Michelle Teunis

Social synchrony is less when we're working virtually, so if we want to ramp up engagement and connection, some tips backed by neuroscience are: - Ensure communication is active and multi-way, where people can take turns in talking and responding. This mimics social learning (and makes the whole experience more engaging). - Use a mix of interesting visual and verbal cues when presenting and engaging. Looking at or simply talking about dry facts and figures is not overly engaging and it can contribute towards zoom fatigue. - Get people working in groups, such as using break-out rooms to solve problems, where they also get to come back in the main room to present back.

Discussing and celebrating regular progress is essential and it helps work with our natural "wiring" to want rewards sooner rather than later; however, rather than "monitoring" which is a top-down style notion (and doesn't work well with our innate need for autonomy), the likes of daily or weekly stand ups where we are regularly reporting on our own progress, and highlighting where we might need to have roadblocks removed, would be more effective and motivating.

Make sure the communication is active (multi-way, connected and engaged), not just passive and broadcast. Words on a page are often misunderstood.

Change is around collaboration as much as anything, so having defined roles is important, but so is having accountability partnerships and social contracts. As in, having clarity over how people work together and get them to co-design what good looks like (as well as what not-so-good, looks like). This will help create a sense of ownership and buffer threat states.

The key things to assess before delegating to enable success, are: - capacity: do people have the capacity to take on new tasks? If they don’t, you might want to consider work design. - capability: do they have the know-how? Or do they need skills and support? - clarity: are accountability partnerships and what’s expected of them, clear? - opportunity: will there be roadblocks in their way? Ensure to set them up for success. - motivation: do you and others walk the talk espousing constructive social norms? - relevance: is it part of their role, adjacent to their role or part of their development?

I feel before you do any of this, you need to be able to speak to the strategy, a clear why and what the clear, articulated and integrated outcomes the program needs to bring to life, are. This ensures the feedback providers understand the vision and the guard-rails for the feedback they’re providing. If you don’t, you could be mismanaging expectations and creating threat states in others. Co-design and feedback starts with the organisations strategy and why (unless it’s organisational level strategy you’re co-creating). Manage expectations, ensure the guard rails are clear, then there’s a lot less juggling required.