Why Digital Collaboration is Better?
You leave old habits behind by starting with the thought: ‘I release the need for this in my life.’ — Dr. Wayne W. Dyer
The complexity we face in redesigning public services is growing and requires degrees of collective knowledge, experience, and experimentation that transcend the limitations of the analog world. The pandemic has forced us into the virtual workplace — it might have been a blessing in disguise. While the pandemic has been a shock to many organizations, it has also opened up the opportunity to leverage the transformational potential of our current situation to modernize public services in Canada and worldwide. The lessons from the pandemic experience will inform knowledge-based service organizations for decades to come. Especially in areas not driven by the cold hard profit margins. We now have the power to design our work experiences and can use it to design our societies as well. Here are my recent reflections:
Over the past year, as the Lead Designer and Facilitator of virtual Agile/Design Thinking workshops at the ESDC Transformation Accelerator Hub, I have witnessed the scalability potential of virtual collective intelligence in practice. In numerous online design sessions, we have been able to quickly come together to identify and tackle wicked problems with the right stakeholders and multi-disciplinary experts at the table, no matter where they were located. Whatever collaborations I have experienced in the analog past can’t compete with the well-designed and engaging virtual collaboration sessions I have been able to orchestrate with my excellent colleagues at the Hub. And some of these included tackling massive and highly complex issues ranging from a surge in demands for passports to major benefits delivery modernization using technology to better serve Canadian citizens and others who rely on the federal government for services. I cannot imagine how we could have achieved that much in such short time windows.
Research data confirms my anecdotal observations have been spot on and clarifies why. While it would be pleasant to meet in person, the travel cost savings, speed and frequency of engagement, and participation scalability and affordability of virtual collaboration sessions are impossible to match with any analog alternatives. Virtual collaboration is most evidently advantageous for geographically dispersed teams of professionals with complementary knowledge and skills. It is becoming acutely evident that tackling today’s wicked problems requires diverse multi-disciplinary perspectives.
Humans can no longer afford to think in division and darkness. Collaborative intelligence is the light that is necessary for our individual and collective survival. We have no choice now but to think together.
― Dawna Markova, Collaborative Intelligence: Thinking with People Who Think Differently
Virtual collaboration that takes place online using digital tools and technologies has several advantages over in-person collaboration. It beats in-person collaboration with its increased flexibility, improved communication, enhanced collaboration, reduced costs, and improved accessibility.
The key benefits of virtual collaboration include:
- Increased flexibility: Virtual collaboration allows people to work together from anywhere, anytime. It can be especially beneficial for organizations with distributed teams or individuals who need to work outside traditional business hours.
- Improved communication: Virtual collaboration tools, such as video conferencing and instant messaging, can make it easier for people to communicate with each other, regardless of their location. It can help to improve communication and collaboration within teams.
- Enhanced collaboration: Virtual collaboration tools often include features such as shared documents and real-time editing, making it easier for teams to work together on projects. It can lead to more efficient and effective collaboration.
- Reduced costs: Virtual collaboration can help to reduce the costs associated with in-person meetings and travel. It can be especially beneficial for fiscally conservative organizations with limited budgets or public service organizations seeking to limit the spending of public funds while increasing the speed and efficiency of collaboration.
- Improved accessibility: Virtual collaboration can make it easier for people with disabilities or other access needs to participate in meetings and discussions. It can help to improve accessibility and inclusivity within teams.
Collaborative intelligence, or CQ, is a measure of our ability to think with others on behalf of what matters to us all. It is emerging as a new professional currency at a time when the way we think, interact, and innovate is shifting. In the past, “market share” companies were ruled by hierarchy and top-down leadership. Today, the new market leaders are “mind share” companies, where influence is more important than power, and success relies on collaboration and the ability to inspire. ― Dawna Markova, Collaborative Intelligence: Thinking with People Who Think Differently [link to YouTube video]
One of the greatest advantages of virtual collaboration is how it can empower teams to work together effectively, even if they are not in the same physical location. At the ESDC Accelerator Hub, we have team members who are in different parts of Canada and the distance doesn’t hinder how well we work together. The fact we are not physically together may be our greatest advantage but the benefits of virtual collaboration are not always easy to realize. As we’ve been working like this for a year now garnering numerous positive results along the way, here are a few tips to share that may help you elevate your virtual team collaboration game:
- Establish clear goals and expectations for the team. This will help everyone understand what needs to be accomplished and how their work fits into the bigger picture. At the Accelerator Hub, we created a team charter and went through many discussions on the meaning of what we do. The key is: this is an ongoing iteration. It can be frustrating when expectations are fixed goals and parameters, but Agile teams are in a continuous cycle of iteration of tasks and goals to match emerging needs.
- Use a project management tool to keep track of tasks, deadlines, and progress. This will help the team stay organized and ensure that everyone is working towards the same goals. At the Accelerator Hub, we’ve used MS Planner to stay on track with our ambitious task agenda. It may not be a tool we’ll use all the time but now we all know how to use it and keep each other informed in real time.
