Starting a Job in Times of Crisis, Part 2

Part 2: The Digital Upgrade

An experience report written by Meriel Meiling, Junior Consultant at walkerproject.

How did we manage to have a full daily agenda despite Corona? We used Zoom, Miro and other tools to conduct our internal meetings and customer workshops digitally.

As Nina already reported in part 1 of our blog series, our start as new Junior Consultants was anything but boring. From the first week on, we had to face a number of challenges due to the Corona crisis. One of them was the interaction with our new colleagues. Since I was working from my home office, I couldn’t just call over the desk and ask for help when there were small queries. Whether it was searching for a template or designing PowerPoint slides: I was on my own. So how can I ask questions or stay in contact with my colleagues? Luckily, right at the beginning we picked out a number of tools that were supposed to support us with our daily work.

Zoom

As an online communication tool, Zoom is known to almost everyone and can be used for digital phone calls with a camera feature. I use Zoom to coordinate the content of my projects. But also to maintain social interaction with my team colleagues. Since sport activities or after-work drinks are usually held weekly, we had to get creative and met for many exciting online activities:

At the Juniors@Zoom I can exchange views with other Junior Consultants about challenges, experiences and current well-being. There is no predefined structure, everything that is currently on your mind can be addressed.

We use the Digital Coffee Break before our team huddle to quickly listen to our colleagues, ask how everyone is doing and get up to speed on private matters.

Sport should not be neglected either. For our Sports@Zoom we motivated my roommate several times to give us a one-hour crossfit workout. We really enjoyed the tough exercices and were able to strengthen our team spirit.

Google Data Studio

On fridays, we usually do a team huddle in our office at the airport. Since we can’t meet all together at the office anymore and view the content on the boards on site, we needed a digital solution. Google Data Studio can display various data with tables, lists or diagrams on a dashboard. This board is shared by one person during our weekly zoom call. Another person can document in real time and share the new content on the board by updating the data.

Miro

The visual and interactive work is not only important to us as a team, but also to our customers. Instead of post-its, whiteboards, pens, stopwatches and games for the workshops, the aim now is to encourage the customer to work creatively online. Thanks to Miro, a virtual whiteboard, we can work on content with our customers at the same time. Various functions, such as adding and editing post-its, lines, graphics and presentations, enable effective collaboration in the virtual space.

To put it in a nutshell, getting to know the above tools was not always easy and great adaptability was demanded. Nevertheless, this has given us the chance to set sail for new digital shores. However, I am looking forward to meeting my team in the office again soon. Despite all the tools, personal contact is the more educational.

Next week, on July 8th, 2020, the third part of our blog series “Crisis Management in Hospitals” will be continued. Carla will give you an exciting insight into a unique Corona project. Don’t miss out on it!