When lockdown started, there were many posts and tweets about the fancy collaborative tools available to help remote working. But, unfortunately, many of us are restricted in the tools we can use on our work computers. So, we had to become creative when thinking about how we adapt for collaboration when working from home with limited functionality in the tools we have at our disposal.
Tips for planning and running a remote kickoff workshop with limited tools
Allow a lot of time for planning
Allow lots, and I mean lots, more time for planning. Those sessions you are a dab hand at delivering face-to-face don’t quite work the same when all the participants are sitting at home behind a screen, with cameras off. It’s much harder to read a room when you can’t see people’s faces or how engaged they are.
Teach participants how to use the tools you’ll be using before the session
Not everyone will be as au fait with using the technology as you are. So, before a session, ensure that everyone is trained, and you can confirm they know how to use the tools you’ll be using. For example, I created a step-by-step guide on what participants would need to do in a session I ran. I also made a test task that everyone was asked to complete to ensure that we wouldn’t spend a lot of time sorting out avoidable tech issues at the beginning of the session.
Keep the tooling and the things participants will need to do simple
The more complex, the more likely participants will get stuck, get stressed, and not participate fully.
Keep the sessions short and include a comfort break every hour
It’s tough to stay focused for a prolonged period. Give your participants time to check their emails, go to the toilet, make a cuppa, and stretch their legs – they’ll be more engaged and less likely to get distracted during your session. The longest sessions we ran were 2 hours, with a 10-minute comfort break halfway through.
Spend extra time on the pre-session material
People have different learning styles. I opted for sending a detailed agenda upfront so that those who wanted or needed to could pre-prepare for the session rather than feeling I put them on the spot to develop insights or ideas. This is a technique I’ll continue to use when we go back into shared spaces. The surprise elements are exciting and fun for some learners but not for others.
Hack your current tools – wizard of oz style
Instead of having a wall of post-it notes or a miro board that participants could move around, I shared my screen and moved boxes around on PowerPoint. It was a bit fiddly but worked with enough planning and preparation.
Between sessions, I prepared the material for the next session. I gathered and grouped insights and created boxes with PowerPoint information to order and group them collaboratively.
We also used a survey in place of dot voting. One of my teammates could keep an eye on the number of respondents and show results in real-time.
Activities you could run.
Warming up participants to talk and engage
I threw some quiz questions into the session because everyone loves a quiz during lockdown, and more importantly, it helps get everyone used to talking.
Quite often, one loud voice can start to dominate, and others fall back, hardly speak or start doing something else. Getting participants talking early through the use of quiz questions helps to:
- remind people that active participation is encouraged
- prevent people wondering off as they know they could be called upon at any time
It’s a bit cheeky, but I felt it helped. The questions didn’t necessarily have anything to do with the main bulk of the workshop but were related in some way. This helps to give everyone a voice, as they will be less likely to think – “I don’t have something I can contribute / I’m not confident in contributing”.
Problem tree analysis
This is a great activity to help stakeholders think about the main problem and how the causes and effects are linked. Linking a new cause and effect/consequence back to the main problem will help participants stay focused on the main issue we are looking to address.
Although more challenging to run remotely, it can still work. Unfortunately, you won’t have a pretty graphic at the end of the session.
https://www.odi.org/publications/5258-planning-tools-problem-tree-analysis
Project premortem
Projects fail at a spectacular rate. One reason is that too many people are reluctant to speak up about their reservations during the all-important planning phase.
Harvard Business review
The concept is simple. Workshop with stakeholders to think about a future state where the project has failed. Why did it fail? Openly invite and create a safe space for team members to talk freely about any reservations or impediments that may harm the project’s success.
https://hbr.org/2007/09/performing-a-project-premortem
In conclusion
It’s no doubt more challenging, but there are ways we can make remote sessions more successful with the tools we have, even if it’s just the office suite of programs and basic screen-sharing capabilities.
I’d love to hear what other tips people create to help their remote workshops run more smoothly and be more successful.
Find me on LinkedIn or send me an email with any thoughts or suggestions 😉