36 slides that Helen Bevan created to go with Twitter posts during 2020

1. 36 slides that I created to go with
Twitter posts during 2020
@HelenBevan
@HelenBevan A year of Twitter slides

2. About this slide deck
Part of my role in the @HorizonsNHS team is to curate and make
available new knowledge in support of large scale change. A big
part of this is social media posts.
Each page in this slide deck contains a summary of an article, blog
or paper that I created as a visual to go with a tweet during 2020.
I have attempted to group the slides by similar themes in this
deck.
I hope these slides inspire you. All the original articles are easy to
find if you want to read more.
@HelenBevan
@HelenBevan A year of Twitter slides

3. Areas where leaders & organisations should
focus their efforts for 2020 & beyond
• Build agile, collaborative cultures
• Take climate change seriously
• Effectively embrace emotions at work
• Understand and prepare for the impact of artificial intelligence
• Invest in your customers (or in a health and care world, patients)
• Take a learning approach to our differences
• Strike a balance between human and machine capital
• Become a hybrid extended learning organisation
Source: MIT Sloan Management Review: https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/eight-management-ideas-to-
embrace-in-the-2020s/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=sm-direct
@HelenBevan A year of Twitter slides 2020: January 15th

4. Ten headlines from a review of scientific literature in the field of
the science of a meaningful life in the past 12 months
1. Happy people are more willing to tackle social problems
2. In the long run, diversity wins
3. Awe changes our brains for the better
4. Treating yourself gets old fast—but giving to others doesn’t
5. Practicing loving-kindness slows aging
6. Your partner’s emotional health could affect your longevity
7. People who are more forgiving sleep better
8. Children who engage in the arts feel better about themselves
9. Feeling grateful makes us more honest
10. Seeing goals as a journey makes you more likely to stick to them
Source: The Greater Good Science Center at the University of California, Berkeley
https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/the_top_10_insights_from_the_science_of_a_meaningful_life_in_2019
@HelenBevan A year of Twitter slides 2020: January 2nd

5. Actions that leaders can take to build psychological safety
and reduce peoples’ need to have side conversations
about important issues
• Set the stage. Be explicit about the tensions and challenges that are part of all
change efforts, and constantly remind people that you understand the risks,
uncertainties, and complexities.
• Insist on input. Do not accept silence by subject matter experts in meetings. Put
people on the spot by asking questions to elicit their thoughts. Force yourself to
be curious and ready to hear what they are seeing and thinking.
• Appreciate messengers. Respond productively to bad news and concerns. You
never know how much courage it might have taken someone to speak. Focus on
solutions. Invite ideas and look for volunteers to team up to help solve the
problems raised.
Source: Amy C. Edmondson
https://hbr.org/2020/01/when-employees-are-open-with-each-other-but-not-
management?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter_daily&utm_campaign=dailyalert_activesubs&utm_content=signinnudge&referral=00563&deliveryName=DM64502
@HelenBevan A year of Twitter slides 2020: January 19th

6. Team members have to move through four stages of psychological
safety before they before they feel free to make valuable
contributions and challenge the status quo
Stage 1: Inclusion Safety
Inclusion safety satisfies the basic human need to connect and belong. In this stage, you feel safe to be
yourself and are accepted for who you are, including your unique attributes and defining
characteristics.
Stage 2: Learner Safety
Learner safety satisfies the need to learn and grow. In this stage, you feel safe to exchange in the
learning process, by asking questions, giving and receiving feedback, experimenting, and making
mistakes.
Stage 3: Contributor Safety
Contributor safety satisfies the need to make a difference. You feel safe to use your skills and abilities
to make a meaningful contribution.
Stage 4: Challenger Safety
Challenger safety satisfies the need to make things better. You feel safe to speak up and challenge the
status quo when you think there’s an opportunity to change or improve
Source: Timothy Clark, The 4 Stages of Psychological Safety: Defining the Path to Inclusion and Innovation
Quoted by @CCLdotorg https://www.ccl.org/articles/leading-effectively-articles/what-is-psychological-safety-at-work/?utm_campaign=1-LeadersAtAllLevels,2-LE_Article,3-
Custom&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter
@HelenBevan A year of Twitter slides 2020: October 22nd

