Adapting to the New (virtual) World professionally!
New times call for new approaches. Connecting with you all monthly allows me to share uplifting stories of leadership that may inspire and motivate in these times of change. Wherever you are in the world and whatever your position at work, you have most likely had to adapt your working day in some way recently. Normal, as we knew it, has ‘left the building’.
In this edition, I will share my personal account of adapting to this ‘New World!’In the past, organizations I worked with viewed ‘working from home’ with doubt and even disdain. The general attitude appeared to be “it’s something that is not for usâ€.
Likewise, many trainers shied away from online or blended training. Technology moves at a rapid pace, so this is understandable! Covid-19 has accelerated many businesses to virtual learning and education. I’ve noticed two shifts:
- Participants are ready to attend online sessions, (albeit, not a full blown 8-hour, online seminar).
- Organizations are now willing to entertain the idea of delivering sessions online.
Organizations are moving along a continuum that leads from face-to-face to virtual approaches (which has meant learning a whole new vocabulary for most of us. My suggestion to organizations is to compartmentalize learning:
* Synchronous learning: webinars, live streaming and live demonstrations
* Collaborative asynchronous: discussion groups, learning with social networking so learners can react when and where they want to
* Self-paced asynchronous – so learners can come in and out of the learning when and where they want to.
I’ve come to realize that learners expect online (virtual) training environments that work from their phones, tablets and laptops wherever they are, at times convenient to them, seamlessly and with as little effort and complication as possible. Who doesn’t want problem free technology after all!? This puts pressure on coaches and trainers to handle the challenge of technology whilst delivering their workshops.
Click here to see me getting ready for an online event as master of ceremonies!
With at least 4 months' experience (March to July) under my belt, I am now thoroughly enjoying the new world and even becoming experimental combining face to face sessions with virtual participants! So, it seems that the pandemic somehow forced many of us into a new digital dimension and phase of personal development! Who knew!
Here is one quote from the inspiring Eckhart Tolle: * Click on the image to find out more about his work.
In the short-term, I’m responding with online sessions that meet the needs people have today and in post-COVID-19 times. To meet this need, I’ve created 8 short courses targeting the following skills. Click the titles to watch:
- Challenging conversations made easy
- Cross-cultural communications at work
- Managing change and transition
- Leading remote teams
- Managing stress and anxiety
- PCREM (post-covid re-entry module)
- Presenting with gravitas in a leaderlike manner
- Working from home
These topics are all crucially important to master in order to validate the space that learners are in, helping companies be receptive, preparing teams to face what we are traversing globally, enabling dialogue and learning together – while so many of us are physically apart.
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Stay at peace with yourself, at peace with others and be leaderlike. Look forward to bringing you a story next month,
Robert
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Remember, a story shared may just inspire a fellow human somewhere around the globe. If we receive and post your experience as part of our next newsletter you will receive a 30-minute coaching session with me personally. Let’s build a leaderlike community and remain connected for conscious creation of our next, new world.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------What Robbie's clients have to say
Which did you find most beneficial of the topics covered in the session?
Before the webinar I was as a bit confused and skeptical about this new life of spending almost all my time at home and just the thought of being confined for an unknown period time greatly scared me. The seminar helped me in confronting my fears and objectively trying to identify activities that will help me alleviate this feeling of despair, confinement and hopelessness. Currently, I am happier than I ever thought I could be. Armed with the techniques learned from the webinar, I now appreciate and deliberately spend more time with my children, I have read a couple of books that for long I didn't think I had enough time to do such, I started gardening in my backyard for which I am highly grateful as it is a calming and refocusing ritual for me to sometimes walk away from my computer for a few minutes just to go stare at the beauty of the vegetables growing in the garden and how marvelous and fascinating nature is. In fact, this seminar has made me appreciate myself, my family, and my friends a bit more and most importantly the new joy I have found in nature. For this I am mostly grateful and will highly recommend this webinar and especially the wealth of knowledge the instructor brought to the session. Thanks, and wish whoever reads this a happier and healthier life.
How could the session be improved in future?
In fact, I cannot think of one way to improve this webinar due to the sheer amount of knowledge I gained and how positively impactful it has been in my life. Perhaps a follow up webinar to share our experiences from the gains we have achieved after the webinar might not be a bad idea. ??
Participant, ROCKWOOL
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