virtual team facilitation

3 Things Needed to Lead Successful Virtual Meetings for a Hybrid Team

It’s Nearly 2023. Is Your Team Hybrid?

At the start of the pandemic in March 2020, most in-person teams went remote, forced to go this route due to worldwide quarantine orders. In the USA that meant that nearly all of our workforce stayed home, and learned to navigate working remotely.

It’s safe to say that by 2021, most of us figured out how to lead virtual meetings for fully remote teams. Now that we are headed into 2023, what does your team look like?

There are companies who are requiring employees to return to the office.
Others have fully embraced all things remote and don’t want anyone back in the office.
Then there are those who have found a balance; creating a hybrid workspace that allows employees to divide their time between working in the office and working from home.

Team Meetings for Hybrid Teams

What do team meetings for hybrid teams look like.

It can be messy!

While virtual meetings for hybrid teams by design take place… well, virtually, it doesn’t mean that everyone likes these types of meetings or gets the most out of them.

Those in the office might be resentful of having to sit in front of a computer and join a Zoom video call. At the same time, those working remotely can suffer from FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) of what’s going on in the office – and even feel excluded or isolated.

The 3 Things Needed to Lead Successful Virtual Meetings for a Hybrid Team

If you are the facilitator and in charge of a hybrid team, here are 3 ways to move forward! Remember, that we’ve all had to figure this out and it might take some time to get it right. The more you practice and the sooner you get familiar with these types of meetings, the smoother these meetings will run.

1 Determine the purpose of the meeting.

Ask yourself these questions AND take the time to answer them honestly.

Why are you meeting?
What’s the desired outcome?
What will be accomplished at the end?

2 Decide if it’s a meeting or an email.

Many of the meetings that occur today are one way monologues where people show up to receive a download of information. If your purpose is to ‘understand’ or ‘be aware of’ then write an email, or record a video that people can watch . There is no need to gather everyone to listen to one or two people in a one-way conversation.

If your meeting is about buy-in, new ideas, decision-making, collaboration, co-creation, and gathering input on a decision then have a meeting, and have a facilitator.

3 Design the meeting to match the desired outcomes.

People will support what they help to create. If you truly want participation then create a meeting design that supports hearing all voices.

This is what that looks like:

Create a question based agenda
Send it out ahead of time

These 3 ways help you get your team to a meeting. Now, to get them engaged and active, read these next 7 tips to increase engagement.

7 Ways to Increase Engagement During a Virtual Meeting for a Hybrid Team

The following tips can be shared with your team and become standard practice for every Zoom video team call.

Expectation should be set that from no matter where you join, from the office or remote, these standards are firm.

Ensure high-quality video resolution
Hide your self-view
Ask people to refrain from using gifs or really detailed graphics in their background
Look at the camera
Check-In with everyone who joins the call
Invite people to a virtual collaboration tool like Mural or Miro and ask them to participate
Agree to unmute

Virtual Meeting Resources for Facilitators

If you need help, here are additional resources!

5 great resources to get started as a facilitator

Virtual meetings

Team meetings

Virtual training

Last but not least, we offer a variety of virtual workshops for those on their journey to facilitation mastery.

They are offered throughout the year, please take a look at the workshop calendar to find your preferred workshop and dates.

Facilitation workshops offered include:

Agile Team Facilitation

Advanced Facilitation

Virtual Facilitation Masterclass

Why Mute is Killing the Virtual Meeting and How to Change It!

You’re logging into your twelfth online meeting of the week. You promptly turn off your video and mute yourself to silence your family members and pets walking behind you.

The meeting begins, most people aren’t even on video and everyone is muted. Suddenly, you hear Sally slurping her morning yogurt. You chat a message to Sally — “please mute yourself.” Then you roll your eyes and go back to the email you were trying to write while the meeting moves on.

Later, someone poses a question and asks for your response. There’s a few seconds of dead air until you realize you’re still on mute—always a risk when you’re caught off guard while multitasking. Just as you toggle your mic on, someone says, “We can’t hear you, you’re on mute.” You roll your eyes again, grateful your video’s off.

Does this sound familiar? Sadly, this is how the majority of people in the business world are interacting with one another. It’s no wonder that mute is killing the virtual meeting. Let’s see how we can change it!

