Real Ideas Organisation

Virtual team meetings - the way forward

Introducing a new employee into our dynamic team can be a complex process, mainly because there are quite a few of us and we are so geographically spread across the region. For some, the idea of working with people that you hardly ever see can be quite daunting, but at RIO we've been a bit inventive and made it work.

Establishing our virtual team has happened gradually over time. We make sure we meet up face to face at least every couple of months and as a full team at our away days; an opportunity to discuss and develop the work we are doing across the country.

Recently we've started to embrace the use of technology to make our team communications even better. We’ve had Skype within RIO now for about six months now. Some people have taken to it like a duck to water and others are still learning the ropes but we're all communicating better and more frequently - essential to keep RIO ticking over properly.

Skype’s a completely different concept to get your head around if you’ve never used any kind of instant chat or VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) service before. It still perplexes me that you can have a video conversation with someone in Australia; while you’re in your pyjamas drinking tea at 8am, they’re swigging a beer in 30 degree heat.

I saw the real benefit of Skype within our ever growing virtual team recently, for the first time. Across RIO, we have a group of child safeguarding officers, all based in different areas of the region ensuring that the young people we work with are protected and safe at all times. Although we meet and train regularly, it can be difficult to find a good time to get everyone in the same place, not to mention expensive on the pocket and environment. So instead we opted for a skype group meeting.

Having a conversation with someone you can’t see feels fine, although with seven of you in the conversation together it can sometimes get a bit confusing, but practice makes perfect. The good news is it saved money and petrol on train tickets and took 15 minutes as opposed to three hours with travelling time tacked on. So that's it. I'm now a Skype convert. Plus how else can you send a little dancing man to your colleague in Plymouth?!  

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