedule like glue, Let everyone know how much time you've allotted for each topic. If someone goes overboard, gently remind them of the time. This keeps the meeting focused and ensures everyone gets a chance to speak.

One way that we can make sure that we are managing our time is in our preparation. Create a time chart and rundown of what is expected in the meeting, and what the different segments consist of, including the timeframe for each section. When we are in the online meeting as well, we could also choose to rotate time-keepers for each section so that the participants are taking an active part in the time management.

One important aspect about the feedback loop is to make it diverse and also be aware of the spacing. In an hour long workshop or meeting, we should be providing at least 3 or 4 different opportunities for feedback to encourage engagement, break up the meeting, and prevent anyone from overtaking the meeting. The questions can differ each time throughout the meeting, and we need to make sure we leave time for reflection at the end.

This can definitely make your workshop more interesting and exciting. People love to be heard and given an opportunity to transfer knowledge. Establishment of knowledge makes virtual learning easier and more efficient!