© Primary Care Progress 2020

BRINGING RELATIONAL LEADERSHIP™ TO

Virtual Meeting Management

Since the COVID-19 crisis began, more and more meetings are happening virtually. While some teams are making critical, urgent decisions, others are addressing longer-term challenges that require the engagement of teams who cannot meet face-to-face. We believe that, whenever possible, incorporating Relational Leadership™ increases the well-being and the effectiveness of team members. Maintaining a relational focus requires intentional planning, so we are sharing some of our most useful tools and strategies. We hope we will help your team stay connected under tough conditions. STEP 1 |MAKE A PLAN

Not every decision requires the entire team. You can save a lot of time by starting the meeting with the right people at the table. Be thoughtful about when to engage and leverage your team’s collaborative brainpower.

With important decisions, consider which level of team engagement is appropriate:

This can help you be intentional and transparent about:

• why you are meeting and what the objectives are. • what you expect from the team members. • who needs to be a part of the meeting.

MAKE A PLAN Determine the purpose of the meeting, the objectives, and what you are asking of the team. CHECK-IN Try to check-in with the team as they work through quick questions or polls. This may bring up unseen challenges and directly impact meeting outcomes. MANAGE PARTICIPATION Keep all team members engaged by assigning and rotating roles, and varying the types of decision-making tools you use. At the close of the meeting, clarify next steps and responsibilities.

DOCUMENT & SHARE Be sure that action items are captured in writing. Share documents in an easily accessible location.

BEST PRACTICES

1. Leader decides, then informs team

2. Leader gets team input first,

then decides

3. Team decides and

recommends to leader

4. Team decides and acts directly

1. Leader decides, then informs team

2. Leader gets team input first,

then decides

3. Team decides and

recommends to leader

4. Team decides and acts directly

1. Leader decides, then informs team

2. Leader gets team input first,

then decides

3. Team decides and

recommends to leader

4. Team decides and acts directly

1. Leader decides, then informs team

2. Leader gets team input first,

then decides

3. Team decides and

recommends to leader

4. Team decides and acts directly

Relational Leadership™ is a model of shared leadership focused on developing relational skills at the individual level and across teams. It is grounded in the premise that all team members should grow and develop as leaders, working together interdependently towards a common vision. Leadership is viewed not as a position but as a role, with different individuals taking the lead or following based on context and circumstance.

© Primary Care Progress 2020

STEP 2 |CHECK-IN STEP 3 | MANAGE PARTICIPATION

STEP 4 |DOCUMENT & SHARE Finally, make sure to communicate all pertinent decisions and next steps to the team so that they feel a part of the process. Post documents in easily accessible locations that are visible to everyone. Invite questions or comments if possible.

Check-ins are ways to gather feedback from your team while building trust and psychological safety. Even in remote settings, they allow individuals to reflect, and can bring up unseen challenges that may impact meeting agendas or project plans. Whether at the start, during, or following a meeting, check-ins foster connection, innovation, and growth.

WHAT TO DO IMMEDIATE: Build check-ins into the start of the meeting to help everyone get centered before diving in. Ask each team member to choose the next speaker, to avoid interruptions or awkward silences.

ONGOING: Keep a constant on-going virtual space available for ideas and questions, enabling quieter members to contribute on their own time. Review and respond at scheduled intervals (useful tools include Slack.com, Google Chat, and Freesuggestionbox.com).

INDIVIDUALIZED: Try to schedule one-to-ones or offer individual feedback surveys to make sure everyone’s voices are being heard.

WHAT TO DO ROLES: Assign and rotate roles like timekeeper, scribe, and facilitator to ensure equal participation and ownership.

TECHNIQUES: Vary the types of decision-making tools to keep participants engaged (see our collaborative decision-making toolkit for more.)

TOOLS: Use interactive boards to encourage collaboration during and following meetings (Useful tools include Miro.com, Google Docs and Google Jamboard).

The biggest challenge in working together remotely is including all voices. Power dynamics and roles impact interactions. Virtual settings can exacerbate communication problems: body language and facial expressions are often obscured, phone calls favor extroverts and dominant voices, and time and attention spans are often short. Amplifying the contributions of all team members is essential for long-term success, and it requires careful planning.

OUR FAVORITE CHECK-IN PROMPTS

ROBUST PROMPTS: • Tell the team about the origin of your

name. • Talk about a time or place where you

felt the most yourself. • Describe what has brought you joy in

the last week. • Tell the team about a path not taken at

some point in your past. • Share your greatest challenge and

greatest success in the last month.

BRIEF PROMPTS: • Share one word to describe what

you are excited about. • Describe your mood by shape and

color (ex: red square). • Share one word for a takeaway from

the day/meeting. • Describe the weather in your mind

(ex: cloudy with a chance of hail). • Tell the group: what’s inspired you

recently? Book, movie, etc.

* One of the best tactics to improve relational communication on your team is to use both live and off-line self-paced tools. We recommend a few platforms here, but you should find the ones that work best for your team.

CHECK-OUT PROMPTS: • Say one word about your

feelings after the discussion.

• Name the next action you will take based on the meeting topic.

• Share one thing you appreciate about another member of the team.