Pandemic Positive
By: Rich Nadworny
Tags: Collaboration, Design Thinking, Online Meetings, Workshop, Innovation

Let me elaborate.

My tools of choice during 2020 were Zoom, Mural and Miro (I use them both, interchangeably, and sometimes in the same workshop series). The shift to digital forced me to be more intentional in my workshop design. That meant I needed to timebox activities more carefully while making sure to take care not to ignore personal, non-digital needs. I’ve always strived to work very structured in my in-person work but once we moved online I saw a lot of tentativeness. This was mostly due to peoples’ unfamiliarity or even fear of the new tools.

On the other hand, that gave me more opportunity to create clear parameters in which to work. Let’s face it, a lot of what we say we miss with in-person meetings is the idle banter, the elongated transitions, and the slow starts. These are all personal interactions that many people claim is the relational glue that holds people together. I disagree. I think most of this is learned behavior to reduce performance and responsibility. Most of the longer lasting relational glue that builds culture through human conversation happens in between meetings or through producing good works. I’m not saying meetings or workshops shouldn’t be fun. I’m saying that I’m seeing stronger relationship being built through higher levels of work interactions and results in digital meetings than I see being built through idle chatter in in-person meetings. The clearer parameters that the online meetings demand make it easier, not harder, for people to meet.

One of the reasons that I’ve come to prefer the combination of Zoom and Mural/Miro over in-person meetings is the ease and flexibility of creating small groups and giving each of these groups a dedicated work room. The groups themselves have come to the conclusion that three (3) is the optimal number of people in a group. This small number forces people to be active throughout, enables better and more direct conversations, builds rapport quicker, and helps them produce in short periods of time.

In Zoom and Mural/Miro I never run out of workspace; I always have great rooms to design in with limitless whiteboards and creative materials; I can quickly check in on individual groups seamlessly; and I can call people in to the larger meetings and then send them back out with no transportation times or disruptions.

Most of this is impossible in real life. We have limited space in which to work. There are never enough good rooms to design in. We spend (waste) lots of time in transitions. We are then forced to increase group size and watch as a small subset does the work, while others have the ability to look on passively. This isn’t to say we don’t waste time online or that everyone is highly active. But it happens less in the newer meetings.

And so, we end almost all of these meetings with people declaring that they feel inspired, energized, ready to take on new things, have more confidence and feel more creative. My favorite quote was from a participant who, half-way through a workshop, grabbed her head and claimed “My head hurts from being so creative in a short time. I’m not used to participating in meetings like this!”

All of this happens because of more intense planning and rituals. One ritual is that we have to take at least a 10-minute break every hour. People can’t sit in front of computers for too long. The break, for coffee, bathroom, exercise etc. gives people a clear picture that they will work hard for a bit, and then have a breather. It works wonders.