Telecommuting is the new normal. But remote teams still need synergy, connections and a dedicated approach. Learn how to boost your connectivity skills to nurture strong relationships and support your team from afar with these new live online courses from UCOP’s Learning and Development team.

Inclusive Relationships and Managing Conflict

May 21 from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Taught by popular instructor Raj Kapur, this live online workshop explores techniques to practice a mindset that positions you to make important investments, as well as how to navigate the natural and challenging conflicts that can develop with colleagues. You will learn practical tools for preventing and addressing conflict, in person and virtually, as you strive to continue making positive impacts with confidence and composure. Register now.

Live online course: Remarkable Remote Meetings

June 5, 9:30 a.m. to 12 p.m.

Conducting effective meetings is an art and a science, requiring both people and organizational skills. Today’s remote meetings face additional challenges due to the heightened level of uncertainty we are currently experiencing, as well as the absence of the in-person interactions that typically build rapport, trust, empathy and inclusion. This online live workshop explores a variety of concepts, tools and techniques designed to equip meeting facilitators and participants with the skills they need to make remote meetings highly effective. Topics include:

• Creating rapport, engaging people and fostering creativity
• Managing different personality types so no one is left behind
• Skillfully administering tools and technologies
• Using agile and design-thinking methodologies to increase creativity and innovation

While the meeting itself remains the main focus, this workshop emphasizes that the meeting is part of a larger effort — what happens before and after are equally important. Register now. 

Remarkable Remote Team

June 11 from 9:30 a.m. to 12 p.m.

Pandemic or not, working remotely as a team has significant challenges — from lack of clear communication to difficulty managing competing team priorities and projects, sharing information and using multiple technologies, as well as building psychological safety and keeping team spirit high. This interactive live workshop is designed to help teams overcome traditional and new challenges, leveraging the latest research in mindfulness and emotional intelligence along with the latest technologies, tools and collaboration practices to maximize performance. This workshop is designed to help teams make breakthroughs by fostering compassion, connection, collaboration and creativity, coupled with innovative methodologies and tools for achieving long-term goals. Register now.

On-demand resources from LinkedIn Learning

Sign up for your free UCOP LinkedIn Learning account to access these great resources.

Deepening relationships with remote team members

It’s pretty much universally accepted wisdom that a strong team is more likely to be a high-performing team. And, every meeting is an opportunity to build connections between team members. This video shares how to maximize your impact. Helpful tips:

• Create and keep regularly scheduled team and one-on-one meetings — even if just to say hi
• Devote the first few minutes of meetings to share non-work-related updates
• During one-on-one meetings, take time to check in personally
• Encourage team members to use video functionality, rather than only the audio feature of Zoom

Building culture in your remote team

Building culture in an office usually consists of doing things like dressing up for holiday parties, attending happy hours or trivia nights, office pizza parties, going out for coffee or taking a teammate out for lunch. You can do each of these things on a remote team! While there may not be an actual water cooler to hang out at, there are plenty of great ways for you to design and build culture when working remotely.

• Provide ongoing access and updates on projects
• Show your own vulnerabilities and share your challenges
• Plan video get-togethers
• Build in time to share personal updates — such as books people are reading or shows you’re watching — as casual conversations often don’t happen virtually

Building trust in virtual teams

Trust is harder to build and maintain when we’re farther apart. Try these strategies with your virtual team to watch trust grow — along with team performance.

Helpful tips:

• Make time for small talk in meetings
• Connect people
• Encourage people to unmute during meetings to allow for spontaneous laughter and responses
• Clarify expectations
• Rotate meeting leaders
• Be reliable and prompt — treat virtual meetings like you would in-person get-togethers

Check out more professional development opportunities on the Classes and Workshops page!

About

View all post by