When I think of collaborative and innovative project meetings, the picture on the top is what floats into my mind. I see people standing in small groups. I see everyone focused, engaged and contributing. I see whiteboards, flip charts, drawings and sticky notes.
But what happens when a project team does not sit in the same building, the same city, or even the same country? In many cases, face-to-face project meetings are the rare exception. Most communication happens via email, instant message and/or conference calls.
Our global economy requires strong virtual communication skills, but most people struggle with ineffective and inefficient conference calls. Every time we hear dead air when we ask a question, or we get interrupted by the beeps of incoming and outgoing participants, or we hear dogs barking and keys clicking, we are reminded of the frustration of conference calls.
Is it possible to create a virtual environment that mimics the focus and engagement of a collaborative face to face meeting? Of course!
- Share documents. We know how to share documents via email and shared folders, and we attempt to “track changes” in Word, but take sharing to the next level by annotating documents collaboratively during a conference call.
- Modify techniques: Most, maybe ALL, facilitation techniques used in-person can be modified to fit a virtual environment. BA-Squared will help you practice 20+ techniques with virtual whiteboards and virtual sticky notes.
- Use templates. Create templates for gathering information from your conference call stakeholders. Let them add information to a status report or update an issue log during your call.
Check out the BA-Squared Upcoming Events to sign up for our next workshop, or email us to schedule a session for your entire team!