7. How to coach with compassion
We have more opportunities to lead and coach with compassion than we often realise,
but it requires us to be intentional about being aware of ourselves and others. We can use
the REACH model:
Resonance: Creating a supportive, trusting, positive relationship in which we are
focused on the other person over ourselves
Aware: Before we can help others, we need to be clear on our mindset and
emotions and their impact on the people and the environment around us
Compassion: When we demonstrate compassion in helping roles, we listen
and respond to the emotions beyond the person’s words
Hope: We unleash positive emotions and uplift others when we help them
to envision a brighter and better future.
Empathy: Shifting our concern from wanting to be understood to understanding others
Ellen Van Oosten, Melvin L. Smith, Richard E. Boyatzis
https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/how_to_support_the_people_you_lead_in_times_of_uncertainty
@HelenBevan A year of Twitter slides 2020: July 2nd

8. 12 ways to treat people like people
1. People crave autonomy. So, give it to them. Let them control as much of their work life as is possible.
2. People want to know what’s expected of them and how they’re doing. Whenever possible, give them ways to figure that out for
themselves. When that’s not possible give people regular and usable feedback. That includes praise.
3. Machines don’t have emotions, but people do. Let them show those emotions at work. Sure, sometimes it’ll be uncomfortable, but
that’s what you get with people.
4. People want to be competent. Let them demonstrate it. Help them do work that builds on their strengths.
5. People want to grow and develop. They want to do a little better tomorrow than they’re able to do today. So, help them.
6. People like to do important work. Tell them why what they do matters. Connect them with the people who use the outputs of their
work.
7. People prefer to work with people they like. That’s why group dynamics are important. Pay attention to things that keep the team a
safe and enjoyable place to work.
8. People have a life. Work is just a part of it. They’ll bring pieces of that life to work with them. Let them share. Parts of their outside
life may have an impact on how they work.
9. People have off days. Even the best, most productive, most cheerful people have days when they make mistakes, aren’t productive,
and grumpy. That’s part of the deal. Treat them like people and you get their best, and you also get their off days.
10. People have ideas. When they have ideas, they want to share them. When they share them, treat those ideas like the gift that they
are.
11. Machines have serial numbers. People have names. Use their name. Use a name that they like. When in doubt, ask them what
they’d like you to call them.
12. People like to be thanked. Thank them for their work, for their effort, for helping other people.
Source: Wally Bock https://www.threestarleadership.com/leadership/12-ways-to-treat-people-like-people
@HelenBevan A year of Twitter slides 2020: January 22nd

9. 8 lessons to help create a workplace culture where
compassion is embedded into systems and practices,
and where individuals are treated with dignity and care
1. Start at the top
2. Line managers are pivotal
3. Everyone is different
4. Work is coping
5. Back to work, not business as usual
6. Say the right thing
7. Get trained up
8. Create a safe space
Source: Amy Bradley
iedp.com/articles/actively-fostering-compassion-at-work/
@HelenBevan A year of Twitter slides 2020: February 19th

10. How do you know if your organisation has a culture of solidarity?
1.A strong sense of interdependence in the place. ‘My safety is your safety’ or ‘my success is your
success’.
2.A great deal of social intelligence: listening, putting oneself in other people’s shoes.
3.A sense of the ‘collective’. Questions such as ‘who needs to know?’ and the subsequent action and
sharing, will make real sense.
4.A sense of accountability and responsibility. You know what you and others are responsible for, to be
able to contribute.
5.Creates awareness of the impact of my actions (of my work with others) on individual and collective
commitments.
6.Fosters genuine co-operation, beyond connectedness. Connectivity per se is not collaboration.
7.Goes far beyond a defensive attitude (I can be hurt, I am likely to be a victim) to reach the proactive ‘we
are all agents (of our destiny) here’.
8.Doesn’t feel like ‘theory’ or just good works. It will be action (the word activism contains the word act).
9.Requires authentic leadership that supports all of the above.
10.Generates trust. Vulnerability is OK—‘I won’t be punished, we are all in this together’.
Source: Leandro Herrero
https://leandroherrero.com/solidarity-as-a-form-of-organizational-culture-is-both-a-soft-
label-and-a-secret-weapon/
@HelenBevan A year of Twitter slides 2020: September 9th

11. Contented teams don’t push
themselves. They are happy to
do the minimum required and
go home.
In disengaged teams, there’s
often infighting between
members. They don’t feel valued
or respected and there’s a blame
culture
Team members work together
and actively seek solutions. They
feel valued by their leaders and
each other. They go above and
beyond, and have fun with it.
Team members play the system
for their own benefit, e.g., by
filling their time with busy work
They also ‘manage up’—actions
to get their leader’s favour
21% of people in research phase
32% of people in research phase
How engaged is your
team?
In research to examine the
dynamics of team engagement in
depth, Dr Amy Bradley and
colleagues at Hult Ashridge
Executive Education revealed
four different levels or ‘zones’ of
team engagement.
A free tool is now available to
enable you to take a temperature
check of your team's current state
of engagement and gives you a
benchmark with 'typical' team
responses to the same
statements.
secure.surveylab.co.uk/team-
engagement-
diagnostic/default.asp
21% of people in research phase
25% of people in research phase

