ReEngine Consulting would like to share with you how we optimize the advantages of remote project work, while simultaneously mitigating the disadvantages. This remote work can provide the same level of value and project accomplishment during remote projects as with in-person projects. You can use these techniques to enrich the most challenging and engagement-intensive projects. Mindfully accomplished, remote improvement projects may even go faster and accomplish more.
Continuous improvement efforts are tough to facilitate and lead. Not everyone is “signed up” for changing the way they have always done things. Many participants need to be convinced and won over with the idea that improvement is in their interest, good for the organization, and important to customers. This is difficult to do in-person and, without the benefit of non-verbal communication, can seem impossible when attempted remotely. Plus, improvement projects require a high degree of collaboration, debate, and visual depiction of data or models. White boards and stickies are a must;participants need to be able to grab a dry erase marker and have a go at the white board while their team-mates make suggestions. Can quality work be done remotely in improvement projects and other highly cooperative engagements that require critical thinking? YES! If you consider the following:
Asynchronous activities can be a time saver and offer team-members increased flexibility. Remote projects should include more asynchronous aspects than traditional in-person projects. Many employees appreciate asynchronous project participation. They can prepare ahead of time, absorb concepts at their own pace, and use a variety of communication techniques. Examples of asynchronous participation include pre-meeting circulation of “read-aheads,”concept sketches, and “what good looks like” descriptions. Things like chat-boxing on upcoming topics,sharing a capacity model “theory,” and sending out pertinent articles or podcasts can get folks thinking and focused on the upcoming meeting. An informal “selfie” video recorded by a team-mate can lay out an idea and set the stage for a discussion. Project managers can also ask folks to send in their comments on the meeting and the ideas that were discussed. Facilitators can process the information and send out the key points and observations. You will find that quieter, more reflective team-mates will more readily share perspectives, help avoid group think, and further the team’s work.
Increased productive potential according to recent studies. A remote environment will likely increase the productivity of team-members assigned to “Tiger Teams.” Tiger Teams are several project team-members who are asked to work together to accomplish a sub-task as part of a more encompassing improvement project. Instead of trying to accomplish their assigned sub-task in the main project meeting, Tiger Teams meet separately to complete their sub-task outside the main project meeting. Traditionally, Tiger Teams are often seen by project members as a scheduling burden because sub-tasks are often assigned on top of their regular work and in addition to improvement project meetings. However, with remote projects and work-from-home arrangements, project team-members will be able to better accommodate demands stemming from their Tiger Team. Taking advantage of more schedule flexibility,they can support fellow teammates more robustly. Many Tiger Team members have discovered they can more easily fit the additional tasks into their work-life balance. (Deep Dive: (Caramela, 2020)
Quieter, more introverted participants often communicate more strongly in remote sessions (and before and after). Introverted thinkers make their best contributions after they have had an opportunity to process and consider relevant data. They often want to sort out differences in opinion, new ideas, and diverging data before weighing in on a debatable matter. Introverts like to first reflect and then share thoughtful conclusions,often in written format, like an email. Such inclusive opportunities before, during and after remote workshops will most likely improve the quality of the meeting and the project. (Deep Dive: (Cullinan, 2016))
It can take longer for new facilitators and project leaders to win the trust and confidence of the project team. Winning over circumspect team-members in an improvement project can be tricky in person; it can be problematic in remote work. This can be mitigated by exchanging team bios, spending longer getting to know one another, and starting meetings with ice-breaker exercises to help establish rapport and trust.
Effective collaboration and communication require ongoing effort in remote online projects. Yet communication is a crucial aspect of all projects. The principles and key points below are ways to mitigate this critical challenge:
Careful planning, activity prepping, and rehearsing needs to be conducted prior to each collaborative engagement. Whiteboard type activities, for example, need to be pre-set up and rehearsed.
Closely follow an already established approach or structure. For instance, using established methods like ReEngine’s Map It, Gap It seven phases creates a visual and mental reference point as to where participants are in the project and what must be accomplished today in the meeting. The group should always know as a team where they are and where they are going.
Consider “flipping the meeting room.” This concept is borrowed from education where you ask participants to do some asynchronous activity before the session. They watch a brief video, comment on a message board, express their “vote” to a few key questions, take a brief survey, or review a document, all before they come into the “meeting room.” For example, let’s say you want to conduct an interference diagram activity to solicit perspectives from 7 regional offices in a remote online meeting. Each participating office can pre-watch a 2 ½ minute video on Interference Diagramming and rapidly gain a full understanding of their role in the upcoming activity. No one needs to miss a beat during a hands-on activity just because they can only call into the meeting.
As you amass experience leading projects remotely, these suggestions can help you achieve the same or higher level of value and project accomplishment during remote projects as with in-person projects. You can simultaneously optimize advantages of remote project work, while applying proven techniques to mitigate disadvantages of remote project work. Mindfully accomplished, remote improvement projects may even go faster and accomplish more. You might even have fun.
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