By Marc Steinlin
The current meme goes something like this:
Scientists: You should wash your hands because of the Corona virus.
People: I’m gonna stop flying, hoard masks, work from home & totally rearrange my life.
Also scientists: The climate crisis will kill millions – we must use clean power and change how we get to work.
People: No way!
So since we’re well underway of changing our behaviour to an extent that’s been unprecedented in recent times, why not offset all the trouble with some benefits?
Here are some benefits of virtual collaboration (as a consequence of current constraints), which we may choose to adopt long-term:
The key opportunities inherent in virtual collaboration include overcoming traditional patterns and hierarchies, accommodating new working habits and expectations, increasing health and safety, balancing workflows and means, and saving costs and being climate responsive. There are many further benefits as you can see from the chart above. At IPK we are experienced in working and collaborating virtually, and can attest to these benefits. We believe there are many pros to virtual engagement, and would like to encourage making use of this way of working.
Here are some examples of IPK’s work in the virtual realm:
Behavioural Profiling and Team Building:
A behavioural profiling and team building process for a team. It consisted of: a behavioural profiling online introduction session for about 15 team members; each team member completing an online assessment; remote 1-on-1 debriefings of each team member’s profile, and; a 2-day face-to-face team building session to work with the entire team on how they can harness their respective strengths, mitigate potential weaknesses, and work on acquiring a more rounded and mutually complimentary team behavioural make-up.
A Participatory and Systemic Process Design and Facilitation Training Cycle:
A 9-months training cycle to support about 25 technical advisors with developing skills to collaborate in more participatory and systemic ways with their programme partners and stakeholders. It combined: an online survey; remote one-on-one interviews; a remote online process on-boarding and briefing session; remote preparatory tasks; 2 face-to-face trainings; virtual mentoring of small groups to support them in prototyping and applying the newly acquired tools and methods.
A Participatory and Systemic Leadership Programme:
A leadership programme to support about 15 middle management customs officials in developing their skills of leading in more participatory and systemic ways. It combined some of the following elements: online surveys; remote one-on-one interviews; on-boarding and briefing for self-study week virtual sessions; remote self-study week assignments; 2 face-to-face trainings; one-on-one coaching and mentoring transfer phases to support participants in applying their newly acquired tools and methods in their leadership transfer projects.
Whilst all these examples were blends between virtual and face-to-face facilitation formats, we are equally skilled to design and facilitate processes entirely in the virtual realm.
Please contact us on info@i-p-k.co.za if you would like to find out how you can go about redesigning a specific workshop, training or other event to be delivered virtually.