12. Six patterns that
tend to show up
in collaboration
that we can
harness and
shape to help
any
collaboration
work better
• Diverging and converging
• Checking back
• Leveraging tensions
• Spiralling
• The design process
• Working concurrently
By CoCreative
https://www.wearecocreative.com/post/
6-patterns-in-collaboration
@HelenBevan A year of Twitter slides 2020: July 31st

13. Culture research suggests that to improve the experiences of
our people, we need to shift our mindset from the “employee
lifecycle” to a focus on thousands of “micro-experiences”
Source:
O C Tanner (2020)
Global Culture Report
https://www.octanner.com/glo
bal-culture-
report/2020/experiences.html
@HelenBevan A year of Twitter slides 2020: March 8th

14. Seven core tensions for leaders to hold and navigate
@HelenBevan A year of Twitter slides 2020: February 23rd
Jennifer Jordan, Michael
Wade and Elizabeth Teracino
https://hbr.org/2020/02/every-leader-
needs-to-navigate-these-7-tensions
1. The expert and the learner
2. The constant and the adaptor
3. The tactician and the visionary
4. The teller and the listener
5. The power holder and the power sharer
6. The intuitionist and the analyst
7. The perfectionist and the accelerator

15. The four most common traps in leading through crisis
(based on Harvard research) and how to avoid/overcome them
1. Taking a narrow view
The trap is that your field of vision becomes restricted to the immediate foreground. Leaders need to intentionally pull back, opening your mental
aperture to take in the mid-ground and background. This is called “meta-leadership” - taking a broad, holistic view of both challenges and
opportunities. Properly focused meta-leadership fosters well-directed management.
2. Getting seduced by managing
Managing a crisis can feel thrilling. Your adrenaline spikes as decisions are made and actions are taken. You experience a feeling of adding tangible
value. However, it is like a sugar high that is quickly followed by a crash. Leading through a crisis requires taking the long view, as opposed to
managing the present. You need to anticipate what comes next week, next month, and even next year in order to prepare the organisation for the
changes ahead. You need to delegate and trust your people as they make tough decisions, providing proper support and guidance based on your
experience while resisting the temptation to take over.
3. Over-centralising the response
Risk and ambiguity increase during a crisis because so much is uncertain and volatile. The trap for leaders is trying to control everything. The
organisation becomes less responsive and frustration grows with each new constraint. he solution is to seek order rather than control. Order
means that people know what is expected of them and what they can expect of others. Leaders must acknowledge that you can’t control
everything. Determine which decisions only you can make and delegate the rest. Establish clear guiding values and principles while foregoing the
temptation to do everything yourself..
4. Forgetting the human factors
Crises are crises because they affect people. However, leaders can instead become trapped by focusing on the daily metrics of process and
delivery. These are important, but they are the outcome of the coordinated efforts of people. Organisations exist in order to accomplish together
things that individuals cannot do alone. The solution is to unite people in their efforts and goals as valued members of a cohesive team. This starts
with a common, clearly articulated mission that infuses the work with purpose. The mission is then animated through an inclusive leadership
approach where each person understands how they can contribute—and that their contribution is recognised. This gives deeper meaning to even
the most menial tasks.
Eric J. McNulty and Leonard Marcus
https://hbr.org/2020/03/are-you-leading-through-the-crisis-or-managing-the-
response?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter_daily&utm_campaign=dailyalert_active
subs&utm_content=signinnudge&referral=00563&deliveryName=DM74018
@HelenBevan A year of Twitter slides 2020: March 26th

