Online Whiteboard Guide
What are some best practices for using an online whiteboard to facilitate virtual team building and socializing?
Key Takeaways
- Choose the right online whiteboard platform.
- Set clear goals and objectives.
- Prepare necessary materials and resources.
- Communicate guidelines to all team members.
- Assign clear roles to team members.
- Encourage participation and collaboration.
- Provide clear instructions.
- Adapt to unforeseen challenges.
- Get feedback from team members.
- Review the effectiveness of the activity.
- Use feedback and suggestions for future activities.
- Celebrate successes and recognize contributions.
Introduction
Virtual team building and socializing are vital for distant team members to create healthy team dynamics. Luckily, online whiteboards are here ease these activities virtually.
In this post, we’ll be summarizing the best practices for using online whiteboards to simplify virtual team building and socializing in three main phases. These practices empower team leaders to build worthwhile online sessions with their team members and achieve their organization’s goals as fast as possible.
Best Online Whiteboard Practices for Virtual Teams
Below, we’re going to discuss some of the best practices to make your virtual whiteboard sessions engaging and effective. For easier understanding, we divided these practices into three main phases:
Phase A — Preparation and Planning
Preparation and planning are necessary to use online whiteboards successfully and simplify virtual team building and socializing. The following practices can help ensure that the activity runs smoothly:
1. Choose the Right Online Whiteboard
Choosing the right online whiteboard platform is integrally paramount. The platform you choose should be user-friendly and compatible with the devices and software your team members use. It should offer all the features and specifications you need for your project purposes. It should offer all the features and specifications you need for your project purposes, such as HuddleIQ.
2. Set Clear Goals
Setting clear goals and objectives for the virtual team building or socializing activity is crucial. The team leader should define what they want to achieve through the activity, such as improving communication, building trust, or enhancing creativity.
3. Prepare the Necessary Materials
Preparing the necessary materials and resources is vital too. The team leader should assure that all required documents, images, and links are available on the whiteboard. This includes any templates or tools that may be demanded during the activity.
4. Communicate the Guidelines
It’s also necessary to communicate the guidelines to all team members. The team leader should send an email or message explaining the activity’s purpose, expectations, and guidelines. Their message can include the timeline, etiquette, and participation requirements.
Phase B — Facilitation and Execution
In phase B, facilitation and execution are known as two important aspects of using online whiteboards to successfully implement virtual team building and socializing.
1. Assign Clear Roles to Team Members
If you need to make sure your activity is running smoothly, you have to assign clear roles and responsibilities to the team members. Facilitator, timekeeper, and note-taker are examples of the roles you can assign to members. This is to ensure that everyone understands their responsibilities and can work collaboratively to achieve the desired outcome.
2. Encourage Participation and Collaboration
Encouraging participation and collaboration through active engagement techniques is also crucial. You can use different tactics to achieve this goal, including icebreakers, open-ended questions, and group brainstorming sessions.
Creating a culture that’s based on participation and collaboration can help team members share their thoughts and viewpoints with peace of mind. This eventually leads to a more powerful team dynamic.
3. Provide Clear Instructions
It’s also necessary to provide vivid instructions and guidelines throughout the activity. Team members should clearly understand what the system expects them to do, how to take advantage of the online whiteboard, and how to work with others.
To achieve this goal, you need to provide the team members with concise instructions and visual aids and answer all their questions patiently.
4. Adapt to Any Unpredicted Challenge
Adapting to any unforeseen challenges or technical difficulties is also critical. This can include troubleshooting technical issues or adjusting the activity if it’s not achieving the desired outcomes. The facilitator should be flexible and adaptable to ensure the task is handled smoothly and can achieve the objectives.
Phase C — Follow-up and Evaluation
Another critical step to simplifying virtual team building and socializing is to follow up and evaluate the plans with the help of online whiteboards. Here are the steps you can take in this phase:
1. Get Feedback from Team Members
Getting feedback from team members is a crucial step in understanding how effective the activity was and how it impacted team dynamics. You can use surveys, group discussions, and in-person meetings with team members to get the feedback you need.
2. Review the Effectiveness of the Activity
It’s also important to see if your virtual team building or socializing activity is effective. You can review your task goals and see if they’ve been achieved satisfactorily. This helps you specify any areas for modifications needed for future activities.
3. Use the Feedback and Suggestions
Using any feedback or suggestions for future activities is a terrific practice to enhance the effectiveness of virtual team-building and socializing activities. Ensure that the feedback is thoroughly analyzed, and any suggestions are carefully considered when planning future events.
4. Celebrate Successes
Celebrating successes and recognizing contributions from team members is a wonderful way to encourage participation and engagement in virtual team building and socializing activities. Recognizing and celebrating the team’s accomplishments can build morale and a sense of teamwork, leading to more successful outcomes in the future.
Final Words
An online whiteboard is undoubtedly an effective tool for virtual team building and socializing. The practices mentioned in this article enable teams to build stronger communication and collaboration.
It’s time for team leaders to weave these practices into their virtual team building and socializing activities to create a more industrious and constructive team. Strong virtual teams are a must for success, and effective communication and collaboration are vital components of building those teams.