More on my blog: http://sense-making.org/bonniecheuk There is a difference between having remote working technologies, having remote workers and having a remote work culture that focusses on employees experience. COVID-19 has sparked a rapid shift in workplace dynamics and companies are learning and unlearning how to be remotely human. The answer goes beyond the provision of new technologies and the temptation to quickly move existing communication, learning and collaboration activities online. Going digital gives us the opportunity to reimagine what being human means at work. Work is collaborative in nature. Trust and relationship is critical to build resilience, to fail fast and to learn fast. By empowering our team to work/learn/innovate remotely with human touch, we can sit round a “virtual” table, have meaningful conversations, allow time for self/team reflection and create moments of serendipity and bumping into one another as if we are in the physical space. This change invites employees at all levels to unlearn collaboration habits, and implement practices that recapture camaraderie to drive performance improvement.   In this session, Dr Bonnie Cheuk, discussed the challenges and opportunities, and stimulate the audience to reflect on these topics: 1. Are we user-centric or employee-centric when using remote working tools? 2. How do employees use 6Hs – head, heart, hands, habits, hegemony, habitus - to make sense of the world and relate with one another? 3. What makes a remote working session useful for everyone involved? How can we build micro-structures to give voice everyone and to address power issue? 4. How can we build continuous learning, unlearning, adapting and changing in the online conversation? 5. What are simple digital tools and remote working techniques that any leaders, managers, employees can take advantage of to fuel a connected culture? Find out more: http://sense-making.org/bonniecheuk

1. Be Remotely Human: Maintaining a human touch in a
remote-working environment
Dr Bonnie Cheuk, Business & Digital Transformation Leader
Co-Founder of Sense-Making Methodology Institute Company Restricted

2. DIGITAL
TRANSFORMATION
HUMAN TOUCH
PhD Info Seeking and Use behavior
Co-founder, Sense-Making Methodology Institute
Author, Social strategy in action: driving digital
transformation
Connect, Communicate, Collaborate, Innovation,
Knowledge Management, Enterprise2.0,
Marketing & Comms, Customer Experience
[Pharma, Banking, Consulting, Government]
/bonniecheukHello… My name is Bonnie Cheuk

3. In the next 30 min, we will uncover
3
1. Today: How do you feel about working
as a team in the virtual world?
2. Pathfinder: What might be some better
ways to be “Remotely Human”?
3. Tomorrow: Fill your shopping cart with
ways of working you really want!
#BeRemotelyHuman
http://sense-making.org/bonniecheuk/
Please take a piece
of paper and a pen.

4. Go back in time
Q1: How do you feel about the effectiveness of working remotely as a team?
4
Mar Jun Oct
1
Not very
Effective
5
Highly
effective

5. Q2. What have been most helpful and unhelpful, when you
collaborate as a team virtually?
5
(+)
Top 3
(-)
Top 3

6. Three phases of working remotely as a team
6
Tools(Basic)
What
tools to
use?
Tools(Advanced)
What
advanced
features
to use?
Teameffectiveness
Be
Remotely
Human:
Are we
effective?
“Just turned up the volume on how often your team use their existing meeting and
collaboration tools is not enough to work better together in a distributed way.”

7. How does work get done today?
7

8. New Ways of Working in a Virtual World
8
It is physical
distancing
NOT
social distancing
Working as a
team virtually
requires us to be
Remotely
Human

9. Being Human: We experience the world around us
9
Sense-Making Methodology Institute http://www.sense-making.org

10. Sense-Making Methodology Institute http://www.sense-making.org

11. Sense-Making Methodology Institute http://www.sense-making.org

12. Situation
• Assumptions
• Past experience
Gaps
• Questions
• Muddles
• Confusion
Help build the bridge
• Facts, data, ideas
• Beliefs, values, attitude
• Feeling, emotions, stories
Sources that may help
• Channels
• People
Outcomes
Context /
constraints
Sense-Making Methodology Institute http://www.sense-making.org

13. Be Remotely Human
13
“There's a loss of hallway chatter, camaraderie, and
serendipitous experiences with other colleagues.
Everyone is much less visible, and it takes a toll on
collaboration because it's just harder to connect with co-
workers, even with all the digital tools in hand.”
- Dion Hinchcliffe

14. 14
Sense-Making Methodology Institute http://www.sense-making.org
Q1: What do I want to achieve?Q2: What situation am I facing?
What led up to this point?
Q3: What challenges,
questions, muddles do I
have? How do I feel?
Q4: What is helping?
What is not helping?
Q7. What can help me to
move forward?
Q8. How does that
connect with me, my
team, my function?
Q6. If I have a magic
wand, I would like….
Q5. Are there forces that
constraint me (e.g. can I
speak up)?
….
In groups of 4, share how you see the situation, guided by these questions.
Take turns to share your experience, 2 mins max per person. Do not interrupt the speaker until 2 mins is up.
Being Human: Dialogue Guide (Source: AstraZeneca COVID-19 Leader Toolkit)

15. 3 scenarios
15
1. Face-to-face project check in meeting: Information
Sharing
2. Problem solving meetings: Brainstorm and Ideation
3. Work = back-to-back meetings?

