Four Ways to Engage Change Teams Remotely

Working remotely may be routine for some, but it can pose a social challenge for change management practitioners who tend to thrive on working with people. And the uncertainty of the COVID-19  pandemic means things that "normal" working conditions may not resume for some time. Whether you're isolating at home temporarily or working from a home office on a regular basis, it's easy to keep change teams and stakeholders engaged if you're willing to get creative. 

Stay Connected and Engaged with Webinars

1. Hold a Webinar "Book Club"
   Engage colleagues with a webinar as you would a book club meeting. If the webinar is pre-recorded, ask colleagues to watch it at their convenience. If it's live, watch together from your separate locations. Afterward, discuss the webinar as a group using a video communication and collaboration platform, such as Microsoft Teams. Be sure to designate someone to lead the discussion. And write out a list of questions and topics in advance to keep the discussion focused and productive.
2. Address a Pressing Issue Together
   Instead of an unstructured online discussion or meeting, invite a colleague or your entire team to join you in watching a webinar that targets one of your most pressing issues. If presentation slides are available, download and print them ahead of time for reference and convenient note-taking. Discuss the issue you're facing, how the webinar applies, and what steps you can take together.
3. Lunch-and-Learn
   Who says lunch has to be catered in an office? Schedule a lunchtime webinar with colleagues at home and reimburse the cost of their favorite lunch delivery. You could also try this with bring-your-own coffee or a virtual happy hour.  
4. Commit to an Hour of Learning
   If you can't gather as an online group, you can still keep yourself and teammates engaged by enabling every person to commit to an hour of learning every day. Even if your projects are moving full-steam ahead, investing in professional development is known to be good for mental health. And the break helps you avoid the overwork that can lead to depression and anxiety.

Webinar Favorites

Ready to give it a try? Try one of these on-demand Prosci webinars focused on the fundamentals of change management:

Five Tenets of Change Management

These basic principles of change management underscore why change management is essential to reaching project and organizational goals. Learn how to communicate them succinctly and gain the buy-in you need for success.   

Watch the webinar

ADKAR: A Model for Individual Change