Virtual World Adaptation

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Issue

in 2021, with COVID-induced changes to work locations and practices becoming a “new normal”, a large Pacific Northwest public sector agency engaged Onit Management Consulting to assist their Project and Program Delivery (PPD) capital projects department in adapting to a remote and hybrid work environment.

Strategy

Onit worked with PPD managers and supervisors to collect their requirements for the project, and identified a set of core themes including Collaboration, Communications, Self-Care, Teamwork, and Facilitation and Meeting Management.

PPD managers and supervisors highlighted the need for their teams to improve their expertise with collaboration technologies such as Microsoft Teams, SharePoint, and the Microsoft 365 stack, as well as to develop new communications skills and techniques.

Onit developed an approach including Organizational Change Management (OCM) initiatives aligned with Prosci’s ADKARmethodology, as well as formal and informal training.

Crafting a Solution

Onit created a Teams hub to anchor project communications, and a schedule of activities with a new theme featured each month.

For each theme Onit created tailored “roundtable” type activities designed to open upconversation about best practices while also exposing participants to different aspects of their collaboration technology, such as online whiteboards, online meeting breakout rooms, inmeeting flash polls, different presentation and facilitation techniques, and more.

Onit also created activities for monthly all-hands and manager/supervisor meetings, hosted technology awareness sessions focused on different aspects of the Microsoft 365 suite, and hosted drop-in “Office Hours” for PPD staff to get one-on-one assistance with virtual world dilemmas.

To reinforce the messages for each month’s theme Onit produced a monthly newsletter including a calendar of activities for the following month andposted a regular cadence of themed articles and videos to the Virtual World Teams hub.

The final step (for completion in Dec 2022), is for Onit to collectthe content developed during the sessions, including contributions from PPD participants and external guests, and repackage them into a series of interactive eLearning and “micro-learning” modules. This will ensure WTD has a library of lively and engaging on-demand materials marrying technical expertise with interpersonal skill-building, helping current and future WTD staff get the most from their remote and hybrid workplaces.

Results

With the first six months of activities demonstrably helping PPD staff build their confidence and proficiency operating in a remote and hybrid environment, the PPD Director requested that Onit extend its engagement.

Onit’s PPD Virtual World activities are scheduled to run until the end of 2022.