Brought to you by Virtual not Distant, the 21st Century Work Life podcast looks at leading and managing remote teams, online collaboration and working in distributed organisations. Join Pilar Orti, guests & co-hosts as they shine the spotlight on the most relevant themes and news relevant to the modern knowledge worker.
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episode 107: Facilitating Virtual Meetings
In this episode, Pilar Orti talks to Nancy Settle-Murphy about how she facilitates online and hybrid meetings.
Having conversations in public when you meet someone for the first time.
Being a coach/trainer/facilitator
Who does Nancy work with?
Hybrid meetings. Nancy talks about one of her clients and why they decide to hold hybrid meetings. Involving people calling into the in person meeting in activities. Using the technology wisely.
Making online team meetings work. Does splitting responsibilities in a meeting translate into how the team operates outside of meetings? Should roles be assigned by the manager?
The changes that Nancy has seen throughout her 22 years working as a virtual meeting facilitator.
Are there more international teams now in corporations? It's the ability to collaborate asynchronously that's evolved and changed how we operate.
The assumptions we make when we're using the same language.
"The hope is that we mean the same things when we say something, but in the virtual world we need to find shared understanding and that takes time."
The absence of visual cues is still a barrier to understanding in virtual teams. The need to take the time to understand silence.
Making assumptions about others. Nancy shares an anecdote.
Why are more people not using video?
- Bandwidth, infrastructure (national, company-wide)
-"Bad hair days"
- Screen-sharing takes priority
- People don't want to be caught out multitasking.
- Lack of tools and technology. Lack of choice.
Should outsiders challenge the team to use video? Or rather, when should we encourage the use of video?
The stage of the team, the kind of conversations they're having or need to have.
Ask thoughtful questions that will get people talking.
Have a note pad where you take notes down.
Creating a team photo with names and faces.
Be aware of who's participating.
Consciously allow time for reflection. Avoid only rewarding the people who speak first.
Ask questions to pull people in. Not "Anne, you haven't spoken in a bit." Ask them a question relevant to them, so they're pulled into the conversation. (This only happens if you know the people around you.)
Team Building through the work
Building trust amongst team members in project teams. It's difficult to build trust if the only time you come together with your team is a weekly call. Figure out who needs to deepen their relationship and design interdependent tasks. They will need to have deeper conversations between them. Don't just design by location.
Allow for smaller teams to emerge.
Pilar mentions Team Genius
Build and identify the influencers and stakeholders outside of the team that team members need to be talking to.
The changing role of the manager and official team leader.
The importance of making the norms explicit. "Shared operating norms"
Establishing presence
How do we schedule meetings
Use of IM and email and other tools
Levels of responsiveness
http://www.guidedinsights.com/articles-guides/
Get in touch with Nancy
http://www.guidedinsights.com/contact-us/