The Dreaded Virtual Meeting

In a 2021 survey of 40 managers, they were asked about the biggest challenges they face in their current work. The recurring themes:

Navigating change
Navigating communication breakdowns that negatively impact team health
Creating transparency within a remote team
Fostering creative virtual environments for online work
Helping teams get the best out of their work-from-home experience
Building trust and relationships remotely

All of these challenges start and end with how we hold online meetings. So how do we fix the problems and get more out of the virtual workplace?

There are two factors creating the conditions for all the ways a meeting can fall flat: the mute button and turning off your video. These two actions combined can suck the relationship and connection right out of a meeting.

Where’s The Connection in Online Connection?

Believe it or not, virtual meetings themselves are no worse than in-person meetings.

In 2017, Leslie Perlow noted in Harvard Business Review found that 71% of the managers surveyed found meetings unproductive and inefficient; 62% said meetings miss opportunities to bring the team closer together.

Meeting virtually on a much broader scale has not changed much. Multi-tasking and feeling stuck in conflict are common complaints, whether you’re meeting online or in person. The pandemic has shone a spotlight on these kinds of meeting dysfunctions because we’re collectively talking about it more.

Although online collaboration tools have seen a surge in use these past two years, they don’t necessarily make online work easier—they just make it possible. And there is definitely an overhead cost. In my experience, it takes upward of 30% more time to plan, design, and get everyone set up for success in an online meeting than if we were just walking into the same physical room and sitting down.

In the office, we take for granted that you can invite people to a meeting, give them the location, and expect that they will get themselves there.

Online, you have to give everyone access and past firewalls, help them navigate the technology, and familiarize them with the features—just to get them into your virtual room.

Virtual Meeting Fatigue

Moreover, going from Zoom meeting to Zoom meeting is just as fatiguing as going from meeting to meeting in a physical office space—and we don’t even get the exercise of walking between rooms! And then there is the spouse or child or pet who needs something from you in the middle of your five-minute break. In effect, virtual meetings suffer from the same inherent issues as in-person meetings, but cumulatively lead to an even higher degree of brain fry.

In this context, it’s easy to understand why we’re tempted to turn off our mic and video—but this single act is dooming our meetings from the start.

Because the one thing we are missing most in virtual space is connection.

Having No Skin in the ‘Virtual Meeting’ Game

Mute and video off are the equivalent of coming into an auditorium and sitting in the very back row with a piece of cardboard in front of your face. You have a full view of what’s happening, but no skin in the game. You are an observer, not a participant, and you are signaling to the group that you are not interested in being an active contributor.

When we have one foot in and one foot out, we separate ourselves from what’s really happening. It becomes much easier to criticize the conversation rather than to contribute to it.

Virtual work isn’t the same as face to face, but it does not have to be miserable. You can create a space where people feel connected, heard, and valued—and where their input is genuinely appreciated. Then they’ll look forward to meetings!

When there is real connection, the virtual space can be even better than being in the room for some types of output. In principle, online meetings can lead to better results, more diversity of opinion, and more innovative ideas. Detailed work, large amounts of information, and decision making all lend themselves to online spaces—provided you are using an online collaboration tool that gives everyone equal visibility to the information.

So, how do we get there?

Mute Off and Video On: Tips for Building Trust and Engagement

Affective trust is the strongest and longest-lasting form of trust. It is built gradually as people get to know one another, and it’s crucial for effective and engaged teamwork—whether you’re meeting in person or online. It also takes active facilitation—someone who will help architect the right environment and help the team set new social norms that they agree to collectively uphold.

To have the greatest impact on making your virtual meetings more engaging, fun, and productive, start with these two norms:

Mute Button – “For Emergency Use Only”

There is no greater way to catalyze better team connection than by asking people to be in a quiet place so they can be OFF Mute.

Why? Because hearing people laugh at a joke, sigh, or quickly ask a follow-up question creates connection. It provides instant feedback to the speaker so they feel acknowledged and heard. A collective, shared soundscape is often missing in virtual meetings—and it’s the cornerstone of building affective trust and better teamwork.

Tips to make it work:

Normalize the noises

The dog barking in the background or the car passing by are part of daily life. Normalize these noises! Make it okay that they happen, as long as they are not continuous or overly disruptive. Use mute only if they do become distracting—and then rejoin the conversation when you can.

Embrace collisions

When everyone is off mute, you will sometimes “collide” with one another—when two or more people speak at the same time. When collisions happen, just give it a moment for the speakers to sort out who will go first. Collisions not only empower the group to be responsible to each other, they increase the overall energy in the virtual room.

