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Web conferencing – it used to be

20.04.2020

 

Right now, it is sprouting up everywhere – web conferencing. Almost everybody seems to feel called to offer any session. Mostly free of charge and with quite remarkable content. So, the already old format, whose baptism certificate dates to 2003, is experiencing a retro.

But is that really what it takes now to inspire and educate people? There are alternatives.

Webinar or video clip?

The so-called webinar or web conferencing is constructed as learning and information format and offers a two-way ‘communication’. The possibility to comment an opinion or question in the chat does not count as dialogue, but at least some exchange is taking place. This is what this medium has ahead of the video clips that are so popular today. They only stream in one direction but in moving pictures and usually more comprised. Here, the speaker can contribute as a person, make an impact through his or her gestures and facial expressions and, if necessary, also explain something on a board. This is much more diversified than the static view on one person, who looks more or less professional into the camera.

Both formats have one thing in common: The listener’s concentration drops after a short period of time.

Is web conferencing a conference?!

The webinar is called a web conference. Controversial from our point of view. Because what constitutes a conference? Yes, it is about knowledge transfer. And yes, groups are addressed but good conferences are characterized by encounters and social interaction. In addition, a great conference also ensures that the knowledge acquired can be practiced in its application. This is followed by reflection and transfer into everyday life. Somehow the webinar reaches its limits here.

Virtual seminars made by TCJG

We think there are far better alternatives. We have thought the virtual seminar further. At our Hybrid Discovery Workshop, participants come together in groups on a specific topic as well. However, they do not listen to a speaker for a long time.

They are active right from the start. There is immediate participation. Visualised at their own workplace or at the dining table at home. The results are photographed and shared with the other participants. On this basis, an exchange takes place in small groups known as “break-out-rooms”.

Back in the big group we first start with a physical energiser. A video briefly summarizes the topic and during the following break the participants become DJs themselves.

After the break, 1 minute of silence allows to come to rest. Then, there is an appointment with a non-seminar participant for a virtual lunch. Briefly build together a mind map to the next topic and then a 3-minute walk around in the own surrounding. This allows the topic to be penetrated in the mind more deeply.

The results will be documented in the own “visualization space” and then presented to a tandem partner in a Mini-Con-Call. Afterwards a photo will be uploaded on a collaboration tool such as a virtual whiteboard. Now the documentation of the results is finished.

Of course, we also impart knowledge. But we do not tell that story, we let the participants discover and then share it… By providing suitable materials or links (during the workshop, but especially before or after). The participants become experts themselves.

This is what our seminars or discovery journeys look like. This is how virtual learning presents itself today.

Our participants say its great fun.

Especially since they are working on their digital fitness at the same time.

 

Webinar – it used to be.

Want more information? Please simply register for our free sharing or contact us via

office@tcjg.de.

 

 

 

 

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Speed up digital competence

17.04.2020

 

Countless studies show that companies in this country are lagging in digitisation. Above all, the development of digital skills for many people is not progressing as quickly as expected. What is needed now is a speed up. There is a solution: Hybrid Discovery (HD) Workshops from TCJG

There are many offers for the development of digital competence

 It cannot be said that there is a lack of initiatives and concepts or even measures to develop digital literacy. Never has the range of online and face-to-face training courses been as extensive as it is today. Obviously with a continuing upward trend. Today, private individuals can choose from a wide variety of learning formats. Meanwhile, e-learning is becoming more and more clever, with and without gamification elements, videos in explanatory or teaching mode, learning trips in peers with direct access to well-sorted content, hosted on platforms of varying attractiveness. In addition, there are in-house training courses of various kinds, in which digitalisation is still “trained” in live formats. Or one can find really great staged presence Future Learning Labs.

By the way: We have been looking around here and there over the last few months and are happy to share our experiences.

And yet CEOs of companies complain that a sustainable change in the behaviour of many people falls short of expectations and of necessity. In fact, knowledge in the field of digitization is often already available, but it is hardly ever applied.

