What does supporting mean as an interpersonal skill in Virtual Collaboration? How well do your team members support each other in your virtual meetings? This is the topic of our conversation in episode 29 of our Virtual Leadership Development series. As we’ve said previously, we enjoy working with Human Synergistics’ Survival Simulation - Team Building series. In our experience, their Problem Solving model is great not only for solving problems but also in helping us improve how we communicate and collaborate in virtual sessions. In this episode we focus on the second skill - supporting - of f ..read more

Want to boost the effectiveness of your virtual communications? In episode 28 of our Virtual Leadership Development series - How to leverage Interpersonal Skills, we do a deep dive into the interpersonal skills we can leverage to achieve this.  We are big fans of Human Synergistics’ Survival Simulation - Team Building series. One of the models used in the series Problem Solving is excellent for building problem-solving skills in Teams. However, working again with this recently, we discovered that the Interpersonal Skills defined in this model become even more relevant in helping us improv ..read more

What impact do your choices about Tech issues have on your Virtual meetings? In our 27th episode of Virtual Leadership Development - How to Manage the Tech, we focus on how connectivity and devices impact our connection on an interpersonal or relationship level and how we can approach this constructively. We have all faced connectivity issues as result of problems with ethernet, WiFi, bandwidth or mobile connections. What impact do these connectivity issues have on our connection with others, how can we influence or deal with these issues? We discuss these from a practical perspective and one ..read more

How do you manage Tech in Virtual Meetings? So often the start of a virtual session is delayed or even undermined by tech issues. In our 26th and 27th episode we focus on how to manage and approach this. Topics we discuss include, how to rethink what happens in a room, in order to transfer it into a virtual setting. For example, how to replace standard elements we often use in a workshop, like flip charts and post-its, with virtual tools. The essence of this means really understanding the process and dynamics of what happens in a room, in order to recreate something similar online, and not jus ..read more

What can you do about Zoom Fatigue? Zoom fatigue is described as the sense of being totally exhausted after a series of online meetings. In our previous episode we focused on the first two causes, and in this episode we explore causes 3 and 4 . The third cause of Zoom fatigue encompasses constantly seeing yourself during video chats in real-time. Add to this also a self-critical attitude about self-appearance that is quite common. Some people are even hypercritical of their own image, without realising it, especially their mirror-image, which is how they see themselves every day. This can be v ..read more

Do you experience Zoom Fatigue?  How does Zoom Fatigue impact on your own virtual meetings? Zoom Fatigue can be described as the sense of being completely exhausted after a series of online meetings. This is no urban legend. Stanford University actually did two research studies on the subject (see links below). In this episode we focus on the first two causes. 1st cause: during an online meeting, we have a continuously focus on one screen containing a matrix of video panels. In a normal room setting, our gaze would drift around the table, or the room, from speaker to speaker. In this sett ..read more

Curiosity is the fuel for connection and engagement… In part 3 we continue our discussion on how we, as leaders of a virtual workshop or meeting, can have a constructive impact on engagement. To consciously build engagement, we need to actively foster curiosity in others as the fuel for connection and engagement. Firstly, this depends on how we show up as role models of the behaviour we expect our participants to have. How we walk our talk, as that is the behaviour that people will eventually emulate.  Starting with listening and presence, if we lead or facilitate a meeting, we need to cr ..read more

The Recipe to bake your own Learning Nuggets… In our second podcast interview, we continue our conversation with Doris Henke, Head of Talent Management at BSH. A while ago, we became aware of a Linkedin post by Doris, about her experience in implementing insights from listening to our podcast, in her daily work. We were curious and thought that maybe we could also learn something from her, and the idea of an interview was born. In Part 2 we hear from her how she goes about integrating insights into her daily work life. She has some very practical suggestions we believe can inspire anyone to d ..read more

The Magic Starts with Connection… In our first podcast interview in this series, we talk to Doris Henke, Head of Talent Management at BSH. A while ago, we became aware of a Linkedin post by Doris, writing about her experience in implementing insights in her daily work, from listening to our podcast. We were curious and thought that maybe we could also learn something from her, and the idea of an interview was born. The interview was so rich, that we actually decided to dedicate 2 episodes to it. Part 1 focuses on her experience in implementing her insights and Part 2 on how she went about int ..read more

How do you overcome engagement challenges in your online sessions? This episode continues how we, as leaders of a virtual workshop or meeting, can have a constructive impact on engagement. Firstly this of course depends on how we show up as role models of the behaviour we expect our participants to have. How we walk our talk, as that is the behaviour that people will eventually emulate. Secondly as we have commented before, how we ask questions and what specific questions we ask and how, again directly influences curiosity. We cover specific questions that can be used to help us in this instan ..read more