Video On – All In, or All Out

In a study by Forbes and Zoom, at least 81% of executives said they found that virtual meeting aka video conferencing could strengthen relationships, increase understanding, improve the quality of communication, improve team effectiveness, boost engagement, and promote deeper empathy and cooperation.

When it comes to building engagement and trust, it’s critical to be able to see one another. It’s the only way we can read the virtual room. When you pose a question and just get silence, video provides behavioral indicators about what’s happening for people. One team member might be addressing a child who needs something, another might be looking up or down in a thoughtful way. With video on, the team will have a better sense of how much space to leave one another for thinking, and no one will be sitting there wondering if they’re all alone.

Tips to make it work:

Be fully in or fully out

We waste a lot of time by only showing up partially. When there is an imbalance in participation, it impacts everyone and lowers the quality of the group’s experience and conversation. Just like with in-person meetings, video on means you can see when team members are not responding. To avoid this, create a group norm to either be fully in or fully out. If you make a conscious decision to be fully out, get the summary notes after the meeting.

Just say ‘no’ to multitasking

Oftentimes, video off is used by team members who are trying to multitask during virtual meeting time—they just don’t want to be obvious about it. But the truth is, we can’t multitask, no matter what we may think. What we can do is “task switch.” And when we do, our tasks end up taking 40% longer to complete—and we’ve disconnected from the group conversation. If you need to write that email, you should skip the meeting and write the email.

To reap the benefits of a “video off” meeting culture, create a group norm that prioritizes presence and design meetings that encourage active engagement.

Preparing to Lead Behavior Change During a Virtual Meeting

Introducing new norms to your team can be challenging. Be prepared for people to push back, and take time to listen to everyone’s concerns. People have been trained that it’s rude to be off mute, and they don’t want to eat their lunch on video in front of everyone.

After you have really listened to the concerns, ask people if they would be willing to try it for one week knowing that it has the potential to make a positive and productive impact on the team. After the week, you can revisit the new norms and see how people feel.

This isn’t about making people do something they don’t want to do. It’s about making requests of people to try something new. It might be uncomfortable for people at first, but the result is better outcomes for the collective—better conversations, more voices being heard, higher productivity, and more positive engagement. Almost no teams will want to go back to the way they were working.

When meeting virtually, we can’t always avoid an unstable internet connection, but building team connection can be as easy as keeping your sound and your video on.

Is Collective Power of the Group the Best Avenue to Team Facilitation?

Team Facilitation: Who Are We Facilitating?

While listening and watching one of the five Virtual Book Tour stops for ‘The Art & Science of Facilitation‘, one of the participants had one of those moments of clarity that we might describe as ‘an aha-moment’.

Art Moore of Clear Systems, LLC was listening in on my conversation with Ahmed Sidky, Deborah Grayson Riegel, Lyssa Adkins and Tricia Broderick. The topic of that Virtual Book tour stop was: Leadership is a conversation: The importance of facilitating collaborative conversations.

Here is what happened in Art’s own words.

Who Are We Facilitating?

By: Art Moore

We talk a lot about the collective power of the group. The whole is greater than the parts. Believe in the ability of the team. These are great principles. And yet I have always sensed they were somehow incomplete, not the exact story.

I can only say this in retrospect, after a recent moment of clarity. It happened while I was sitting in on one of Marsha Acker’s virtual book tour events for her new book, The Art and Science of Facilitation. She and the astonishing panel she’d assembled[1] had begun talking about achieving a level of co-creation; and the missing piece fell in place.

For me, that missing piece, the underlying truth, is that a great facilitator, leader, human, starts first with belief in the individual; that one person and the fountain of creative potential they possess.

Belief in people really means belief in many individuals and, as individuals, their ability to co-create. It is each individual rising above himself to create with others who are also creating. As the panel said, this is not “mere” collaboration. It is not just more, but different. It is each reaching fully and their ideas co-mingling with others who are doing the same.

The orchestra analogy is apt. This viewpoint and approach, pushed out to its boundary, promoted out as a model of leadership and working, establishes a new North Star not just for individual leaders but for human society. “Here is what I am tremendously interested in. Are you interested in it too? Let’s go together.” There is an idea, but it can be fully co-owned.

So we’re not really honoring “the group.” We’re believing in something much more powerful. The ability of individuals to co-create. It is no small skill. It is, I believe, the skill, the one that will elevate us to the society we are capable of becoming together.

[1] Marsha Acker, Ahmed Sidky, Deborah Grayson Riegel, Lyssa Adkins and Tricia Broderick

Are you curious about the rest of this conversation?
We recorded all of it and it’s available right here!

