Training Industry Magazine - Winter 2023 - 48

that is framed for physical work, virtual
work requires greater transparency,
openness and continuous learning to be
engaging, which can seem daunting and
unnecessary to some. But we've learned
that people need to create intentionally
safe and courageous spaces for their
communities to have conversations that
matter and that form true connections,
based on trust. We also have to allow for
those connections to develop in ways
we've not experienced before.
Employees who were once besieged by
unexpected and sometimes unwelcome
" drop-ins " to their cubicles or offices,
now have the luxury of deciding when
and where to engage with others. Those
who adapted well to virtual space have
been able to create community, often
without ever having met in a shared
physical space. Essentially, by using
skills
that haven't been encouraged
when in person they found other,
sometimes deeper, connections.
This is where conversational leadership
becomes more impactful. Regardless
of whether we're physically in the same
space or not, one primary objective is to
make certain that we are in conversation
with each other - and that those
conversations have the potential to matter.
Rethinking
virtual
employee
engagement might require rethinking
your conversational skills: How many
conversations are " open " for you right
now? Are you aware of the flow within
each conversation? What options
do you have to respond to the prior
comment? How much time do you need
to feel, think, process and integrate
what is happening in real-time? How
do you expand your conversational
options? What bias are you bringing
into the conversation? Are you clear
with your own intent? What impact is
this conversation likely to have in the
broader discourse?
As spoken and written language are the
primary resources in the virtual world,
with limited access to body language,
it becomes imperative to be skilled in
deep listening. This means listening to
what is being said as well as what is not
being said. It also includes understanding
our own reactions, questioning our
assumptions and the ability to be
| 48
effective in inquiry. This is inclusive of
all conversations, whether the content is
about sports or weather, or the content
is about deep personal or organizational
challenges. Are you listening for intent
and impact? Are you checking to see
your own intent and impact? Is that within
your conversational awareness and
range? How could you practice it further?
These are the inquiries that intend to lead
toward virtual employee engagement
through virtual conversational leadership.
Infrastructure for how we work is
changing and that's potentially healthy
for all of us. We are building different
pathways
to
conversation
and
that
doesn't mean that we need to chuck
our previous methods aside. We simply
need to explore what is fit-for-purpose
for our organizational communities.
Maybe it's time we ask each other.
It's easy to put most of our conversations
on autopilot. As we bounce from meeting
to meeting, virtually or in person, it can
feel as though there's " never enough
time, " or " never the right moment " to
have the conversations we need to have.
A virtual environment, because it is new,
presents an opportunity
to
interrupt
those patterns, because they're not yet
so deeply ingrained.
If the conversation is rich enough,
commitment, enthusiasm and involvement
are created and maintained in many ways.
Skilled, interactive conversations that
are rich with conversational awareness
and range provide a noteworthy
opportunity to not only engage everyone
but
also
to
continuously
virtual engagement.
Saule Menane is a senior manager at
Capgemini
delivering
organizational
effectiveness, organization development,
diversity equity inclusion, and coaching.
Donita Volkwijn is senior director of
member engagement at Philanthropy
New York, delivering diversity equity
inclusion and knowledge management.
John Hovell is a co-founder of
STRATactical International, where clients
have offered feedback to the effect of
" this is the first time we've experienced
the positive transformational change
that everyone seems to need right now. "
Email the authors.
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Training Industry Magazine - Winter 2023

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