This article is written by Georgie Johnstone, a social researcher at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, UK

If you’d told me this time last year that I’d be leading a team through some of the most uncertain, anxiety-inducing times in my life, and doing it all virtually, I’d have felt pretty terrified.

When my team lead was unable to work for a short period at the end of 2020, I was asked to provide temporary cover. I was responsible for a team of seven, which included two new starters in need of induction.

The idea of having to virtually induct people into a team without ever having met them in person pushed me outside of my comfort zone. How could I build a rapport with these people? How would I ensure that they had all of the materials and information they needed to get up to speed with the work? These were just a few of the questions I fretted over when I began planning the inductions.

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My initial nervousness was quickly superseded by inner verve and excitement. Against my own expectations, I rose to the challenge. While reflecting on that period, it occurred to me to share some pearls of wisdom I picked up along the way.

Planning ahead

Ensure that there is an up-to-date list of induction materials ready, including an organisation chart, team powerpoint slides, and any links for training or relevant policies. That way when your new starter has time when they are not in meetings, they can work their way through the induction materials.

Making connections

Schedule in some introductory meetings with key members of the wider organisation for them in their first month (or, if you don’t have time to schedule them yourself, provide them with a list of individuals for them to reach out to themselves).

Establishing a rapport

Schedule in some time to get to know your new starter and regularly check in with them. I set up daily 10-minute check-ins for my new starters in the first few weeks, which was a really effective way of staying in touch. Once they are more settled, explore how they feel most comfortable communicating (emails, calls, instant messages, and so on), and how often they would like to have regular check-ins.

Virtual team-building

When considering how you work with your team, it’s important to remember that it’s not all just about work...it’s crucial that you’re able to establish trusting, collaborative working relationships with your colleagues and create a cohesive team culture. Not being able to meet face-to-face can be a huge barrier to this, but I’ve found that the following pearls of wisdom helped me to overcome that barrier.

Team ‘huddles’

Ensure you have regular team meetings in the diary, as these establish cohesive work patterns. Bi-weekly, I arranged what I like to call team ‘huddles’. One of the weekly sessions consists of roundtable updates from each member of the team, the other a creative focus session on a topic chosen by the chairing member. We’ve had a variety of sessions so far, from one on storytelling to a talk on how to carry out a systematic literature review. This injects some fun into our weekly meetings and allows the team to gain confidence in presenting, teaching and preparing an agenda.

Leading with empathy

Fostering openness is key. It allows individuals to talk about how things are going for them, as well as how they are feeling, especially about lockdown restrictions and other pressures. Think about how you can adjust your work/communication style so that it suits individual colleagues. For example, we recently had a ‘ways of working’ session where we each prepared a powerpoint slide on our preferred and least preferred ways of working. This helped everyone understand better how to effectively work with each other and they adapted accordingly.

If you get the chance to step outside of your comfort zone with your work, then go for it.

Work-life balance

This is more than just self care. Good work-life balance encourages prioritisation and finding balance between personal and professional activities to help reduce stress and increase productivity. Block out lunchtimes in your diary, and use them to do whatever you enjoy. I often like to go on a run, or do some yoga. These activities help me achieve some balance during the working day.

Effective virtual workshops

I’ve always enjoyed workshops as they make it possible to get a group of people together in a room, inspiring new ideas and creating an environment in which it is possible to give feedback. Having to facilitate a virtual workshop, however, is more challenging as there is a little bit more to think about. For instance, how can you create a virtual workshop that is engaging and interactive, and that makes it possible for everyone to be involved in the discussion? As a host, what do you need to do to make sure you hear from everyone, especially those who are naturally quieter or less confident? The following strategies really helped me with this.

Prepare, prepare, prepare!

Ahead of a session, ensure you have provided an agenda, instructions for any tools or software that you plan on using, and any necessary pre-reading. Check that any tools or software you plan on using are accessible to all the listed attendees. Set up an interactive workshop template for attendees to feed into during the workshop, or for breakout sessions.

Breakout groups

As part of your planning, split the group of attendees into smaller breakout groups so that, during the workshop, you can send people off into small group discussions. If you can, having a facilitator for each breakout group works really well to help guide the group and then to feed what you discussed back into the main session.

Silence

Don’t be afraid of a bit of quiet, especially when attendees are working on an interactive document. This can allow individuals to mull over their ideas. Some of the most effective workshops I’ve been involved in have been ones where there’s a lot of quiet time to reflect and provide feedback.

Useful tools/software for virtual working

Although many of us will be well-versed in virtual working by now, I still think it is worth mentioning the software that I have found particularly useful:

Jamboard is an interactive whiteboard that is particularly good for quickly gathering ideas, drawing out timelines, team games (like pictionary!) and planning work.

Trello is essentially a list-making tool, where you and the team can plan your workload, outline tasks, sub-tasks, record progress, and lots more — really great for staying organised.

Mural was introduced to me by a colleague who is a whiz at running workshops and is another fabulous online whiteboard tool. It has slightly more advanced functionality to Jamboard and allows you to set up intricate interactive templates for workshops.

Although working virtually throughout Covid-19 has often been a struggle, I’ve really enjoyed my time covering as team lead. It was a steep learning curve, but I feel satisfied with what I achieved and the skills I developed along the way.

If you get the chance to step outside of your comfort zone with your work, then go for it — you never know what you’ll learn. — Georgie Johnstone

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