16. Scenario 1: Face-to-face check in meetings
16
In a F2F meeting, you have
agenda, objectives, outcomes,
roles and decisions made. You
bring out issues and risks.
A lot of content is presented.
It is efficient, but not necessarily
with human touch.
Human beings are very adaptive.
We get used to it.

17. Scenario 2: Problem Solving meetings
17
In a F2F problem solving meeting,
you gather in groups. You explore the
problem, agree, disagree, brainstorm,
share your diverse views.
You use post-it, write in flipcharts, you
cross things out, you vote and finally
agree on a way forward.
You connect and build on one
another’s input. You relate with one
another.

18. Scenario 2: Problem Solving meetings
18
AND… we run out of time
• Meeting that goes on for too long
• Timekeeping is missing
• Some people dominate
• No time for everyone
• Talk over one another
• Not everyone has a voice
• No conclusion
• Sorry, I need to drop off

19. Scenario 3: We carry out a variety of tasks at work
19
In the office environment, how do you
get work done?
Sometimes you have a team meeting.
At other times, you walk over to your
colleague’s desk to ask a question.
You go to the coffee machine to have
a break. You organise an external
lunch meeting.
And… you set aside time to think,
analyse data, create work.

20. Be Remotely Human: Physical distancing NOT social distancing
20
You can take back control, take care of yourself and one another.

21. Option 1. Do you need another team meeting?
21
1. The matter requires input from other team
members
2. I am looking for an exchange of ideas
between team members
3. I need help brainstorming about a project
4. I have a clear meeting goal/agenda, and the
participants have enough time to prepare for
the meeting
5. I need to set up a 60-min meeting, I am asking
for feedback on a piece of deliverables
6. I need to set up a meeting to share updates
Which item(s) do you think do NOT need another team meeting?

22. How can you organise team work (virtually)
22
Office 365 capabilities
✓Real-time Doc
Collaboration
✓MS Team: sharing real
time updates
✓MS Forms: get
input/feedback
✓OneNote: Team minutes
✓MS Team planner:
organise tasks
✓Power BI, etc.
Familiar digital tools
✓Emails
✓MS Team calls
✓Documents in MS Team

23. Option 2. Challenge the Meeting Status Quo
23
Time Activities
9am Meeting
10am Meeting
11am Meeting
12pm Meeting
1pm Meeting
2pm Meeting
3pm Meeting
4pm Meeting
5pm Meeting
6pm Meeting
Time Activities
9am Meeting
10am Review deliverables
11am Post an update
12pm Create report, ppt
1pm Lunch
2pm 1:1 walking phone call
3pm [blank] *Time to take care of yourself and others
4pm Meeting
5pm Check updates, webinar
6pm 5-min reflection time

24. 24
Option 3. Meeting Roles
Introduce meeting roles that enable inclusion; encourage diversity of
thoughts and aid effective (virtual) meetings​.

25. Option 4. Have Great Online Meetings
25
•Arriving form
•Arrived
•Be honest
Start
•Seek info
•Discuss
•Reflect
•Sensemaking
•Meeting roles
Middle •Conclusion
•GoodbyeEnd
Credit: Victoria Ward for her inspiration on this topic

26. 26
Arriving from
Your “stage”
What can you see / hear
from where you are?
How are you feeling:
colour? weather?
Arrived
Welcome… Meeting
starting now
Agenda, Roles,
Protocols
(chat, raise hand,
recording)
Be Honest
Personal requests
(don’t assume others
know)
Exceptional
circumstances (ask for
understanding)
Start
1-min self-reflection:
One thing you think you MUST do at the beginning of virtual meetings

27. 27
Seek Input
1-min self reflection
Timebox: Online Chat
1-2-4-ALL
Sense Making
Minimise info provision
(5 min)
Use Sense Making
Questions (8 min)
Make time for sharing
ideas (5 min)
Power of
Sharing
Leaders/SMEs give
explicit permission to
speak up
What do you agree and
disagree with (5 min of
dissent)
ESMO, Meeting roles,
Waterfall chat
Middle

