Virtual Engagement: Best Choice or Trend?
Virtual Engagement: Best Choice or Trend?
Here are two of our favorite platforms.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, leaders were forced to make some difficult decisions — fast. Among them was how to equip their employees to work virtually.
Some of the C-Suite leaders I spoke with at the time described that period as “leading in the dark.” They told me implementation plans that would have taken two to three years to vet and activate in a normal business cycle happened in a matter of days. They had no choice.
Fast-forward a few weeks. Employees were working remotely, but they were starting to feel disconnected. Managers worried about leading effectively and team engagement. Executives stewed over mental health and productivity.
At the same time, virtual platforms were popping up like dandelions in a lawn. Every week, there seemed to be a new platform to review. Some had real potential, but weren’t refined enough. Others were downright terrible and quickly faded away.
We watched as some organizations and agencies raced to the trendiest offerings. We chose a different path.
The team at The Involvement Practice paused to reflect on what we were really good at doing, pre-pandemic. Then we set out to find virtual solutions that enabled us to deliver an experience that closely mimicked in-person interaction. That helped us effectively cull the list and find the solutions that would be the best fit for our team and our clients.
Today, we have a number of favorite virtual platforms, but there are two worth highlighting.
The first is wonder.me. This meeting platform is simple to set up and easy to use. The team at wonder.me has listened to their users and continually added useful features that enable teams and larger groups to meet, network, hold presentations and have some fun. We love that you can customize the background image to fit the mood of each event.
The second is miro.com. We hang out in Miro most of the day. It’s that useful. Think of it as an endless virtual whiteboard where you can collaborate, plan, play with ideas, share concepts and engage a virtual audience with stickies, voting dots and much more. Now, a brightly colored Post-It Note and a black Sharpie are still our best friends when it comes to facilitation, but we’ve had many participants in our virtual sessions say that using Miro was the closest thing to being in the same room.
What are your favorite platforms? Which ones have helped you continue to engage your team and deliver value to your customers? Let us know by leaving a comment below.