Let’s think of Corona as an opportunity

The current challenge that is illustrated in connection with “Corona” makes it clear: it would be beneficial for people to be fit in and with digital forms of work. As a result of “Corona”, entire workforces may be forced to work from their home office at short notice. This can go well and minimize the expected economic damage. All that is required is that everyone is suitably qualified and motivated.

In this respect, we can also see “Corona” as an opportunity and driver in the development of digital competence. What could be postponed for a long time now creates a concrete pressure to act. Digital, networked collaboration.

In change management, one would say that the “sense of urgency” is now becoming visible. This is one of the success factors for successful change. As a rule, digitalization is defined as a central strategic field in companies today. It can therefore be assumed that a pronounced digital competence also pays off on a powerful vision. A further success factor. Nothing stands in the way of change. Now it is simply a matter of doing the new.

Use the opportunity to speed up digital competence

The time is now to take the implementation of digital work seriously. From the current need to maintain more virtual than F2F contacts, the quick win can now emerge to strengthen the competence of digital working and learning through a targeted offer of suitable and inspiring formats. This initially includes the consistent implementation of well-structured conference calls via Skype, teams, WebEx, GoToMeting or zoom. And certainly, also the increased use of document sharing e.g. via SharePoint or GoogleDrive, should be mentioned here.

However, the TCJG format of the HD (Hybrid Discovery) workshops goes far beyond this. These are 0.5 – 2 day hybrid workshops in the area of Learning & Development. On various topics, such as communication, self-organization, sharing & collaboration and others. In these primarily virtual workshops, presence units are integrated into the participant’s workplace. This format provides for learning and collaboration in a virtual group, but at the same time ensures that social workspace learning takes place in real time. The basics of didactics (sensitization, information, practice/application and transfer) are considered as well as a high experience value and fun factor.

Really good reasons for HD (Hybrid Discovery) workshops

This format cleverly combines the introduction of people to digital tools and their natural application or use. In teams or alternative systems, people simply work. Playful moderation is achieved by changing various tools and these are immediately applied. Whether it is tandem work in a team call, small group work in the break out rooms of zoom or a joint brainstorming using a worksheet in OneNote. To name just a few examples of the MS Office 365 world. Then you don’t need your own MS Office 365 user training anymore. In the workshop the tools are simply used on an ongoing basis.

Not to forget your own mobile phone, which uses a (secure) messenger to control mini work phases or breaks, to deliver work orders or to play back work results from the workplace to the virtual group via audio/video recording.

And this is only the added value in the area of virtual media competence. Above all, it is also worth mentioning the development of the participants’ ability to work collaboratively and to share knowledge or experience at the workplace. By means of these workshops, a contribution can also be made to the development of cross-functional networks or new relationships can be created across silos. Participants are encouraged to set up a space at their workplace where they visualize the results of their work developed in the virtual group. This space remains available after the virtual workshop and serves as a tool for implementing the learning content.

Finally: without much thought or discussion, digital work becomes normal and self-evident with this format. An incidental speed up of digital competence.

What does it take? A laptop, a mobile device and a human being.

We do the rest, or we show you how to do it.

HD Workshops from TCJG – Speed up!

Please feel free to contact us.

 

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Home sweet Home-Office

14.04.2020

 

Corona surprised us all and sent us all to the home office together. Even companies and bosses who “work remotely” with labels like “unthinkable” or “unproductive” are now forced to send their employees home. And even worse: they have to work from home themselves. Ironically, the massive restrictions in public life and our radius of movement go hand in hand with new freedoms in everyday working life. Now, as TCJG consultants, we are more often on the move remotely. With customers, on train trips or actually from the kitchen table at home… For us this situation is not so new and unfamiliar. Of course, the time variable of not going to the office not only on a daily basis, but for weeks on end, gave the situation a new dimension. This calls for new rules for cooperation. After all, we are a team and not lone fighters.

