Going Remote

HOW TO CREATE MORE engaging ONLINE EXPERIENCES

No one knew how the lockdown would affect us. Some of us were in denial, some of us thought it would last a couple of weeks, I don’t think many of us expected, or were prepared for, what eventually happened. At OverTime, we were about to launch a fourteen-week leadership programme for a team of 25 executives, who were set to travel from all over the world for a kick-off workshop… in person.

It was clear by mid-March that this wasn’t going to happen, but thanks to our client’s flexibility and trust, we shifted the programme to a 100% virtual experience. By the end of April we were ready to launch. As it turns out, we’ve since discovered that the programme is even more engaging than it was in person. I wanted to capture what made it that way before the learning was lost.

Together with my delivery partners, Heather Taylor Portmann and Maeve Rutten, we’ve collected what we have learnt in the process of moving to a remote way of working with our clients and what it means for our work in the future. We are sharing them to help you, as managers, maximize the engagement in your online environments because I think we can all accept that we won’t be going back to “normal” any time soon.

A note on tools

Since we were running more than one session, and everyone was experiencing the dread of back to back, poorly run Zoom meetings, we wanted to find a way that we would make the sessions more sophisticated, different and engaging. We opted for Mural as our homebase. Maeve already knew the platform and it gives us the right level of functionality, and it doesn’t take much to get familiar with the basics, which is key when bringing new people into the tool. Think about your required fidelity and audience to find the right tool for you, you want to enhance not distract from your session.

At the same time, be careful that your session doesn’t depend on someone else’s platform. Even though we’re committed to Mural, we designed our templates to move smoothly across platforms in case a client has a preference.

Here’s how we’ve used Mural to set up our sessions:

Tools aren’t always a necessity. I love how Maeve draws from her drama background to set the scene here:

 Before the Session

Remote experiences are a different kind of thinking than the traditional and familiar in-person ones, for both those leading the session and those participating. Although it’s tempting, avoid “copy and pasting” your in-person approach to the virtual world.

You can’t expect to use old world solutions to fit new world problems.

Maeve uses three simple questions when she’s preparing for a session:

• First, what’s the learning outcome of the session? If it’s part of a series, what is the arc and flow of the sessions altogether?

• Next, which session approach is most appropriate for the size of my group and the topic at hand?

• Last, how can my online space and pre-work support these best?

We went back to the drawing board for our leadership programme in order to adapt it to an online environment. Before, we used to be able to rock up and deliver an in-person session with out eyes closed. Now, we have to think through every step and explain to our clients why we’re running it this way. For a Sales Leader, team leader, programme manager, or anyone else getting a remote group to a collective outcome, mapping the process is key!

Even if you’re putting together a shorter form experience, starting with a journey map helps you to take areas of friction out of the process. Being forced to keep sessions on the shorter side due to time zone constraints, meant we had to think of the best way we could make use of the time. We added more pre-work to prime the attendees and hold shorter, more focused sessions that were capped at a length of two hours MAX. While shorter sessions might seem like a downgrade, there are advantages that you won’t get in person.

In terms of preparation, build in time to get your clients onboarded so that they’re not learning a tool and trying to listen at the same time. We did a fun icebreaker which got participants to open up about themselves and get familiar with the features of Mural at the same time. This meant that when we got into the real stuff, they were already comfortable with the setting. 

Of course, always use checklists ahead of your sessions to ensure audio, tools and all are ready to go and working smoothly. Testing your tech with patient friends and colleagues helps you feel more competent running things the first time.

In the Session

Now that we aren’t even in the same room as our participants, it can feel like we have less control over engagement in an online environment. But what we’ve learned to love most about the remote experience is the features facilitators now have with tools like Zoom and Mural.

If you want to help build your team dynamics in a distributed environment, break a bigger team into smaller groups using breakout spaces. Larger groups favour the extroverts, whilst smaller groups are great for introverts. Smaller spaces with clear questions are great as it gives everyone a chance to share their ideas. Come back as a larger team to share playbacks - it also saves the “everyone speaking at once but no one is being heard” challenge. 

When it comes to focus, we’ve found doing a combination of individual exercises, group conversations, and breakout rooms is the best solution. Having something to look at helps keep people’s attention.

Maeve noticed that having a virtual space to collaborate in also allows for people with different learning styles to flourish as there is a mix of written, visual and spoken exchange going on all at the same time.

We’ve found that by having each individual workspace in our Mural framework open and transparent to the group has led to higher engagement on doing the pre-work on time, as it’s clear who has and who hasn’t done it.

As a facilitator, your natural instincts are just as effective in a remote environment. Don’t shy away from calling out obviously distracted attendees. Anyone that has done an in-person workshop with me is familiar with the dreaded “phone bowl”. Remind participants what they’re here for and gently nudge them to stay focused, not for your sake but for their team.

Heather has found that participants enjoy mixing with colleagues since they’re at home alone, and the energy is different from work meetings. These connections can be created in person too, but this relationship building feels especially needed right now. Life has been turned upside down and we want to help participants escape by having a fun experience.

Going Forward

Switching over to remote experiences is certainly a learning curve. I know how much of a mindf*ck this process has been for me personally. But recognize that you’re developing a skill that will serve you for years to come. There were moments in this process where I just wanted to go back to the way it was before. My advice: don’t focus on what you can’t do, but what you can do differently in a remote environment.

As we navigate the pandemic along with our clients, making the switch to completely virtual experiences can seem like a huge challenge. But we have a unique role right now to create the space for conversations, reflections, and insights to happen. Facing the circumstances and persevering through is what makes us leaders.

If you’re looking to enhance your organization’s ability to create and run more engaging online experiences, we have some workshops that will help you accelerate the learning curve. Get in touch to book in a complimentary 1:1 with a member of our facilitation team.