Welcome to Howspace

On 29th February, I got a call to join a collaboration of 33 global multi-skilled facilitators to help people experience what our new way of connecting will be like now and into the future.

On 30th March 2020, we launched the Virtual Collaboration Campus. A group of agile self-managing teams created this four-day event in under four weeks.

The numbers
33 Facilitators, 78 sessions, 370 participants, who between them purchased approx. 2,500 tickets and kept buying tickets until the morning of the fourth day as they could not get enough. We even had to create a Trust Ticket as some people attended sessions they had not pre-purchased (one of our challenges). We doubled our anticipated revenue.

We used synchronous, Zoom for the live meetings and asynchronous tools and Howspace for all the pre, during and post-collaboration and connection.

The event was an extraordinary experience for both creators and participants as we learned, experimented and created together.

This case study describes how we successfully converted a traditional face-to-face 2-day workshop into an immersive, digitally facilitated programme during a global pandemic.

The journey started in November 2019 and continues today. We are now up to Cohort 18 and going strong. Our client has no intention of reverting to a traditional face-to-face event.

You can read an article by our client, EnerMech, on Safety Agents Drive Change as the backdrop for the rest of this story on the Energise2 programme.

Key Findings

• Improved diversity, equity, and inclusion
• Hear from all participants either by voice or written
• Using a digital facilitation tool is a game-changer
• Safe Space for all
• Improved data capture and sharing
• Easier group-sharing session
• Enhanced sharing of organisational knowledge for the greater good
• Community building
• Facilitation is a shared process
• Participant co-created content
• Cost-effective for people, the planet and business

April 2020 - Conversation with my client

As you can imagine, in April 2020,  the programme stopped dead in its tracks. However, while creating the Virtual Event (called Virtual Collaborations), I realised there might well be a way to continue delivering the Safety Leadership programme around the globe, despite a pandemic.

So, I spent a weekend creating a digital version of the programme, focusing on recreating the experiential activities. When ready, I called my client and suggested I may have a way to continue the good work we started and, therefore, keep moving forward. Safety Culture and Leadership programmes are essential for safety-critical organisations (think Oil Rigs, Fast Rail, Airlines, Nuclear plants, etc.). And it is crucial to my client personally.

We met 'via zoom', and I demonstrated what was possible; my client loved it.

But, at this time, the client says, 'this (pandemic) will all come to an end soon, so let's see what happens as it might be hard to get the concept accepted by the other senior leaders.

I waited and continued my journey of creating and learning more about digital facilitation and all its possibilities. Today, I am a Howspace Certified Digital Transformation Agent.

September 2020 - Cohort 5 - first digitally facilitated programme

Wow, Wow, Wow, what a huge success. Cohort 5 participant feedback says it all. (Unedited beside spelling and confidentiality)

• It is better than being in a room.
• I hear other people's thoughts and ideas.
• Enthusiastic, engaging, and well-constructed course. Interesting to listen to the views of others at different levels of the organisation. Break Out rooms are very useful.
• I liked the online format - surprisingly, particularly the ability to mix internationally.
• The honest and open conversations with my colleagues from around the globe
• Energise software (howspace) is impressive and encourages further training.

I was so nervous, as you can imagine. A lot is riding on the success of this first digital programme as the possible way forward to deliver around the globe. The only vital considerations are time zone and connectivity from various locations at any one time.

You can read the full case study here

Virtual Leadership Programme for a major international bank

Internal QHSE Conference for a major for a leading drilling, engineering and technology company

Psychological Safety Webinar Series, an oil field services company

Psychological Safety for Leadership an oil field services company

Public Events

1. Virtual Collaborations Campus (March 2020)
2. Global Change Days (August 2020)
3. Changing Conversations for a Changing World event (September 2020)
4. Purolator - (February-March 2021) Internal Sales and Production Conferences