Asleep on the job, pic by Alex Proimos on flickr.
I love it when a new piece of work comes in: the excitement of getting to know a new client and group, the creativity in designing a workshop which will fit the ambition and the constraints, deciding what kit to pack… And then there’s the worry and even bad dreams about the many ways it might go wrong, fall flat, peter out, end in chaos and disappointment.
A recent assignment involved a four-day hybrid multi-lingual, multi-time zone workshop based around an organisational assessment survey tool of some 80+ questions. There were many, many ways in which this might go wrong. Amongst our concerns was energy - of the group, and of the four-person facilitation team.
As someone asked when I posted about it on LinkedIn, how did we survive and maintain energy?!
Well, we didn’t just survive, we thrived. But it took planning, prep and a willingness to press pause. Let me tell you more.
The plan
As you’ll have spotted, we had a lot of constraints on what could be in our design for this workshop. We needed to hit a lot of fixed points in the process, as part of our client’s funder requirements. Plenaries would be hybrid, with many participants joining via Zoom as well as the large number in the room. There were interpreters to ensure everything was available in three languages. We were also using Miro, a virtual whiteboard. All of this meant that we were much closer to the precision-planning end of the planned/spontaneous spectrum.
Our detailed plan included:
Having a team of four facilitators - one ‘lead’, one to ‘host’ the room and make sure ‘roomies’ could be seen and heard by ‘zoomies’, one to liaise between online and room, and one wholly online setting up breakouts and checking the Zoom experience. There were definitely times when we could have used a fifth person, especially when we needed to catch notes on the whiteboard during plenary discussions.
Holding half-day sessions on each of the four days, with the rest of the time free for those participants who were on site to rest, work on other things or have side meetings.
Using different group sizes - plenary, breakout groups of 6-8 people, and tiny groups (pairs and threes).
Facilitation team check-ins after sessions, and longer prep calls before sessions. Our team of four facilitators was split three on site, and one exclusively online, so our check-ins were on Zoom too. Where possible, our prep calls were some time before the next session, to allow time for us to action anything we’d spotted needed doing.
How the plan changed
But of course things happened during the workshop which led to us flexing the plan.
One person who was familiar with the organisational assessment tool we were using led on the design of the process, and the initial plan we went in with prioritised ‘getting through’ the complex and lengthy required aspects.
As we got further into it, and the lead facilitator relaxed a bit, we put more time towards ice-breakers and relationship building. For a group this size (c. 50) working in three languages and hybrid, it wasn’t easy to come up with these. One approach we used was to ask some questions where a few people might speak in response, but which had a chance of bringing in a range of voices from the room and from Zoom.
Who has been with the organisation for the longest amount of time, and the shortest?
Who travelled the furthest to be here?
Who is up earliest and latest? (We were across multiple time zones.)
Who has been the furthest north, or south? Who is currently nearest the equator?
Who has the most unusual pet?
What local delicacies do you love, which others in the group may not have tried? This last was the one which really caught the group’s imagination.
We also built in small group conversations of various kinds: individual thinking time and an opportunity to add things to the virtual whiteboard; pairs and threes to share hopes and impressions or key insights; groups of 6-8 to work on sections of the assessment together. Alongside plenary sessions, we hope this gave everyone at least some time in a situation which suited them.
With the aim of mixing people up more to give some diversity of views and dynamics, we had two hybrid breakouts and some bilingual breakouts during some sessions, but this generally proved too much for the venue’s wifi as well as being very complex given the use of three languages. Our bottom line was that everyone should be in a conversation that they could understand and contribute to easily, and that took precedence over mixing people up.
As we made progress through the process, the lead facilitator relaxed and even began to throw in a few jokes, even if they were - as another of the team said - terrible jokes! This visible change of mood helped the group relax too.
Everyone was aware of the size of the task we had, but the group wasn’t always as well-informed as the facilitation team about how far we’d got and what was coming next. We realised part-way through that it would be very helpful to add some explicit milestones (e.g. a flip chart visible on camera with sections of the assessment listed, to tick off and applaud ourselves when we completed them) and to talk through a diagram of where we were. With hindsight, we would make this much more understandable at the start of the process.
The way the team worked
As any facilitator knows, it’s not just about the plan or even how the plan changes. It’s about the people, and the big and small things which shift everyone’s energy.
One remarkable aspect of this workshop was the huge commitment of the group. This is clearly an organisation and a mission which inspires. Some online participants joined the workshop very late at night or early in the morning their time. Everyone was trying hard to make things work. Knowing this helped the team’s commitment too.
Having a team of four meant that any individual dip in energy, or wobble, could be balanced out by the others. We bounced off each other, working through questions and choices - and the odd curve ball - together. This was hugely valuable in maintaining a positive energy.
It’s hard to put it into words, but we each brought a different kind of energy to the process, be it focussed, playful, high-energy or calmer. Some roles couldn’t be swapped (our online-only person couldn’t do some tasks which needed to be in the room). In the room, two of the team swapped being the ‘room host’ (in charge of the participant cam) or the note-taker. But the ‘lead facilitator’ or ‘intervenor’ role stayed with one person all the way through. This was a choice, made because of the complexity of the process and the lead facilitator’s desire (or you might say anxiety) to ensure all the obligatory parts of the process were delivered. Now that the team has all experienced the process, a more relaxed approach to sharing out this role would probably help everyone’s energy.
Pressing pause
We asked for the in-person team to stay at the venue with the participants, however the rural venue didn’t have space for us so we were accommodated in a nearby town. This meant we had some much-needed time when we knew we could speak frankly about how things were going without disconcerting any group members. We travelled together between our accommodation and the venue, and we ate our evening meals together. We made sure we involved our virtual team member in sharing insights and making decisions, of course, but it was still a benefit to have this relaxed time together. Our virtual team member got to walk her dog, eat and do other things. These big gaps between sessions were immensely useful for the team and the participants.
Despite these luxurious spaces between sessions, we also had a lot to do between and during them. There was definitely an element of adrenaline and the team was exhausted afterwards, some of us getting our customary ‘end of workshop’ headaches.
What we learnt
Based on the feedback and our observations, there are a few things we’d want to improve if we were to run a workshop like this again:
Provide a diagram of the overall process, and a ‘you are here’ arrow, at the start of each day.
Continue to use a structured checklist for equipment before each session: this provided a grounding, healthy routine for the team.
Make time for ice-breakers more often and earlier in the process.
Start the jokes earlier.
Thanks to Helene Jewell, Nikki Wilson and Shanaka Dias who worked with me on this and helped me get this post right.