digital – Page 3 – Reimagine. Strategy.

February 22, 2021May 3, 2022

Connection Before Content

I used to lead parenting workshops, and one of the key takeaway messages was, “Connect before you correct.”

I’m hearing echoes of that concept as people wrestle with how best to maintain relationships digitally over what is becoming a long time apart. As I continue to observe what great teams do in these strange days, they emphasize connection before content. Continue reading “Connection Before Content”

November 23, 2020May 3, 2022

Set the Tone

I’m going to break one of my cardinal rules of facilitation right off the top: don’t remind a group of all they’ve lost. Avoid any variant of, “If we were meeting in person, we would…” or “If only we were together, we’d be able to…” Instead, leverage what you do have and can do. It keeps the energy positive and allows our attention to move to a more generative place.

But let me just say: don’t you miss variety in our venues? Continue reading “Set the Tone”

November 2, 2020May 3, 2022

Disrupting our Defaults

Default settings exist so that we don’t have to make conscious decisions about too many things over and over again. They move choices onto autopilot for us. That’s a very useful thing, as our brains can hold far more in our unconscious zones than in our conscious ones. Making too many decisions is exhausting. (If you’re curious how Obama handled decision fatigue during his presidency, have a look here.) Continue reading “Disrupting our Defaults”

September 28, 2020May 3, 2022

Casual Contact

Now that most of us who can switch to online work have done so, some of the implications of this new mostly-digital life are becoming clearer. Two that I’m noticing are feeling particularly insidious, and I’d love to hear how you’re tackling them:

1. 1. The extinction of spontaneous conversations. Whether it’s touching base over your cubicle wall or bumping into people on the sidewalk or catching up with a colleague in a hallway after a meeting, our opportunities for unscheduled chats have dwindled. Who would have thought we’d miss small talk! There are so many social touchpoints that don’t warrant an appointment but add to the richness of our days. This is not only a social loss, but also a hit to our “reconnaissance capacity” at work because we have less of a sense of what’s happening on the street.
  2. Medium-priority social gatherings in peril. As the weather gets colder and daylight hours shorter, our evening gatherings outdoors feel increasingly precious and precarious. In contexts where distanced socializing is difficult, I hear people saying, “We could meet on Zoom, but do you mind if we don’t?” Even though we have figured out how to translate our social or volunteer commitments to digital ones, spending our work days online means that we don’t necessarily want to do the same in our evenings. Extending our screen time does not feel like a win, and our formal and informal community building can suffer as a result.
Continue reading “Casual Contact”

July 27, 2020May 3, 2022

Psychological Safety on Zoom

When I facilitate in-person sessions, I frequently tell participants that I cannot guarantee that we’ll co-create a “safe space” together. They looked shocked. I go on to explain that the pre-existing power dynamics that will outlast our time together are outside of my control and inevitably affect people’s sense of safety in the room. What I can promise, however, drawing on the work of Amy Edmondson and others, is a session where people treat each other respectfully and have roughly equal airtime — two elements that do contribute to a psychologically safe session. Necessary but not sufficient conditions. Continue reading “Psychological Safety on Zoom”