—
                         Teams ways of working: 
                         considerations
           If you have one or more team members working remotely, you can embrace virtual ways of working as a team to stay connected. Ideally this would 
           be collectively agreed upon so they are inclusive for everyone. This helps define behavioural norms within the team to maintain healthy dynamics. 
           When tension arises, the team should be able to handle it in a constructive way. This is the team’s dhumbali (pronounced “dum-bhal”) – promise or 
           commitment to one another. 
           Microsoft Teams is designed for virtual teamwork, so this might be your starting point. Specific considerations arise when planning a virtual meeting. 
           Successful sessions require intentional planning, choice of tools, and clear communication. 
           Eleme          Consideration                                                                       Tip
           nt
           When           Team members working remotely may have a different schedule to when                 In Microsoft Teams you take a poll to gather feedback quickly by clicking the ellipsis in a channel and 
                          they are working in the office. Try to agree as a team on the best time to          clicking Forms.
                          meet and allow sufficient time for discussion.
           Where          Consider what technology might best suit your team’s needs and make sure            Whilst you can use Skype, this doesn’t work well for larger groups. Microsoft Teams is set up best 
                          everyone can connect on the same tool. Trial video meetings, as it can be           for virtual team work to hold meetings, collaboratively contribute to notes or work on other 
                          helpful to see people’s faces and reactions. This helps create connection and       documents together. Its emoji and GIF features can encourage more social interaction, and you can 
                          synergy among the group. However, this may not always be possible, e.g.             Praise one another to foster recognition. 
                          due to poor internet connection. 
                                                                                                              However, for equitable participation everyone needs to have:
                          If there are physical attendees, try to book a room that has a casual open          •   Teams set up and working
                          environment, offsite or outdoors rather than a meeting room with a table in         •   Adequate bandwidth (particularly for video in calls), and
                          the middle as this creates a physical barrier.                                      •   Knowledge of how to use it
                                                                                                              Check the O365 Information Hub for information on Teams or attend a Teams 101 training session.
                        —
                        Considerations (continued)
            Eleme         Consideration                                                                  Tip
            nt
            Review        •   What's working well in your current meetings that you could adapt?         Design the session so that it enables equitable participation:
                          •   Is this the first time you are running a session with remote participants? •    If some members dial in, make sure everyone is included in the discussion.
                          •   Is everyone working remotely or only some team members?                    •    You might send materials in advance or assign remote participants a buddy to help include 
                          •   What obstacles might you face?                                                  them in the conversation. 
                          •   How will people know when it's their “turn”?                               •    Make sure everyone can see documents or ideas being discussed.
                                                                                                         The whole team dialling in could encourage more equitable participation as everyone is interacting 
                                                                                                         in the same way. However, this may be new to people. You could try a warm-up exercise from the 
                                                                                                         Toolkit to practice “handing the floor” from one person to the next.
            Think of      What do you want to achieve? Is it feasible given where the team is at?        If your team is working remotely, try to collectively agree on how and when you will check in and 
            What          Write some questions to surface what matters most considering these            manage work. For example:
            Matters       elements:                                                                      •    Add Microsoft Planner to Teams so the team can see the progress of work. You can add due 
                                                                                                              dates, assign tasks, add labels and organise them in ‘buckets’
                          •   Functional (how often you meet, processes, work tools, work hours)         •    Try a virtual Stand Up meeting to share a highlight from yesterday, what you have planned 
                          •   Personal (feedback preferences, communication styles, supporting open           today, and anything you need help with (see the Toolkit)
                              dialogue)                                                                  •    Make sure you have a way for team members to problem solve issues they encounter – you 
                          •   Inspirational (shared values, purpose, individual and team                      might have a specific meeting for this once a week
                              development goals)                                                         •    Try to “work out loud” on the technology your team is using by reacting to people’s comments 
                                                                                                              and contributing to conversations
                                                                                                         •    Consider setting up a group chat or channel for social discussions, so you are not just 
                                                                                                              connecting about tasks. Relationships matter. You could also try something like Quiz Breaker to 
                                                                                                              get to know one another better.
            —
            Ways of working: session 
            plan
      The goal is to get memorable and actionable ways of working. Set a follow-up to address how they are working and if they should be 
      revised. If this is new, you will need to take care in introducing the process and its purpose to the team.
       Element             Tip                            Plan
       Set up              Introduce it as something you think could have 
                           value for the team that you’d like to try. To get 
                           people on board, you can frame it as a prototype, 
                           or a proposal to try and then revisit. 
       Intro               Since your team will need to share openly about 
                           their preferences, consider a warm-up activity 
                           that encourages people to share, builds rapport 
                           and creates an open and inclusive environment. 
                           For instance, you could use the Indigenous Word 
                           activity with dhumbali – promise or commitment 
                           or noogal - belong.
       Session             Everyone should agree (with all voices heard). 
                           Provide space to:
                           • Surface and discuss what matters.
                           • Collectively propose and agree on the team’s 
                           ways of working.
                           • Create a visual artefact of the ways of working.
                           Consider functional, personal, and inspirational 
                           elements
       Follow up           For your ways of working to be relevant and 
                           useful, you need them to be visible in your space 
                           (physical or virtual). In moments of tension, ask 
                           yourself and your team whether they are being 
                           upheld. Remember, this is a first draft and you 
                           should revisit them to see how they are working.
                                                                           See the Guiding Collaborative Teams Toolkit for tools to build connection and belonging.
     —
     Team ways of 
     working
       Outcome                             For your team to fill out together
       Goal
       What are we trying to achieve?
       e.g. Cultivating belonging whilst working remotely
       Actions                                          .
       How do we want to work together to 
       achieve the goal? Think about functional, 
       personal and inspirational elements. 
       e.g. Functional – connect daily in a Teams 
       meeting
       Personal – where possible, we will do video calls
       Inspirational – we will focus on the value of 
       Inclusion
       What ifs?
       What if we don’t do what we promised? 
       What contingency plans will you have?
       e.g. If a team member couldn’t dial in one day to 
       the meeting due to a personal matter, someone 
       from the team volunteers to update them
       Review
       How will you know they're working?
       When will you review the Ways of Working? 
       e.g. We will see engagement in Team channels 
       and will review our ways of working in a months' 
       time
                  —
                  Session 
                                                                              Rate the session:     1               2                3                4                5
                  review                                                                          It flopped                                                                                                                   It went great!
         Questions                                                                                 Response
         When did you deviate 
         from your plan and 
         why?
         What surprised you?
         When were you most                                                        What would you like to keep?
         comfortable? Why?
         When were you most                                                        What would you like to change?
         uncomfortable? Why?
         Were there any matters                                                    What can you do to follow up or further explore those you struggled over?
         your team had a 
         particularly hard time 
         agreeing to? Why?