#1 the infrastructure

Thanks to our digital expertise and our willingness to experiment with new trends and tools, we had the decisive advantage of a functioning infrastructure. Everyone is equipped with smartphones and laptops. Via cloud systems, Microsoft teams or even the familiar VPN connection, all documents, links and contacts are available at all times. Prerequisite number 1 in the form of hardware and software was already there.

#2 new game rules

As organizational consultants in an agile environment, we have been working with agile meeting formats such as “dailys” or “Scrum meetings” for a long time. Nevertheless, the new spatial distance also creates a need for more structure. We have therefore split up our weekly Monday meeting. Five “Morning dailys”, a virtual check-in and a short final meeting, a check-out give our days a framework. This almost gives a new meaning to the agile word “re-framing”… The following morning procedure has proven to be very nice and personal for our small team: First a short, personal check-in without “professional context”. How am I doing today? What moves or occupies me? What am I looking forward to? Sometimes this is longer, sometimes shorter. Of course, “Corona” was also a topic. At this point it doesn’t matter to go beyond the scope of a 15min- SCRUM meeting. When the need is there. It makes everyone feel emotionally closer to each other. It is a small consolation for the private talks that are usually held over lunch or in the coffee kitchen. This is followed by an outlook on the day’s tasks of each individual. Here also fast possible co-ordination need becomes clear, meetings are immediately specified. We use “individual maps” for our tasks and projects. These are small digital cards that can be easily created in Trello or Microsoft Planner. This way, everyone knows who is working on which tasks. Responsibilities and dependencies are transparent. Even the individual small work steps and timings can be mapped easily and quickly. Our daily closing meetings then follow the Scrum principle. They are crisp and last a maximum of 15 minutes. Nevertheless they are important. All team members maintain a common level of knowledge. This allows us to react flexibly and quickly to changes that occur hourly, especially in these times.

#3 new freedoms

My Learning Number 1 in the home office: Every newly won freedom goes hand in hand with an increase in personal responsibility. Self-reflection, control, and management up to the supreme discipline of self-management are different competencies that build on each other. This is also what our participants of an online learning journey are currently learning at a customer. I, too, have noticed how important structure and self-knowledge are, especially in the home office. I can design some parameters completely freely. For example: what tasks do I set for the morning? Which ones in the afternoon? Other parameters are fixed and give structure to my day. Team calls, webinars or even breaks like lunch are among them. Of course, I’m in the luxury position of only being able to take care of myself. I am not disturbed by children or husbands. A nice example is the viral BBC News Live Interview. In the live interview with a professor in the home office, first both children and then the wife burst. All parents have a need for new home office rules for family members in these times to avoid such scenes. However, I find the private component very charming, which cannot be separated at all from the professional. After all, we are all daughters, sons, parents, partners. And I’ve always wanted to know what’s in my colleagues’ kitchen cupboards and how they are furnished.

#4 new learning

A nice new habit we have come up with at TCJG in our home office. And I really hope that we can keep it up in the post-Corona world. We have introduced a Lunch & Learn. A lunch call, sometimes with external guests, where we teach each other new tools, theories and practices. Digital knowledge sharing at its best! So many project management, collaboration and digital tools I have learned step by step in small nuggets over the last weeks. And applied immediately and integrated into my everyday work. We have also discarded some of them and rated them as “not relevant” for us. And that brings me directly to my last point.

#5 in peace lies the power

A large number of software and tools and the infrastructure that is now available allow us to do almost everything in the home office. Nevertheless, the same applies here as well: with measure and goal. Not every tool, every gimmick or every new software fits into the respective business model or the individual way of working. Despite zoom, teams and Google hangouts, we all need times without meetings. Only in this way can deep work be successful. My wish for the future: a new way of working in which remote and presence both have their place. Thanks to the (involuntary) increase in digital competence that we are all experiencing, these two worlds can now be united even better. Into a new linked digital working world that perhaps values personal contact even more than before.