52 WEEKS: WEEK 47 - Virtual Facilitation

Focus Question: What are the conversations which need to be had?

Description
From leading meetings, to giving presentations that break the mold of Zoom Fatigue, to undertaking strategic planning, in the remote space facilitation skills are critical.

Virtual Facilitation is a highly interactive approach to helping groups or teams in the online or digital space have the conversations they need to have. Facilitation is all about Dialogue, a two-way conversation.  How much space and time are you leaving for interaction in your virtual calls?

​Building out your toolkit in the area of virtual facilitation might include boosting your skills in:

• Asking questions – Meetings should be a conversation, not just being talked at.
• Using different tools and apps – From the Post-its of Mural, to the polling function of MentiMeter, masterful virtual facilitation is about bringing everyone’s voice into the room. What are the additional tools you want to incorporate?
• Using images to signal what you are trying to describe
• Storytelling – Virtual presentations and conversations take people on a journey. What’s the journey you want to take people on?
• Facilitation skills – Virtual facilitation is about facilitation. It’s about helping people make decisions, prioritize, come to consensus. This is what we focus on at the Virtual Facilitation Essentials program. It’s about helping a group get to the results they want in a way which might invoke discovery, exploration as well as debate, focus, and even abandoning ideas.

What are the things that are going to help your next virtual conversation stand out?

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Activity
 
Consider what type of conversations you are engaging in. Are you creating space for pause, reflection, action and dialogues? What are the skills you need – is it more about developing a mastery of facilitation tools OR focusing more on your approach to leaving space for dialogue.
 
For more on this topic check out Jennifer’s book, Effective Virtual Conversations which explores principles and practices of virtual and online conversations across the ecosystem of virtual learning – from asynchronous approaches, webinars, coaching to team building.

All the best,
Jennifer

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Jennifer Britton
Co-host of the Remote Pathways Podcast
Potentials Realized – Coaching, Training and Consulting Services for remote teams, leaders and professionals 
 
Check out the most recent Remote Pathways Podcast Episode, where we explore the people, places and processes of exceptional remote work. You can listen to the latest episode here, or on your favorite podcast player.