Tips for facilitating a hybrid team offsite
Connection and relationship building is often a key objective for any offsite – especially for a global leadership team that is rarely together. So how do you pull that off when one-third of the team are still at home?
I don't pretend to have all the answers, but I wanted to share some lessons learned from a team retreat I facilitated for a global NGO when visa issues led to a hugely depleted in-person presence.
Here goes. I'd love to hear your experiences also.
You are facilitating two events (not one)
It’s not just logistics that change when you have a mixed group. The expectations, needs and experience of your in-person and virtual team members differ. So design for both sets of team members. The two events should run in parallel with a mixture of synchronistic and a-synchronistic, collaborative and independent activities, You will want to build in a variety of connection and collaboration points across the event. Get it right, and it will FEEL like one event.
What I'd do differently: I will get familiar with more of the SessionLab* functionality to help me design the two tracks side by side. On the subject of design, I would make each virtual day shorter with more optional activities.
*If you've not come across SessionLab yet, wow! I love it. It is my go-to place for designing anything from a 60-minute webinar to a three-day retreat.
2. Small group hybrid collaboration is better than whole group collaboration
There are times when you will want to have the whole team 'together'. But, when it comes to building relationships and having rich conversations between virtual and in-person participants, small is better. I built in a range of small group collaboration points, including a small group to discuss and review a range of vision moodboards with one person representing each in-person and virtual team in the discussion. Towards the end of the retreat, I had a mixed team design and deliver the 'round-up' presentation for a senior stakeholder who was joining for that session.
What I'd do differently: Have more small mixed group sessions and book a couple of breakout rooms for the in-person group to use to join them.
3. Have a fabulous project team
When the Head of People & Culture started thinking about the event, she fortuitously pulled together a team of four collaborators to support with design decisions. This team were invaluable during the retreat, willingly stepping into a number of roles as they knew the objectives and the draft agenda and could help flex activities as needed.
What I'd do differently: Nothing, they were spot on.
4. Have a virtual facilitator / producer
The virtual team needs someone to hold the space as much as the in-person group. For the laptop team, listening and collaborating with an in-person group is tiring over a long period. Tools like Owl Lab’s Meeting Owl 3 device (a 360 camera and mic) are a game changer. But even with the best of intentions, in-room noise levels creep up and can easily overwhelm a group sitting at laptops. Having activities and discussions in the virtual-only space is vital. And these need facilitation. Similarly, the moments between sessions also need a facilitator to ensure people stay with the programme and don’t drift away.
What I'd do differently: Spend time in the virtual space alongside my co-facilitator to ensure the logic and connections between the different conversations and activities is crystal clear at all times.
5. Make the work visible
In this retreat, we had a number of activities that produced artefacts - from vision mood boards, to a strategy canvas, a research wall and more. All activities created both physical and virtual artefacts. To enable both groups to explore the others' work, we ran all virtual activities through a pre-populated set of bespoke Miro templates. At key points we shared the Miro with the room. To ensure the virtual team could similarly see physical artefacts, we photographed them in real time and added them to the Miro template.
What I'd do differently: Make sure everyone in the room uses black markers to make all their work legible when photographed.
6. Focus on belonging at ALL times
As a facilitator in the room, it is very easy to overlook the in-the-moment experience of the virtual team. Having a back channel with the virtual facilitator (we use WhatsApp) meant it was easy to get prompts and reminders about when the virtual team needed more from us and to bring them back into the conversation.
What I’d do differently: Avoid language that may unintentionally exclude the virtual group, no ‘them’ and ‘us’, just different members of the same whole group.
7. Keep background noise to a minimum
When the virtual and in-person groups are in dialogue, it’s really important to be aware of the audio impact on the virtual group. Even low level noise, like a bird chirping, can be distracting (at best) and painful (at worst) over a period of time. Silent clapping and laughing are quite easy to introduce and can be successfully maintained for short periods. And try a talking stick, so only the person with the stick speaks.
What I'd do differently: Better manage the whole group interaction from the start (I learnt as we went along). Choreographing these sessions a little more could have helped. For example, having more points when just one volunteer shares a sub-group's insights, rather than a range of people potentially talking over each other.
8. Breathe, smile and learn
Nobody knows exactly how to get this right yet. You don’t need to be slick. But you do need to keep people engaged, feeling valued and like they belong. Make it a shared goal for the whole team – what are we learning about what works and what doesn’t? And what do we need to do to ensure we all have the most productive and positive time possible?