- Communicate regularly and openly. Use video conferencing, instant messaging, and other communication tools to stay in touch with team members and ensure everyone is on the same page. At the Accelerator Hub, we keep an open channel on MS Teams where we discuss everything openly, even share personal experiences, the cool things going on in our lives and organization, pictures from vacations, pets, links to interesting movies, etc. We also have dedicated project ‘back channels’ (just for project members of the team) and separate ‘client channels’ for instant communication between project teams and clients we work with for open real-time exchange. We video chat in virtual meetings and often keep our cameras ON to humanize the experience. Of course, all formal agreements and other official comms are still done via email.
- Foster a positive and supportive team culture. Remember that ‘Culture eats strategy for breakfast.’ You may not be able to change the overall corporate culture but you can create pockets of positivity at the team level. You can start by encouraging team members to provide feedback and support to each other making sure that everyone feels valued and included. At the Accelerator Hub every morning our teammates post greetings, sometimes with funny emojis, stickers, or GIFs expressing how we feel [funny/grumpy cat is almost our team mascot… 🐱OK, it’s actually the ‘PIVOT’ GIF from Friends, see below]. It is a virtual bonding ritual for the team. It builds trust and openness while creating a fun and relaxed atmosphere. It creates a space to address serious things too. If anyone is stuck or frustrated, they can post a message to the open chat on MS Teams and ask for help, feedback, or comments on a task. Usually, there is someone who either knows the answer or can land a hand when needed [more elaborate involvement still requires an OK from a manager, although it’s mostly a self-organizing activity]. We value and respect each other and compensate for our shortcomings in a caring and friendly way that allows us to bring our whole selves to work [OK, maybe just the parts we want others to know about 😉], which translates into greater empathy for each other. Nobody is perfect, but a team of people who care for one another can get darn close!
- Take advantage of technology to facilitate collaboration. Use collaboration software, such as Microsoft 365, to work on documents together in real time, and use online whiteboards, such as Miro, to brainstorm and collaborate on ideas. At the Accelerator Hub, we are constantly learning new tools and new features of the tools we use. We use retrospectives to learn from our actions and find ways to improve the way we work and the services we provide through genuine iteration. The way we use our tools is what makes the difference. But being open to learning new things is essential. Many of the tools we have used have inspired other teams to learn and try to use on their own [we infected a few of our clients with a fever of excitement to have their own Miro board]
- Question your actions together and answer honestly. One of the most incredible breakthroughs can come, as it did for our team, through questioning the things we did and adjusting our behaviours. Going through any activity that feels like you’re being held hostage thinking: ‘this could’ve been an email,’ a smart digital leader will ask one of the hardest questions: Is this the highest and best use of my time? We have incredible intellectual capital in this room/virtual meeting. Are we using it? Then have the courage to say what others may also be thinking. If the truth can no longer be spoken, we will lose the ability to hear it. Start by doing retrospectives together, collecting reflections anonymously at first, and examining each contributions honestly and openly.
- Always prioritize the TRUST & SAFETY of the team over PERFORMANCE. Teams that work best together are teams that trust each other. With time, as trust and safety grow among the team members, it may be possible to collect opinions openly and iterate solutions quickly. But trust must be earned and it doesn’t come for free. It requires strong leadership pivoting away from a strict ‘performance mode’ focusing on perfection towards ‘learning mode’ where 80–20 rule allows for some failure from which the team can learn and grow together without fearing consequences of humiliation or punishment. Known as the Pareto principle, the 80–20 rule states that 80% of results come from 20% of actions. If you have any kind of work that can be segmented into smaller portions, the Pareto principle can help you identify what part of that work is the most influential. The rule can be applied in many forms and transform how individuals see themselves: not as lone voices but as part of a supportive team that looks for and helps one another.
Leading by example is one of the best ways to help transform organizations digitally. What is becoming evident is that digital transformation is difficult to drive at the individual level. We all have different skills, diverse thresholds to handle new knowledge, and various degrees of courage to challenge the status quo. Not everyone needs to know everything in an exponentially growing digital skill/knowledge space. And not everyone wants to lead the first wave to storm the Bastille. But we can leverage collective intelligence starting at the team level. Location-independent digital teams, especially those including highly motivated experts in various fields, can be highly collaborative even if their members are dispersed across vast distances.
A well-coordinated multi-disciplinary virtual team of knowledge workers is capable of leveraging individual strengths to achieve speed, efficiency, and output unmatched by equivalent teams dependent on analog spaces and rituals from the BC (Before Covid) era. A virtual team includes those working from anywhere, be it an office location, home, or the beach (yes, that is something to aspire to). It may require a bit of adjustment to tune the dynamics of digitally-mediated trust at the beginning, yet the outcomes can impress with increased collective performance unlimited by barriers of the past. If you are a knowledge worker or leader of a knowledge-based team, go ahead and release the need for the analog safety blanket in your life. Now dare to go further and imagine the potential speed and quality of work and transformation at an organization made mostly of virtual teams! Digital nomads shall inherit the work world.