28. • What happened? Tell me a time when you….
• What led you to this conclusion?
• Any questions, muddles?
• Any ideas, suggestions?
• How do you feel?
• What help?
• What hinder?
• Any power issue? Anything remain unsaid?
• How does this topic connect with you, your
function?
• If you have a magic wand, what would you
wish for?
Useful Questions to Give Voice to Everyone
Sense-Making Methodology Institute http://www.sense-making.org

29. Waterfall chat in action
Share your top 3
recommendations to be
remotely human

30. 30
Shorter
Meeting
Give 5 min back
Say proper goodbye
Do not “drop” from the
meeting – it’s painful
Good closure
Clear next steps and
actions (doc location)
People who miss the
meeting can catch up
(Be transparent)
Asynchronous comms
between meetings
Reflect
What have I/we
learned?
What can be done
differently?
Give thanks and
recognition
End

31. 31
Option 5: Learning out Loud Circles

32. 32
Option 6: Pause-and-Reflect:
What have you learned in the past 4 weeks?

33. 33
Option 7: Meet me at the Watercooler

34. Check out Time
34
1. Are you user-centric or employee-centric
when using remote working tools?
2. Do you use 6Hs – head, heart, hands,
habits, hegemony, habitus - to relate with
one another?
3. In remote working sessions, do you build
in micro-structures to give voice to
everyone? to allow collective sense
making?
4. Are you making use of digital tools in the
best way to avoid back-to-back meetings?

35. Check out Time
35
• Fill your shopping cart with (virtual) ways
of working you really want for your team
• Write down 3 things you like to put into
action – put them in the shopping cart!

36. We can all be remotely human…
36 It’s Physical Distancing NOT Social Distancing

37. 37

38. 38
COVID-19 Leadership Toolkit 2020 on Degreed
Virtual collaboration
1 Slow Down to Speed Up - Take the time
to set expectations, to focus, to create
processes on how the team will interact,
and to put the appropriate tools in place.
Review by asking: Do we need some
new agreements or to adjust some
existing ones? Use the collaboration
contract
2 Respect time zone difference: Rotate
the role of early riser on a weekly or
monthly basis
3 Put extra time and extra planning effort
to host virtual meetings, ensure
everyone has a voice, promote
mental/emotional connection with one
another. Create psychological safety by
building trust and encourage team
members to speak up
With the need to work as virtual teams, we need to take extra care to treat one another as human
beings with emotions and feelings, and to respect and celebrate diversity of thoughts/preference.
Top tips:
4 Maximise opportunity to express nonverbal cues:
turn on video, explicitly check-in on the sentiment
of the participants. Communication is key
5 Make people feel like they are physically
together: invite people to share where they are,
what do they see outside the window. Talking
about physical spaces create “togetherness”
6 Choose from a range of collaboration
Technologies to keep the virtual team connected.
Consider both live and asynchronous
collaboration tools. E.g. keep a chat room open
for team members to hang out anytime
7 Make feedback more frequent and less formal.
Set expectation with the team that it is something
you all deliberately practice. Consider meetings
with a celebration section on both work and
personal milestone. Workplace can be a great
place share successes
Key resources:
7 habits to virtual collaboration –
Workplace post
Peer-to-peer coaching and feedback
training video
Collaboration contract
Stakeholder mapping
Meeting design
Further resources:
How to run a great virtual meeting
How to be a virtual meeting hero
Alternative way to approach and
design how people work together

39. 39
Credit to Dr Brenda Dervin for her
ongoing inspiration and guidance
@bonniecheuk/bonniecheuk http://www.sense-making.org
Thank you. Let’s learn together!
http://www.sense-making.org/bonniecheuk

40. Confidentiality Notice
This file is private and may contain confidential and proprietary information. If you have received this file in error, please notify us and remove
it from your system and note that you must not copy, distribute or take any action in reliance on it. Any unauthorized use or disclosure of the
contents of this file is not permitted and may be unlawful. AstraZeneca PLC, 1 Francis Crick Avenue, Cambridge Biomedical Campus,
Cambridge, CB2 0AA, UK, T: +44(0)203 749 5000, www.astrazeneca.com
40
Confidentiality Notice
This file is private and may contain confidential and proprietary information. If you have received this file in error, please notify us and remove
it from your system and note that you must not copy, distribute or take any action in reliance on it. Any unauthorized use or disclosure of the
contents of this file is not permitted and may be unlawful. AstraZeneca PLC, 1 Francis Crick Avenue, Cambridge Biomedical Campus,
Cambridge, CB2 0AA, UK, T: +44(0)203 749 5000, www.astrazeneca.com
10