16. Advice for leaders: five ways to be at the current time
1. Ground ourselves first
In the safety briefing on airplanes we’re told if travelling with a someone who depends on us, give oxygen to ourselves first before giving to the
other one. The principle stays the same here. We need to find ways to ground ourselves so we are calm.
2. Address the chemistry of stress
Two of the ways that counter stress hormones are to encourage laughter and show appreciation. Both these activities increase dopamine,
serotonin, and oxytocin, These feel-good hormones can help create a buffer against the stress hormones.
3. Show compassion
The act of giving and receiving love is calming. It makes us feel good to be compassionate, and it makes others feel reassured to receive
compassion. Note, however, that this is very different from empathy. Empathising with someone encourages shared pain – and this ramps up
our stress hormones. Being compassionate increases those feel-good hormones again.
4. Reinforce stability
Our brains crave certainty and see uncertainty as survival threat and respond accordingly (fight / flight / freeze). Two of the ways to help our
brains stay out of survival responses and stay calm is to reinforce stability. This means maintaining our rituals – if we exercise at 6 am, still
exercise at 6 am. If we normally check in with team members at 9 am, continue to do this. Rituals are very calming and offer anchors of
certainty. Equally, when communicating changes to the way the organisation is operating, repeat what is staying the same and staying
consistent.
5. We only have one body, treat it well.
To embody calm we need to be hydrated and breathing well. If we are dehydrated and shallow breathing we will be inducing panic in
our bodies. The same applies to the people we lead.
@HelenBevan A year of Twitter slides 2020: March 22nd
Dr Jen Frahm
https://drjenfrahm.com/leading-uncertain-times/

17. Kanter’s Law: change is usually hardest in the middle phase
Three strategies for moving forward, based on learning from previous
responses to crisis
1. Set the right tone at the top: Leaders stress open communication and a spirit of
accountability. Even before solutions are clear, they offer assurance that they are guided
by values and a sense of purpose.
2. Prioritise collaboration and initiative: Leaders make the space and give priority to
mobilising people and partners to examine, adjust, and fix operations.
3. Orientate to the longer-term future: Leaders further make the space and give priority to
how things can/will be different. What needs and opportunities suggest innovations that
could be developed now? Which crisis responses are likely to become permanent modes
of action?
Source: Rosabeth Moss Kanter:
Leading your team past the peak of a crisis: https://hbr.org/2020/04/leading-your-team-past-the-peak-of-a-crisis?referral=03759&cm_vc=rr_item_page.bottom
More on Kanter’s Law: Change is hardest in the middle https://hbr.org/2009/08/change-is-hardest-in-the-middl
@HelenBevan A year of Twitter slides 2020: May 3rd

18. Six leadership strategies for turning adversity into opportunity
1. Broaden the context
this challenge is occurring in a larger context. Change and transition have happened before. Adversity has been overcome.
Paint the bigger picture.
2. Defy the verdict
people need to know what's really going on. They want to know the truth. And, while resilient leaders “don't deny the
diagnosis,” at the same time, they "defy the verdict" of doom.
3. Fully commit to what's important
change demands our full attention, imagination, and effort. People need to know what's most meaningful and important.
4. Take charge of change
proactive people are healthier and more successful. In times of challenge and adversity, leaders must make something
happen. You may not control all of what is happening in the broader environment, but you are still in charge of your own
life.
5. Engage others
there are others who are being affected by this transition. Collaboration and trust are essential to get through change and
adversity. And we feel a lot healthier in trying times when we get support from others.
6. Show you care
positive emotions fuel optimism and hope. That's why telling positive stories contributes to people feeling more capable
during times of difficulty.
Source: Leadership Challenge, based on Turning Adversity into Opportunity by Jim Kouzes & Barry Posner.
https://www.leadershipchallenge.com/lead-on/strategies-for-turning-adversity-into-opportunity-part-one.aspx
https://www.leadershipchallenge.com/lead-on/strategies-for-turning-adversity-into-opportunity-part-two.aspx
@HelenBevan A year of Twitter slides 2020: May 22nd

19. Five steps to setting positive and productive
work boundaries
1. Understand the difference between boundaries and barriers
2. Figure out how you work best and articulate it to others in your team
3. Put yourself in your shoes of others in your team, and work out what
they need to succeed
4. Communicate your boundaries in terms of agreements for the greater
good
5. Be a “giver” based on long-term benefits for the team, not short-term
fear
@HelenBevan A year of Twitter slides 2020: July 23rd
Shane Snow
https://forge.medium.com/how-to-set-work-boundaries-when-its-
hard-in-5-steps-f5db3eb77289

