Hey Coach,

How can I keep my team organized and encouraged when we can’t physically plan face-to-face?

Sincerely,
Planning from a Distance

Dear Planning from a Distance,

I love that you are thinking about the effectiveness of asynchronous collaboration! Building a strong foundation and establishing an efficient workflow is what many teams hope to achieve. Nevertheless, planning and working collaboratively looks very different through a screen. You can still make the experience of virtual teamwork successful by following these guidelines:

Plan Ahead

When preparing for virtual collaboration, distinguish how the planning time will be used. First, schedule a recurring date for your team meeting. Then, prior to the meeting, make a plan by listing out action items and points of discussion to review. Lastly, determine how you can track your team’s progress towards goals. Just like in the classroom, teachers need objectives to follow. 

Outline Expectations

The next step toward leading digital sessions with teams is to describe roles and responsibilities that teachers will need to take on. Define how members should participate while working together. Your group can collaborate more effectively when participants feel recognized and have a clear understanding of their contributions. You may also consider building meeting norms. Set guidelines for discussions, commenting and supporting one another.

Identify Platforms and Tools

Keep your team organized and productive by consistently using the same platforms and structures. Specifically implement a tool that your school or district supports so you can model how the features within that chosen tool can be applied with students. Don’t forget to find a system for keeping track of communication as well. All teachers involved will need to be aware of where to store files, how to access resources, and when to share questions and interact with other members.  

Relationships First

Remember to always keep relationship building at the forefront of your work. Sometimes meetings don’t need to be focused on academics, data or content. Support the overall morale of your team by planning for ways to connect and activities for enjoyment. Educators spend so much time making virtual meetings for students engaging and deserve to be engaged themselves. 

As long as you remain persistent and committed, then it won’t matter whether your meetings are face-to-face or online. Keep developing and growing as a professional learning network or community. When we lean on each other for support, our reach can stretch further and have a greater impact!

All the best,
Coach