How to build deeper connections with your network in a virtual world?

By Mikko Mannila & Javier Sevilla

I think that for some unknown reason, I've always enjoyed learning and challenging myself (Javier), so in March 2019 I decided to formally join an international network of practitioners of strategy and innovation: Strategy Tools. 

It was pre-pandemic, so you can imagine the picture and the new charts we were exploring and experimenting with to find what worked best in a remote collaboration environment.  

Looking back at this, I can't even believe it's only been 2 years, because we've met so many great minds and amazing people that it feels that it's been longer, however, even though the potential that this network represented, I felt that we were missing so many great opportunities to take advantage of this network, and suddenly, I was invited to lead one of the partners' sessions with just three days notice. 

I was excited but also worried about what topic I should cover (it was completely up to me to choose it). You can imagine the roller coaster in my mind, should I share a business case focusing on business transformation? What about Innovation or Strategy? Or just rumbling around and sharing what has happened in the last month? Suddenly, I thought that focusing on building deeper connections in a virtual network would be fun and might help us fostering deeper collaborations outside the established monthly calls.  

Equipped with a glass of wine and the clock ticking, inspiration knocked at the door and I came up with the "Remote Collaboration Canvas" to give a bit of structure (I must admit that I'm a visual person). In the next paragraphs, we share our experience during the session.  

Pandemic arrives: Here comes remote work 

(Mikko) I joined the network in 2018 and even was able to participate in the first Strategy Tools Master Trainer Program in Stavanger, Norway, in January 2019. I was excited to fly to Norway and join the unique group of truly international, like-minded participants. It was my last flight for a long time. 

Then comes Corona in mid-March 2020 and overnight we all are forced to work remotely. I was used to working remotely from a home office, but little did I know how difficult it came to make new, deeper connections. We got flooded with online events and somehow, I was feeling happy to at least see other people on screen. But clearly, something was different or missing. I start realizing how fortunate we were to sit down with a new connection or reconnect with somebody with a glass of wine or beer evenings after the event. That longing is, I believe, not disappearing, but we need to look for other ways to make deeper connections and look for opportunities to cooperate. 

So, I am sitting in front of my camera in Germany and Javier joins the online meeting in Mexico. I was a little surprised that Javier was moderating this session. I was curious.  

A bit structure can help 

Javier opens the session by saying that he would like to try something different from what we have done so far. Normally we share what we have experienced and learned. This time Javier invited us to join his Mural board and we could see that he had placed a map of the world to start with. The expectation was that we should stick a needle with a name tag where we live. Not this time.  

Javier pushed us a bit further and asked us to show and to tell visually on the Mural board where would we take a participant from another side of the world in this event when they come to visit us. What a great icebreaker this was and an interesting way to learn more about your new or existing connection. Immediately we started seeing interesting places in India, Malaysia, Colombia, Norway, the Netherlands, the United States, Mexico, Germany and it felt that each participant was joyfully and proudly sharing his favorite places to visit with a short story. 

Truly one of the best icebreakers I have ever experienced. This idea works even better in the remote, virtual world as everyone can quickly search for a nice photo or other visual element and share it on the Mural board. 

Now it was a good time to get more serious and start “working”. Javier then continues that he would like to send us to a one-on-one breakout session, and we could use his Remote Collaboration Canvas to have a quick, structured discussion about our field of interest and with whom in the StrategyTools network, we already have had a call or collaborated in some way.  

We touched on something that should be taken further. If we open our minds and knowledge to more collaboration, it can be a true win-win situation for the experts to build a strong team and together helping a customer to master their challenge and grow to the next level. 

Want to give it a try?

If you found this interesting, we encourage you to download the "Remote Collaboration Canvas". You can feel free to play with it, and suggestion you might have is welcomed, and you can let us know how it when if you tried with your network, We'd be happy to hear your stories as well as any feedback to make it better.

Closing words 

I really hope our experience can help you build better connections in your virtual networks, for me, it was an amazing unexpected surprise. This article is in fact, a collaboration with Mikko (a friend of the Strategy Tools network, who kindly contacted me to share the idea of co-writing an article). My last advice is that don't overthink it and try to put into practice some of the ideas that you think might work for your virtual network (if collaboration haven't really taken off, you don't have anything to lose)   

Maybe this could be the beginning of a new report, a collaboration in a Webinar, new remote Programs taking advantage of the expertise of one of the members, assistance during workshops, projects where you complement each other strengths and share the workload, or even an article (like this one). 

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About Mikko Mannila

Mikko is the founder and CEO of Stattys. Stattys provides you simple visual tools and methods for strategy and innovation workshops for people who want to communicate and collaborate for more success in business and in education. Mikko is proud of his Finnish origin and living happily close to the mountains in Allgäu region in the southern part of Germany.

On summer weekends you likely find him on a mountain bike or in his hiking boots on the nearby mountains. In winter he changes the gear and puts on his touring or slalom skis.

About Javier Sevilla

Javier Sevilla is the founder and director of Novarek. He’s been involved in consulting, tech and management, for almost 20 years in projects in the USA, Argentina, and Mexico in the private and public sectors. He collaborates with management teams to promote the growth of their organizations, repositioning their current business while creating their future growth engine in parallel.

Additionally, he promotes the transformation of innovation clusters and entrepreneurship.

Engineer, wine enthusiast, salsa lover, and entrepreneur. Always eager to question, help, and learn.