ONLINE COOPERATION FOR TEAMS
In our online training programmes and advisory sessions with clients we believe that in working from home genuine connection is (even) more important than a comfortable home office chair. There are countless ways to make online cooperation, training and consultancy more enjoyable, productive and healthier. They take a fraction of time and can provide great energy and connection in return. Below a few of the work forms we like to use ourselves.
Name Dialogue
10 min - duo conversation on the origin of your last name or the why of your first name; brief report on your partner in plenary
Desert Island
15 min - small group conversation; you are banned to a deserted island without wifi or 4G and you can take 1 object with you that does not provide in basic needs such as food, drink and shelter; what do you bring?
Emoji Quiz
5 min - in advance, participants provide their 3 most frequently used emoji to the facilitator; through whiteboards or shared screens the series are shared without the names; what row of emoji belongs to whom?
Who Is Your Hero?
15 min - duo conversation on who you admire and what characteristics of your "hero" appeal to you ; brief report on your partner in plenary
2 Truths & 1 Lie
10 min - 1 colleague provides 3 unknown facts about herself, 1 being a lie; the rest interrogates in overdrive for 5 minutes before everyone choses which fact is a lie and the truths and lie are revealed; a weekly turn can develop into a ranking on who has the best lie detection skills.
Mystery Box
5 min - 1 colleague shows a closed box (ribbon allowed); inside is a trait that he wishes upon the team to make this week/project/assignment a resounding succes; the rest of the team has 3 minutes to guess the trait (via chat or chitchat) before the Mystery Box is opened; option for taking weekly turns in the team.
Team Playlist
4 min - weekly cycle in which you grow your Spotify Team Playlist by having 1 colleague add a song which according to her somehow connects to the team that very week...; the song is played while colleagues log in for the weekly videoconference; at the end of the song, there is a 1 minute commentary by the selector of the week and the music is played once more at the end of the meeting. Not fun enough? Do the guilty pleasure version.
Moodboard
5 min - use the (anonymous) Whiteboard to let participants express their energy/mood of the moment in max 2 words, a stroke of paint, image or an emoji.
Speedstorming
10 tot 25 min - in this exciting cocktail of speed-dating and brainstorming colleagues meet in breakouts for 3-5 min to fanatically tackle a question of importance; after which the facilitator puts everyone in random new break-outs; repeat 3-5 times and subsequently gather pressure cooker wisdom from the group in the plenary where an overview is made of different potential paths towards a solution; word clouds, polling and white boards can add value by allowing the anonymous sharing of ideas to the larger group.
Pre-Mortum
30 min - in breakout groups of first 2 and then 4 (2 breakouts put together) colleagues travel to a point in the future where their negotiation or project has utterly and completely failed; together they sketch an outline of the carnage en subsequently they reconstruct what the core factors were that caused the catastrophe to be unavoidable; subsequently the most important factors are shared in a plenary session and the question is discussed what can be done right now, in the present moment, to influence these factors.
Cueing
2 min - a colleague is asked a random question, such as "what is your favourite holiday destination?"("France"); upon the answer everyone enters the 1st word associated with that answer in the chat (e.g. "wine"); this word is their personal cue; if in the meeting you are finished speaking, end with your cue. Cueing can be a fun way to solve the problem of long awkward silences and/or interruptions because of lack of clarity on when a speaker is finished speaking.
Ritual Dissent
50 min - to create (process) innovation groups of 3-5 are formed to brainstorm a best possible solution to a challenge (10 min); subsequently a spokesperson is appointed to present the solution of her group to another breakout group in under 1 minute; subsequently, the spokesperson turns of her camera and mic and it is the task of the audience to voice as much criticism as possible on the idea presented in 2 min on the basis of substance (the spokesperson is still listening in); the spokesperson returns to her original group to sharpen their solution (10 min); after this, the cycle starts again with presentation to a different group; after 2 or 3 cycles (preferably the nr. of groups minus 1) a final cycle takes place in which solely positive feedback is provided by the audience; the end result is as many carefully worked through solutions as there are breakout groups.