Our gratitude goes out to Art Moore for sharing his experience with us.

Art Moore, Author

Mr. Moore’s career spans software development, practice management, methodology development, training and strategic consulting, in both federal and private sectors. He has provided industry thought leadership in multiple disciplines, from data warehousing, to business rules, requirements engineering and Agile, and brings decades of experience in building high performing teams. That is the focus of Clear Systems LLC, which he founded in 2005, providing Lean/Agile training, coaching, and transformation at the team and organization level. (CSP, CSPO, CSM, CAL1, Scrum@Scale, LeSS, SPC, KMP II, ICP-ATF, ICP-ACC, ICP-BAF, Certified ICAgile Instructor

Republished with permission

Did you know: TeamCatapult has been training facilitators for years!

Here are several upcoming opportunities for you:

Virtual Facilitation Masterclass March 18-19, 2021
Agile Team Facilitation Workshop March 22-26, 2021
Advanced Facilitation Workshop April 28-May 5, 2021

Join us for one, or all, Virtual Workshops!

These workshops are a great stepping stone to our cohort.

Learn more about our Coaching Agility from Within ‘A Cohort Journey to Masterful Agile Team Coaching’ and apply to join in May 2021.

How to Lead Effective Collaboration with Agile Teams

With the recent publication of the book ‘The Art & Science of Facilitation How to Lead Effective Collaboration with Agile Teams’ TeamCatapult is proud to present the Virtual Book Tour to promote this new book and its important message.

This Virtual Book Tour consists of several online ‘Virtual Book Tour Stops’ where casual conversations about facilitation take place with guest speakers.

Each speaker invited to participate in any of these virtual events is knowledgeable about both Agile and Facilitation and an expert in their field. We invite you join us for this book tour and learn more about ‘The Art & Science of Facilitation’

The Start of a Virtual Book Tour: Stories of Facilitation

During the first stop of the tour, we met Teamcatapult faculty as they told personal stories of facilitation.

The full conversation with Marsha Acker, Antoinette Coetzee, David Levine, Jeff Hackert, Kari McLeod, Kay Harper, Larissa Caruso and William Strydom can be watched in its entirety via this link.

These stories of facilitation yielded not only a vibrant and stimulating conversation, but also several follow up questions about facilitation. As is common with webinars, virtual events or panel discussions limited on time, the speakers didn’t have an opportunity to answer all questions in the moment.

However, we believe these questions need to be answered. The team thought so too!

Thanks to TeamCatapult faculty, we now have not just questions, but amazing insightful answers as well!

Here are 7 FAQs questions about facilitation!

1. Facilitating Outside of Work, Can It be Done?

Question: I’d be curious to hear folk’s opinions on facilitating outside of work – as a parent, as a spouse, at my book club?

Answers:

Jeff: I find these skills to be useful in nearly every act of group communication.

Marsha: I agree with Jeff, I use aspects of facilitation skills in almost every aspect of my life – home, work, girl scout meetings, volunteer efforts, etc.

Kari: Yes, and being clear about your role when you do so is key. For example, facilitate a discussion as a parent, if you’re truly willing to be neutral. I have to remind myself of this one! I attended a virtual memorial service in November, and there wasn’t a facilitator. It was awkward. So, I asked if I could help guide the discussion. Once there was some process and people started speaking, I stepped back as a facilitator and the conversation was more organic.

David: Me too. Recently, at a Home Association meeting, I found myself recognizing a structural dynamics pattern and was able to steer the conversation to something more collaborative and productive (Science over Art…)

2. How is a Facilitation Book Different From a Communication Book?

Question: Why do you think this book is necessary at this time, how would you distinguish these books from countless books on communication?

Answers:

Marsha: There are hundreds of books out there on facilitation and communication techniques – and they are very helpful (I have many of them on my shelf). The intention of this book is more about what beliefs, in our own mindset, will support those endless amounts of techniques and make them more effective. In the agile movement I think we are at the place where there is a general understanding of the need for collaboration, that coaching skills and facilitation skills support this, and I see many teams that just apply the techniques without doing the mindset work that would allow them to make those techniques more impactful and meaningful. I think we are at the place to collectively deepen our work on how we collaborate together.

