Innovating apart: How to create an inclusive remote working session
By: Elayna Spratley
Tags: Corporate Innovation, Design Thinking, Remote Working, Meetings, Collaboration

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With many organizations moving to more of an all-remote working format, use this time as an opportunity to create virtual working sessions with your team. This will ensure that our solo work environment will not create silos. Working sessions are often more useful than a traditional meeting because they keep the team’s engagement and innovation high while working through complex challenges. The types of meetings that could become remote working sessions include:

Planning

Kick-off

Brainstorming

Data Synthesis

Retrospective

Any time you are trying to share information, understand perspectives and create new possibilities make it a collaborative working session to ensure you are working in an inclusive way.

The key steps for creating a great remote working session are also best practices for great facilitation:

Create an engaging and time-boxed agenda

Plan out a diverse set of segments include: information sharing (research share out), group activities, individual reflection moments and generous amounts of time for group discussions

Keep in mind that people need breaks. If you are having a longer session allocate 15 minutes for breaks about every 90 minutes.

Be intentional with building rapport. Build in a few minutes of friendly conversation at the opening of your agenda and have everyone introduce themself.

Set aside time for everyone to think and be heard. Include several moments where you pause for questions or comments. You may need more reflection moments depending on the complexity of the topic. (Example: Allow for questions and comments following any time information or ideas are shared with the group at large.)

Keep it as simple as possible. Break up longer sessions into multi-day events. (Example: Have two 2-hour sessions over the span of two days.)

Close your agenda with an action planning exercise so participants know what the next steps will be.

Set expectations

Share the goal/focus of the session in your invitation to your participants. If you have a set of outcomes that you hope to achieve, include that as well.

In your invitation list out the intended outcomes of the session instead of your agenda. This keeps the focus on what you hope everyone gets out of the session and articulates the value of working together. You can create this list by mirroring your agenda. (Example: Agenda item- Draft principles that define the attributes of a successful solution. Outcome- Agree on a set of principles that articulate the attributes our solution should include.)

Let each team member know if there is anything they are responsible for bringing or reviewing before the meeting.

Start the session with a welcome, review of the agenda, the goal of the session and ground rules. Here are a few suggestions for ground rules:

Keep phones and notifications silent. All members are expected to participate in all phases of the process. Respect the speaker. Sign when we are going off-track.

Set up your virtual workspace

Create a living working space by setting up the templates for the activities in the order you will do them on your virtual board. Popular tools to facilitate this include Miro or Mural.

Place your expectation setting content on the far left of the working space: agenda, ground rules, and goal.

Then include an ice breaker activity space that will allow people to learn how to use the tool and provide the opportunity for everyone to give a warm welcome. (Example: Post up your name in a virtual sticky note and add an icon that expresses something that is on your mind today)

Also, be sure you know how to properly invite people to the workspace. Do your participants have an account for the tool? If not, what is the best way to have them join?

Included in your virtual workspace are the tools you are using for video conferencing and messaging. Let your team know at the start of the session that if they miss a chance to share a comment that you will be collecting questions and comments through your video’s chat or your shared messenger application. Have a person assigned to watch for new messages.

Photo by Kaitlyn Baker on Unsplash

Create presentation materials

If you are sharing large amounts of information or guiding people through a multistage activity, companion slides are helpful breaks in the working session experience to clearly articulate new information

Do a run-through

It is up to your comfort level how you would like to practice your working session.

Very seasoned facilitators may have another person review their agenda, materials, and workspace and give feedback.

A novice facilitator may benefit from a call with an experienced facilitator and running through the activities, material, and workspace.

No matter how you practice, focus on becoming comfortable and familiar with your plan and also willing to update anything that is not working well

Communicate how everyone will help make the session inviting and inclusive.

At the start of the session encourage all attendees to use video. Seeing everyone’s faces will help the group feel connected and heard throughout the session.

Create a way to get feedback

Uplevel your remote sessions by finding out what worked and what didn’t work.

After your action planning try to give your participants the 3–5 minutes at the close of your session to leave feedback. This space would be at the far right of your workspace.

Example exercise: The Rose, Bud, Thorn method. Have each participant note what worked (roses), note what didn’t work well (thorns), and note ideas for how to make it better (bud)).

Review the feedback after the session is over and address the concerns and ideas in your next working session.

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Last but not least, BRING A GREAT ATTITUDE!

When you focus on the great possibilities that are available to your team by working in this way, your team will be more likely to see the opportunities where this style of working can be applied in the future.

Now go forth and collaborate!