After 15 years of experience in the same entity, a job can still offer you new challenges. And Céline Fourquaux, who is in charge of digital missions in the training department of the Caisse Nationale d'Assurance Vieillesse (CNAV), in Saint-Denis (93), is not going to deny it. The CNAV is a public administrative institution and a branch of the social security system that manages the retirement and social action of 16 million pensioners and 20 million contributors. In March 2020, a digital training support centre was created. Supported by a team of 4 people, of which Céline is a member, this centre aims to provide assistance to CNAV's internal trainers. This includes monitoring to propose new ideas, searching for new tools that meet their needs, and designing e-learning modules.
Céline and her colleague Mélissa were given a mission: to organise and lead a workshop aimed at identifying useful collaborative tools within the CNAV's training department. This is not a new exercise for them, but an unprecedented parameter has upset their habits: distance, an inevitable consequence of the confinement caused by the health crisis. This gave rise to a major problem: how to create and run an interactive workshop bringing together staff from different departments, remotely?
Why choose Klaxoon?
Both of them have already heard of Klaxoon, as some of their training colleagues are using the Board as part of their individual coaching of managers. But what exactly is it? They discovered that the Klaxoon Board is a whiteboard or digital whiteboard whose unlimited communication surface allows all participants to express themselves in various ways: by text, image, drawing, video, sharing web links and all types of documents. Most importantly, the Board takes advantage of the full suite of Klaxoon applications, such as the Quiz and the Voting Question, to make the experience even more interactive.
These features are obviously perfectly suited to face-to-face meetings, but they also have the advantage of being fully effective, even remotely. Indeed, the Board integrates the video conferencing solutions Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, Skype and Webex.
All these characteristics lead Céline and Mélissa to realise that Klaxoon could be the solution adapted to solve their remote workshop problem.
How to prepare an ideation workshop?
Rely on the Klaxoon Template Library
Although they had never used Klaxoon, Céline and Mélissa asked one of their colleagues, a trainer and already a user, to help them get to grips with the tool. And in less than 30 minutes, they did just that!
They learned about the Klaxoon Templates library, which provides a hundred or so work methods in the form of free, ready-to-use templates. While browsing through the library, they discovered a method that they knew, since they frequently use it to facilitate face-to-face work groups. It is the World Café template, which enables collaborative ideation sessions to be conducted in sub-groups. They therefore decided to use this model to build their workshop.
Customise the content of the Board to your own needs
To meet their expectations as closely as possible, Céline and Mélissa made a few adjustments to the basic World Café model. For example, they use the SWOT matrix available in all Klaxoon Boards.
Their guiding principle can be summarised in three words: clear, simple and intuitive for the team. In this sense, they prepare their Board in a very structured way, where each stage of the workshop is clearly identifiable by all participants. Thus, the programme, the constitution of the working sub-groups, the spaces dedicated to the two ideation sequences and, of course, the access links to the different video-conference rooms, via Microsoft Teams, are all included.
To prepare this very first Klaxoon workshop, Céline and Mélissa spent the equivalent of half a day working: a time that they optimised by dividing up the tasks and by sometimes progressing independently of each other.
How to run an ideation workshop from a distance?
The workshop organised by Céline and Mélissa mobilises a team of 10 volunteer employees and takes place over 2.5 hours. The objective of the day is to take stock of the way in which the 6 collaborative tools listed in the department are used, and then to determine their advantages and disadvantages.
To begin the workshop remotely, all the participants join the Board using an access code and connect by videoconference via Microsoft Teams.
By way of introduction, Céline and Mélissa invite the participants to note their first name next to the emoji corresponding to their mood of the day. This activity, known as the ice breaker, allows the participants to find out their state of mind, so that the workshop can take place in the best possible conditions.
Then, Céline and Mélissa unveil the 2 sub-groups that they have previously formed and take on the role of facilitator for each sub-group. The ideation session around the 6 collaborative tools used at the CNAV can begin!
Each sub-group meets in its own Microsoft Teams video conference room to list all the ways in which CNAV employees use 3 of these tools. This first sequence is timed using the timer function. After 30 minutes of reflection in sub-groups, everyone meets in the common videoconference room to debrief. All the ideas are displayed on the Board: in blue, those put forward during the brainstorming and in red, those added during the debriefing.
Before launching the second ideation sequence, Céline and Mélissa give the group a 10-minute break to re-energise them.
The second ideation sequence is organised in the same way as the first. After having worked on the uses of 3 collaborative tools, the two sub-groups then look at their advantages and disadvantages. At the end of the brainstorming, 20 minutes are devoted to a debriefing with all the participants. Once again, the new ideas that emerge during the exchange are coloured in red.
To conclude the workshop, Céline and Mélissa detail on the Board the next steps, namely the programming of a new collaborative session. Then, in order to improve their next workshops, they ask for feedback from the participants. They then ask them using the Question tool, in the form of a multiple choice vote, a yes/no and a 1 to 5 star rating.
What are the advantages of a Klaxoon workshop?
A richer reflection
Compared to their usual work group facilitation practices, Céline and Mélissa have found that the Klaxoon Board allows them to gather a greater number of ideas, more quickly.
Optimised working time
First of all, the preparation of the Board beforehand allows 100% of the time to be devoted to the facilitation on the day.
With regard to the World Café working method itself, its remote version has the advantage of being faster. This is because participants can move from one discussion room to another at the click of a button. In a face-to-face setting, switching from one room to another wastes time during the workshop. Moreover, this method requires Céline and Mélissa to organise the logistics quite heavily, since it is necessary to anticipate the reservation of several rooms.
Finally, centralising the fruit of the reflection in place of the Board automatically gives a restitution of the subject treated. Once the workshop is over, there is no need to spend extra time reporting back to the other team members. Simply give them access to the Board or send them screenshots.
An interactive moment appreciated by all
Céline underlined that thanks to the Board, the participants were very active during the workshop: everyone was mobilised and appreciated the fact that they could express themselves fully. To collect their opinion on the session, she submitted three Questions to them, the results of which show their strong interest in the workshop. Indeed, even if it lasted 2h30, nobody saw the time passing, some would have even appreciated a longer duration.
A way to stimulate creativity
The feedback from Céline and Mélissa is very positive. The playful and intuitive aspects of Board make it an easy tool to learn. For them, the creation of the workshop awakened their creativity and was experienced as a pleasure.
Given the success of this workshop, they intend to repeat this format in future workshops. Céline is even thinking of creating her own library of templates for her fellow trainers.
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