src=”https://buffer.com/resources/content/images/2022/10/PXL_20220907_144558480.jpg” alt=”How We Made Our Hybrid Meetup Inclusive”>
Our team organized and scheduled our first meetup in Lisbon in September. Our initial goal was to meet in person, spend a week together and get to know each other. We also wanted to strengthen our team. Due to a variety of reasons, including family leave and health, only half our team could attend the event in person.
As the Engineering Manager of the Core Foundations team at Buffer I build and maintain the core elements that allow you to access, schedule, and publish to your social media channels using our web application. Love being able to schedule Instagram Reels? That’s what we built! Are you ready to join our TikTok channel! We also offer this service. Are you happy that your account is safe from fraudsters? That’s what we do! Our team consists of eight people, including five engineers (Arek Dace, Heather and Jose), a product manager (Amanda) and our designer (Sofia). We are spread across Europe and the USA. Since 2020, more than half of our team has joined. This means that many of us have never met in person. Although we believe we can work remotely, we know that it is possible to form stronger bonds with people by meeting up in person.
Amanda (our PM), and I were responsible to organize and facilitate the meetup. We had three days of team time after taking into consideration travel time. One day was spent sightseeing, and two days were used to hold hybrid team sessions that included everyone. As an Agile coach, I have extensive experience in designing and facilitating workshops for teams. This was something I used when planning the event. My previous workshops were either entirely in-person or remotely. I have also worked with global distributed teams within an organization with a co-located company headquarters office, smaller satellite offices or remote workers. This allowed me to learn about the experiences of people who were not based at HQ in meetings with co-located workers. They often felt excluded. This feedback was important to me as I care deeply about inclusion. I tried my best to make every environment I can influence as inclusive as possible. In the past I preferred to hold workshops in person and rejected hybrid options because they were too difficult. That is no longer an option. I had to learn!
Hybrid meetups: Why?
As companies move from remote working environments, hybrid workplaces (which combine co-located and remote work) have become the norm. It seems unlikely that the hybrid model will be abandoned, with over 85% of employees saying that it is their preferred method of working. Employees can work from anywhere and this flexibility leads to differences in time zones. Business travel has been less than it was pre-pandemic. This is because companies want to keep maximizing the financial and environmental benefits of the pandemic, the rise in remote collaboration tools and changes in people’s travel preferences. While workshops and meetings are still valuable for timely collaboration, we need to consider how we can make them more effective when everyone isn’t there in person.
What I have learned about hybrid facilitation
1. Set up the agenda for the person who will be most successful in collaboration.
It is difficult for remote workers to participate in meetings or workshops when there are co-located people. Even though our team is used to working remotely they naturally found it easier to focus on the people present and talk to them. It is important to design workshops that are inclusive and communicate the importance to all participants.
These were some of the measures I took:
- Stress the importance of making sure that remote team members feel included and heard.
- Establishing ground rules from the beginning will create a sense of psychological safety.
- If you feel that discussions are getting off-track, have a “safe word” to call. Ours was pineapple.
- Everyone can take a short break without asking permission.
- Ask everyone to be present, no phones or Slack open. Or be upfront about any other commitments they might have to make.
- Keep track of remote members’ speaking frequency and ask them for their input. It is a good idea to clearly state this intention from the beginning, so everyone is well-informed and not caught off guard.
- We used the first day to do activities that helped us to get to know each others better.
- Each individual joins the Zoom calls instead of having their co-located groups join one.
- Make use of online tools — More to come!
2. Recording sessions/conversations allowed anyone not attending to still contribute asynchronously.
Five people were present in Lisbon, one in New York and one in Ireland. This meant that we could cater for three people who joined remotely and were spread across two time zones with a five hour difference.
We wanted everyone to respect their working hours. For example, we didn’t want everyone in NY to get up at 5 a.m. or in Europe to stay till 10 p.m. We divided the day into two blocks: 10 am-1pm CEST, 2 pm-6pm CEST/9 AM-1 pm CEST. This allowed us to fit in our normal meal times and gave us the opportunity for our US colleagues to dial in for a second session. We recorded them via Zoom to allow them to take part in the content we had discussed. They could also record their responses and view it later. Because they were in the same timezone, I asked them to do the activities together, which made it a more collaborative half-asynchronous/half-synchronous session.
3. Lean into your online tools
Zoom is our main video conferencing tool, and Loom is used for shorter messages. A digital whiteboard is a great way to collaborate and take notes. We use Miro for all our digital brainstorming. I love Miro’s templates, ease-of-use, and wide range of features.
Although it is easier to use whiteboards and physical sticks in person, it was easier for everyone to contribute independently. Remote contributors didn’t have to write down their ideas and there was no need for them to be photographed and then digitalized.
Amanda and I were able to work together more easily on the Miro board, which made it easier to prepare everything for the day.
4. Meetings can be set up using our own devices
Zoom calls were open to everyone who had their own cameras and laptops. It felt less personal for those not meeting in person, and more’me and them.’ We did it this way: One person left their microphone on and speakers turned on, while the rest of us muted. For presentations and discussions, session facilitators shared their screens via Zoom. During activities, each person worked on the Miroboard through their browsers.
Although everyone in the room preferred to face each other when speaking but one remote colleague (Mick), said that it helped him understand the conversations even when the audio was not clear.
People who are physically present can contribute more to oral conversations than those who are distant. Asking remote members for their opinions is a great way to get them involved.
Our laptops’ microphones were good for picking up sound, but not great. Next time I will bring a conference mic and speaker. Our laptop’s microphone/speakers/video were not in sync. This was a problem that made conversations feel disconnected.
More to you
Although hybrid facilitation can be more difficult than traditional facilitation in person or remotely, it is possible. You can still hold effective meetings and workshops for your team if you have clear communication and a good intention. It won’t be as effective as a full-on meetup and organizers can’t claim otherwise. Anyone who joins remotely for a meetup such as ours will still have to fill in some details. We can’t capture every conversation or interaction that occurs, so they won’t be able to participate in the natural conversations.
Zoom calls don’t offer the same learnings as seeing people face-to-face and hearing their body language. It is important to remember that everyone is valuable and can still bring value to your team.
We would love to hear about your experiences with hybrid meetups. Send us a Tweet or join our Community.
Did you miss our previous article…
https://onlinemarketingagencies.net/?p=5922
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