Antoinette: The reason why I love working with Marsha is because I resonate so much with her belief that facilitation is as much who you are and how you are being, as it is about what you do. I have a number of really great books on facilitation that have helped me in my own journey, most of them have a section of how you show up, but the majority of the book is devoted to the act of facilitation. The combination of Agile, facilitation and Structured Dynamics is where I think this book really helps facilitators grow awareness of what is happening in them, in the room, and in the group they are facilitating.

Kari: I echo both Marsha and Antoinette, and I’ll build on what they wrote to say that this book grows how we’re being as facilitators which is the foundation of what we’re doing as facilitators.

3. Can Facilitation Be Helpful for Non-Agile Teams?

Question: I know that the book is targeted to Agile Teams but do you feel it is applicable beyond Agile Teams and why?

Answers:

Larissa: I would argue that this is even more important for non Agile teams. Because Agile teams are somewhat used to concepts of collaboration, co-creation, and facilitating meetings. If you can bring a little bit of that mindset you find in the book to meetings, you will see a huge 180 in productivity and engagement.

Kari: Much of the foundation of this book lies in professional coaching and facilitation as well as Structural Dynamics–none of which have Agile as their foundation. The facilitation mindset you’ll explore in this book uses Agile teams as a lens, and I encourage you to adopt the mindset and look through other lenses.

David: Only you need to be Agile to make this stuff work. I have facilitated many many meetings using the concepts from this book without the “A” word ever coming up.

4. What is the Role of Intentional Distractions During Meetings?

Question: I am curious what folks think about intentional “distractions” – ie pipe cleaners, legos, snacks

Answers:

Antoinette: These items are really useful for people (like me) who need to be kinetically busy in order to concentrate. Completely voluntary of course!

Marsha: For me, it depends on the topic and work to be done in the meeting. If it’s detailed thinking work and I’m using tables, then I might use ‘fidget items’. If the topic is more about how the team is working and relationship based or if I think there is a certain level of ‘heat’ in the conversation I remove tables (if we are in the room) and really ask people to be present to the conversation and give their full attention to reading the room and what’s happening for them and others.

Kari: David, you probably know I love having these manipulatives in training, MeetUps, and certain meetings and events. I have had participants thank me for bringing them, saying they wished they had had things to fiddle with in school, college, and at work. I have learned to make it clear that they are on the table for them to use (i.e., we’re not saving them for an activity), and, as Antoinette pointed out, that they can use them or not. I also point out that they can take whatever they created with them (I don’t want the Play-Doh back!). And, I agree with Marsha, I don’t use them if it’s a meeting where participants need to be IN the conversation.

David: A tool in the kit, best used in service to some purpose. Useful for some meetings, not for others.

5. Facilitation Goals and KPIs: Can We Measure Performance?

Question: What are your thoughts on organisations wanting to measure the effectiveness of a facilitator, defining some sort of goals and KPIs for facilitation? How could or should we measure performance?

Answers:

Jeff: Focusing on outcomes and measures will help to improve our practice. Of course you have to be careful that the focus is on improving communication, team participation, and process vs say moving a leadership agenda. Make sense?

Marsha: I would suggest asking the group to evaluate how well they think they currently do in: hearing all voices; talking about difficult subjects; raising concerns; meeting deadlines; making decisions; etc. Ask them what they want to improve and what that would look like. Then in 6 months ask them to rate these same items again and see where they are. Getting the team to take ownership of their communication is critical, facilitation will help you (and them) achieve the outcomes they want to achieve.

Antoinette: I would also add that looking at the quality of solutions and the stickiness of decisions and whether they are improving might be useful.

6. How Can We Uphold the Agile Mindset While Facilitating?

Question: There is a chapter in the book on upholding the Agile Mindset while facilitating. I would love to hear everyone’s perspective on that.

Answers:

Antoinette: I will answer by defining the Agile mindset as consisting of three beliefs : the Complexity belief, the People belief, and the Proactivity belief:

The Complexity belief says that when we work with Complex problems we can never predict the impact of an action. As facilitators we plan, and then we dance in the moment. We are not married to our plan. We need to facilitate the group in front of us, wherever they choose to go.
The People belief helps us to make space for every voice including the unpopular ones, believe in the wisdom of the group, and value every contribution equally.
The Proactivity belief has us asking for feedback and looking for continuous improvements.

As facilitator I both plan an agenda with activities that creates the opportunity for all of the above to be possible, as well as be present to what is happening in the moment to change tack if necessary.

I would actually argue that, maybe with the exception of the last belief, facilitators have been doing this all along. Traditional facilitators just tended to be a little more heavy on the documentation! 🙂

David: It is as good a practice as there is. If you haven’t been exposed to it, please read Carol Dweck’s little book called Mindset.

