How to manage group dynamics when running Remote Sprints?

A successful design sprint means an engaged team dedicated to creating unique and surprising solutions. I believe “engaged” is the keyword in our story. In today’s world, everything is moving so fast, and since we are bombarded with more than 11 million pieces of information at any given moment, we shouldn’t be surprised to discover that the average human attention span is down to eight seconds from 12 in the last 18 years. The internet, technological advancements such as smartphones and video games have all played a role in this drop.

So how do you keep teams engaged, especially when you are facilitating remote design sprints?

Of course, it all starts with making sure the team members know and understand the challenge, the desired outcomes and their role and purpose as part of the sprint team. And they should also want to be there :). But making them pay attention and be present at all times is another story entirely.

When facilitating in-person design sprints, we can use different techniques for combating the lack of involvement, such as:

• explaining the purpose behind each activity and getting the team to buy-in before proceeding to the next exercise;
• paying attention to people’s reactions and emotions;
• showing empathy (when things are going great as well as when they are going bad);
• compensating their lack of energy with our energy;
• …(you can learn more about managing difficult group dynamics, deviations and conflicts by joining one of our Facilitation Workshops).

But when it comes to remote sprints many of the techniques are tricky to apply. So, we created a tool for empathy, a tool to help you screen the emotional state of your remote team and help you to act accordingly.

DSA’s Emotional Rollercoaster Template (Mural & Miro Templates)

Why use the Emotional Rollercoaster?

For two reasons:

1. to set the right expectations
2. to diagnose the team’s health and level of engagement

How to use the Emotional Rollercoaster?

1. Before the sprint

We suggest introducing it in the preparation phase of your remote sprint. At Design Sprint Academy, we conduct a one-hour onboarding session with the sprint team 1 week before the sprint to set the right expectations and get our team on board. Use this opportunity to also walk the team through the emotional journey of a sprint. By letting them know how they will feel next, you will reduce the level of ambiguity, you will create a safer environment and also win their trust in you, as a Facilitator.

Learn more about team onboarding from our webinar: How to Run Remote Design Sprints — Planning & Onboarding

2. During the sprint

After completing different exercises or sprint phases, you can diagnose your team’s health by simply asking your team members to label their feelings. What happens in our brain when we are able to label our feelings? Simply put, we are able to put some distance between our negative feelings and the influence those feelings have over us. Research shows that when naming emotions we are able to turn down the amygdala alarm-centre and reduce the stress level caused by negative emotions like fear or anger.

By using the Emotional Rollercoaster daily diagnose template you will help your team name their feelings every step of the way, and gain valuable clues on how to proceed next. Sometimes you might have to ask for a break, reinforce the “why” behind that exercise, show more energy and enthusiasm going forward, add some spontaneous ice-breakers, and other times you might simply need to show more empathy towards your team. Regardless of the strategy, once it’s rooted in your team’s feelings your chances of success increase exponentially.

Hopefully, you will find it useful. Let me know if you do try it. Since we’re continually working to improve our processes and tools at the Academy, any feedback or suggestions would be more than welcome.

Coming soon: MIRO Template