20. A five-step strategy through which people who work in Quality Improvement
and Patient Safety can meaningfully contribute during a pandemic by
employing their core skills
1. Strengthen the system by assessing readiness, gathering evidence, setting up training,
promoting staff safety, and bolstering peer support.
2. Engage with citizens, patients, and their families so that the solutions are jointly achieved
and owned by both the health and care providers and the people who receive care, and in
particular the citizens who are required to undertake preventive interventions.
3. Work to improve care, through actions such as the separation of flows, flash workshops on
teamwork, and the development of clinical decision support.
4. Reduce harm by proactively managing risk to both COVID-19 and non COVID-19 patients.
5. Boost and expand the learning system, to capture improvement opportunities, adjust very
rapidly, and develop resilience. This is crucial as little is known about COVID-19 and its
impacts on patients, staff, and institutions.
Source: Anthony Staines, René Amalberti, Don Berwick, Jeffrey Braithwaite, Peter Lachman, Charles Vincent
https://t.co/gUIIqJTX8n?amp=1
@HelenBevan A year of Twitter slides 2020: May 20th

21. Research from INSEAD: Three key levers that largely predicted whether a team’s
connectedness and cohesion either grew (a “thriving” team) or declined in the shift
to virtual working as a result of Covid-19
1. Harnessing the power of new technologies to bridge divides and bring people closer
In the “thriving” teams, the shift towards all virtual work put everyone on the same level and increased both information sharing and
connectedness. Such teams leveraged the multiple avenues of communication that technology platforms like Teams and Zoom allow.
However, having the right technologies is only a baseline and it is utilising it in a highly relational way that makes teams thrive.
2. Designing new interaction rituals for the virtual format
The shift towards virtual work almost completely abolishes informal interactions (e.g. coffee chats or water cooler talk). The value of these
interactions is both functional – enabling a great deal of information transfer – and relational - providing opportunities to “catch up” and
strengthen relationships. Thriving teams created new rituals and practices to compensate for the loss of these. First, thriving teams
changed their meeting pattern from longer meetings once a week to shorter meetings multiple times a week, or even every day (e.g. daily
standups). These frequent shorter meetings improved communication in thriving teams and created a sense of togetherness. In addition,
thriving teams consciously built in time just to socialise and connect. .
3. Leveraging the opportunity to show compassion and care
The shift to virtual work creates challenges for fostering human connections, Instead of feeling helpless, members of thriving teams
reached out to help one another. This helped to foster greater and deeper connections on the team. In thriving teams, this deepening of
intimacy and connectedness largely occurred on top of an existing foundation of trust and relational resources. The pandemic has enabled
these teams that were already connected to strengthen their bonds even further. Struggling teams, on the other hand, tended to focus
purely on work and efficiency, without attending to the human dimensions of work in Covid times.
Michael Lee and Koen Veltman https://knowledge.insead.edu/blog/insead-blog/the-great-covid-driven-teamwork-divide-15391
@HelenBevan A year of Twitter slides 2020: Nov 5th

22. Eight ways to manage your team while social distancing
1. Reset expectations for how work gets done
2. Stay in regular touch
3. Support continued learning but keep it short
4. Assign buddies and peer coaches to add a layer of mutual support
5. Interpret tone and voice as proxies for face-to-face feedback
6. Model optimism and drain the team of fear
7. Update even if there’s no update
8. Continually gauge stress and engagement levels
@HelenBevan A year of Twitter slides 2020: March 24th
Timothy R. Clark
https://hbr.org/2020/03/8-ways-to-manage-your-team-while-social-
distancing?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter_daily&utm_campaign=dailyalert_actives
ubs&utm_content=signinnudge&referral=00563&deliveryName=DM73877

23. How to foster positive virtual interactions, based on
neuroscience research
1. Keep your camera on during virtual meetings: Two reasons: (1) you’re unlikely to be judged for
how you look and (2) just seeing someone’s face leads to brain changes fostering better
interactions.
2. Don’t multitask: If you’re on a video meeting, resist the urge to minimise the screen and open
another programme or document. Instead, practice “mutual gazing” by maintaining eye contact
with the speaker. That increases oxytocin, the trust-and-bonding hormone.
3. Place a mirror on your desk: Look at it while you’re having a conversation with a colleague or team
member when you’re not using a camera. People who had to communicate virtually with a mirror
present behaved in a more diplomatic, constructive fashion. Looking at your own image on-screen
while on a video call may also serve this purpose.
4. Take 5 minutes to recharge: Humans have a specific reserve of energy for making decisions and
behaving judiciously. Once that reserve is used, we’re more likely to become cognitively depleted,
leading to more negative behaviour. Break the cycle by taking a brief break, eating, or exercising
before a virtual meeting, or by breaking up longer meeting into shorter ones.
5. Schmooze or lose: Virtual teams tend to get right down to business and skip the human factor,
whether that’s by email or virtual conference. But research shows that even five minutes of non-
business-related conversation can set the team on a much more positive, productive course.
Source: Leigh Thompson https://hbrascend.org/topics/how-to-foster-positive-virtual-interactions-against-all-odds/
@HelenBevan A year of Twitter slides 2020: April 27th