7. Any Tips for Virtual Facilitation?

Question: Can you provide some tips to read the room when facilitating virtually?

Answers:

Jeff: My tips: mics on, cameras on – make it safe for folks to be present

Marsha: I agree with Jeff, these two things, when practiced by everyone in the meeting can significantly change the nature of ‘safety’ in the meeting. We have several blogs about this as well. Check these out:

How Do You Facilitate for Unexpected and Unplanned Magic?

How To Best Guide Your Team With Virtual Team Facilitation

How To Lead with Virtual Team Facilitation

Why We hold Check-in and Check-out as a Sacred Space

8 Tips to Successful Virtual Team Facilitation

Antoinette: Yes! I also contract with people explicitly to make their wishes known more openly than when they are in a physical space. And it is good to ask for DISAGREEMENT rather than agreement, eg. “who has something else” instead of “does everyone agree”. Knowing you, Naresh, I can also say trust your intuition and don’t rely on your eyes: 🙂 And that is actually for everyone – we rely too much on our eyes when our hearts tell us more about what is going on in the virtual space. It’s a muscle we need to develop more.

David: Agree. I find that scanning the gallery view is helpful. People get tired more easily when virtual. Don’t confuse fatigue with lack of interest.

The Art & Science of Facilitation

Don’t miss out on reading the book, or the tour: If you lead teams of any size, it’s time to become a true facilitator — in every sense of the word.

Learn how to lead effective collaboration with agile teams!

We will leave you with these last words about the book:

The Art and Science of Facilitation is your guide to moving your team further forward using the groundbreaking Five Guiding Principles of the Facilitation Stance. For anyone ready to lead with self-awareness and group insight, this book is designed to help you navigate group dynamics so that your team can work more efficiently and effectively in a truly collaborative environment.

How To Lead with Virtual Team Facilitation

During a recent two-day Virtual Team Facilitation workshop, one of our attendees Lisa created several visuals that demonstrate the activities we present during this 2-day workshop.

Find out what TeamCatapult shared in this Virtual Team Facilitation workshop on Day 1 of this Virtual Facilitation Workshop, here.

The Use of Slack Channels During Virtual Team Facilitation!

Slack is a useful tool for all remote teams. As a facilitator of virtual meetings, Slack can be your go-to tool to get conversations going and to keep them going.

Use a Slack channel for checking in
Lean in to listen
Hear every voice
Check in after breaks

The Mental Model and Decision Funnel!

When asking questions during a remote meeting, here are some things to keep in mind.

Know in advance what type of decision the team is aiming for:

Consensus?
Majority?
Other?

Once a decision is made, it can be tempting to revisit it. You might need to remind the team of how and why they reached a decision. This is a good time to consider that the decision-making process needs to be reviewed and revised as well.

Evaluation vs Decision Making in Virtual Team Facilitation

Distinguish between evaluation and decision making.

Tools to Evaluate

Dot voting
Announce evaluation
Use affinity mapping before dot voting

Do not rush through evaluation and remember that silence does not mean agreement! As the facilitator, you are there for support and to help the team reach agreement, ask questions like:

Would anyone like to push back on…?
What would you advocate for?
Who would follow?
Is there another move you’d like to make?

Decide

In Mural, evaluate by color coding sticky notes against the criteria of the topic’s issues
Consider using a grid sorting template
Use gradients of agreement

These tools can help uncover what is holding people back and if necessary, generate a revised proposal that addresses concerns.

Virtual Team Facilitation Tips for Leaders

Here are three additional practical tips for leaders new to virtual team facilitation.

1 Transparency

Be transparent when something isn’t working as it should. Calmly accept and adapt and tell the attendees what is going on.

2 Ask WHO

Do not ask ‘Does anyone’ but instead ask

WHO… needs more time?
WHO… can push back?

3 Facilitator Assistant

Have one facilitator watching for participants who might get disconnected. Offer help in Slack or via email, text or whatever alternative means you’ve chosen to communicate.

More Virtual Team Facilitation Help is Available!

We are grateful for Lisa’s willingness to share these visuals with you, our audience, to provide you with a glimpse into the world of Virtual Team Facilitation

Whether it is you, your leadership team, or your company that needs help with Virtual Team Facilitation, TeamCatapult is able to lend a hand.

Please contact us today for more information for both private and public Virtual Facilitation Masterclass workshops.