Running virtual workshops
By Peter FullagarIn a world where everyone is now having to collaborate virtually, we share five big differences to consider when running virtual workshops.
Workshops are just not the same virtually, anyone who’s tried to take part in them knows this. There is such a defined expectation around a face-to-face workshop - getting a group together in a venue to work through a challenge in (hopefully) a structured and inspired format, exploring new thinking, and resulting in an energised team with a collective way forward. Or worst case maybe just a day or two out of the office with some nice meals. Whatever your view, trying to run virtual workshops that mirror this experience directly is a recipe for disappointment. It’s not possible and more importantly it works against the virtual medium, rather than harness its advantages.
When we started INDUSTRY of Us, we set ourselves the task to build virtual creative collaboration at the heart of what we do. We knew this wasn’t easy so we experimented (and continue to experiment) with multiple different platforms to find the best for our working needs. This is a style we have developed as our ‘go-to’ project method, and in the past year already accounted for more than half of all workshops we were running. So current circumstances have made this the more salient than ever.
With everyone now thrust, sink or swim, into collaborating online we wanted to share our top five big differences so you can get the most out of running workshops digitally.
1. Choose your platform wisely
Digital collaboration has been on the rise for many years now with features added to traditional software tools as well as the rise of Slack, Teams, Zoom, Airtable and a suite of new collaboration tools. Unfortunately so far we’ve found there is no panacea when it comes to platforms for virtual workshops (despite what some of them might claim). In reality we’ve found that we use different platforms for different types of collaboration. Sometimes you want to be more written (e.g. Google docs, Slack, Teams, Trello), sometimes more visual (e.g. Paste, Collect, Pinterest), sometimes a virtual whiteboard is what you are after (e.g. Miro, Mural, Stormboard). We’ve found finding the right ones that are effective for what you are trying to achieve make a huge difference to group productivity. It’s why one of our most critical questions is “what platform shall we do that on?” In reality, we often combine different platforms in parallel, so running a virtual whiteboard on one, a note function on another and the video call to bring everyone together. The most important thing is to know your platform well, so you know what it can and can’t do and also, and be prepared to be the ad-hoc IT support ensuring anyone new to the platform can use it as needed.
2. Quiet is the new loud
A big difference when everyone is virtual is to think about them as individuals, not as functioning as the group they would be face-to-face. This has advantages but depends on how you choose to work. One form of virtual collaboration, known as Electronic Brainstorming has been explored in academia since the 1980s. In simple terms this is running silent brainstorms where a group type their ideas into a shared online platform. The good news is the studies show it can be even more effective than face-to-face brainstorming having the added benefit of being inspired by ideas others are typing, removing the productivity losses associated with having to listen to others saying their ideas out loud and negating the loudest voice being the most dominant. This is one of the simplest ways to make sure all members of a virtual workshop contribute. Pretty much any of the collaboration platforms used today can act as this form of electronic brainstorm tool. We’ve found defining a period of quiet for thinking and contributing that is separate from any discussion time works best - we call it Quietstorming! It may seem unnatural at first having quiet time on a conference call but it makes a big creative difference. (For more on the value of this introverted approach read Kate Dowler’s related article, A quiet approach to creativity.)
3. Ditch the Big Bang Workshop
The easy trap to fall into is to cut-and-paste a face-to-face structure into a virtual environment, with whole days sessions as you would if you were getting together for a workshop. In many ways workshops are often days long as a result of this being the most efficient thing to do if you are getting people physically together. In this new virtual world the rules are different and you can build on maximising creative input. Instead of this Big Bang Workshop rushing to an answer, virtually you can deconstruct the workshop into more bite-size sessions, allowing gaps between sessions to reflect and recharge. This is much better for managing energy and so eradicates mid-afternoon workshop fatigue, an unavoidable problem in full day workshops.
We have been promoting bite-size working methods for some time now and find it is particularly important for virtual collaboration. There’s only so long you can you concentrate sat at a desk. Attention naturally wanes and it’s extra hard to keep large virtual groups engaged for long durations. We tend to use shorter 1 or 2 hr sessions as the building blocks that can be scaled as needed. Breaks play an important part, whether a short interval between two sessions or through splitting over a few days or weeks. In the sessions themselves, we also focus on the micro-activities to keep it moving every 15-20 mins and maintain attention and productivity of all involved. This does require a different sort of planning but you can also set group tasks in-between that you couldn’t before in face-to-face workshops.
4. Facilitating the invisible team
Being the facilitator is harder virtually, and the style is different to face-to-face, just like conference calls are different from face-to-face meetings. This is always going to be a challenge. So while planning the session and preparing stimulus all remain as key tasks, during the session you lose much of the feedback you’d normally get, and it’s much harder for the group dynamic to develop. As with all collaboration projects, acting as one team is crucial. And unlike face-to-face workshops it can be particularly anonymous when you gather with unknown collaborators virtually.
Taking the time introduce everyone properly is an important first step, we often use a project related homework task here. While ensuring everyone turns on their video helps, you still lose the interactive element and many of the non-verbal cues. Starting with sharing tasks around point of view or a piece of inspiration ensure everyone starts contributing and it’s even more important to make sure the team are clear on the creative goals. Combined with splitting into multiple bite-size sessions, these factors contribute to the goal of building rapport and a safe psychological environment that encourages all to contribute their new thinking and ideas on a challenge.
One big benefit of facilitating virtually is the ability to see the thoughts and ideas of each person emerge onscreen as they type, and through this you can literally see thought processes in action. This gives a different and deeper dimension that you don’t get face-to-face.
5. Straight to digital
We all know that moment at the end of the workshop as the jubilant project team leave and the organiser is left with walls filled with hand written post-it notes, sketches and flip charts. The workshop owner then dutifully photographs all these materials to write up or convert into a digital record to share. This ‘processing’ into digital format can often be a painful and time-heavy step in the innovation process. So a big advantage we have found is that working straight to digital cuts out a big chunk of this problem. The team can comeback anytime to revisit the shared document or collective whiteboard. Re-organising content is fast and easy and can more seamlessly be translated into reports and presentations if needed. One big lesson here is not to think just because it’s already digital it doesn’t need organising. If you come back in 2 months it still needs to make sense, so we recommend always tidying up output from digital sessions, so that it can be understood in the same way as any other workshop output. We often see clients re-visit our digital workspaces and this further helps make the collaboration more continuous and seamless. Sometimes it can be really powerful output in its own right - as one client commented following a series of virtual workshops the result was "a whole mighty wonder wall of everything we discussed and created in three months.”
With virtual collaboration now the new normal, this is an exciting time for creative collaboration to become truly digital. What was once the second choice option has now been thrust into the mainstream and is set to change the way we collaborate for good. The challenge now is to not only cope by become more familiar and comfortable with virtual methods, but to make them a truly effective replacement for face-to-face methods just as we have found over the past year.
How is your business evolving as you become creative collaborators in the virtual world? We’d love to hear what you think.