Emerging Leaders Program – Leading the way by adapting to challenging environments

Samantha Murfett, program participant of ELP.

In a COVID19 world, we’ve had to adapt the Emerging Leaders program to an online format which has brought another level of complexity to the program.

My syndicate group organised the first online facilitated ELP syndicate lead session of 2020 which was held last Friday. Of course, we had concerns, the main question we had before planning the session was; will the program be beneficial if we are not seeing each other face to face?

Normally we would use email to plan out the session, however, as were going to be using video conferencing during the session we decided to use it to plan out the session beforehand as well. 

What we didn’t realise at the time was how beneficial these catch ups would be. Video conferencing enhances the feelings of connectedness and seeing the faces of your colleagues is a welcome sight in these times of self-isolation.  We came to build a strong bond, working collectively to achieve our goal.

We had the task of keeping participants engaged and to ensure they got the most out of the session. A concern we had was people can be lost in the myriad of faces on the screen. We reduced the likelihood of this by organising break out rooms, where we could split the 25 of us into smaller groups throughout the day, allowing for an easier flow of conversation. It worked well and the smaller groups allowed people to be heard and made it easier to contribute.

The last month has taught me a lot about resilience. Through each of the obstacles we faced, as a team we overcome them. What I’ve learnt is whilst nothing can replace face to face interactions, considering the current climate we have no choice but to make the best of the situation. To be adaptive, to change and be conscious of our interactions with one another. If you have the opportunity to video conference work colleagues than simply phone, take the time to do so, now more than ever it is important to stay connected.

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