24. Preparing your team to be virtual for the long haul:
Questions that might be difficult but important to address:
Moving on from the arrangements that were put in place as a crisis response to the Covid-19
pandemic:
1. Are the team’s objectives or work as relevant as they were and/or are they at odds with
reality?
The team’s work may no longer match critical organisational needs. Assess whether the team’s work can be
shifted to create value in the current environment or what else we need to do to create more value.
2. Are the team’s interpersonal foundations strong or cracked?
We need to invest significantly in creating psychological safety in our teams, valuing diversity and building
strong inclusive relationships. Long-term success means investing in the wellbeing of our teams as part of our
day to day leadership roles
3. Are tasks being allocated in a fair/coordinated or idiosyncratic/uncoordinated manner?
A more systematic approach may help reduce over-use of certain members and under-use of others. We might
consider making team staffing and allocation rules clearer and more transparent.
4. Is being on multiple teams creating untenable difficulties for some individuals?
Think about how we can reduce the switching costs for our people who have to jump from team to team.
Consider setting common norms and expectations, e.g., the communication tools people use, how meetings are
run, or how decisions are made, but do that in a way that doesn’t feel like extra “rules” & reduction in
autonomy
Source: adapted from Mark Mortensen and Constance Noonan Hadley
https://hbr.org/2020/05/how-to-prepare-your-virtual-teams-for-the-long-haul@HelenBevan A year of Twitter slides 2020: June 28th

25. From Power dynamics and inclusion in virtual meetings
by @aspirationtech
Raise your hand if you have ever been in a virtual meeting where:
• One or two people do all the talking;
• You don't feel safe or empowered to share your thoughts, ideas, or questions;
• You don't feel the value of what you or others have to contribute is acknowledged by everyone in the meeting, especially the hosts;
• One or a few people feel able to interrupt or talk down to other people;
• Someone uses their specialized knowledge (i.e. on tech), to assert their views or force a decision;
• Somebody has a hard time meaningfully participating because they have a poor internet connection;
• Accessibility needs are not met for the group (e.g. offering large font print, interpretation, translation, and/or captions)
If you are tired of seeing this play out in online spaces and want to learn and practice ways to joyfully and lovingly subvert
this dynamic, I am excited to learn with you.
First and foremost, it is important to remember we are not helpless or alone in these situations. We have agency to design,
hold, and manage a space that is more inclusive and accessible to all voices.
When preparing to hold or facilitate a virtual meeting, we find it helpful to start from naming and understanding the ways
people hold power and privilege in virtual spaces and how that power is expressed. We then work to manage those power
dynamics both by planning ahead and mapping out how to respond in real time if/when they do play out.
From: aspirationtech.org/blog/virtualmeetingpowerdynamics
@HelenBevan A year of Twitter slides 2020: May 29th

26. Non-verbal skills for virtual team leaders
Seven techniques to get your message across powerfully and non-verbally in virtual sessions
1. Shape your surroundings on screen: Consider a simple wall, or bookshelf. Avoid exotic virtual
backgrounds. We want the focus on us, not on distractions behind us.
2. Set your distance from the camera lens: If others can see all of the top third of our bodies, we’ll have the
best chance of making the virtual connection we seek and sharing the most non-verbal clues possible
3. Dress for the occasion: Make sure that what’s on camera reflects the kind of discussion you want to have.
If it’s an informal conversation, it’s fine to dress casually. If you are hoping for a professional discussion
then a way to get that feeling going is to dress like you are expecting it.
4. Speak to the camera. Eye contact with the camera is critical. Try to hold eye contact 30-60 percent of the
time.
5. Sit up: Sitting up and leaning forward tells people we’re engaged and involved mentally and physically.
6. Smile: Our faces convey a lot of information even when we’re not speaking. An eye roll, a frown, or even
a slight eyebrow raise may carry far more weight in a virtual session than we think it does. You may be
looking at a small laptop at home but others might be projecting you on a large monitor or even a movie-
type screen
7. Show your arms on screen: Aside from our face, our arms may be the best tools we have for helping to
express what we have to say. If we hide our arms, they can’t help us speak.
@HelenBevan A year of Twitter slides 2020: August 10th https://www.rapidstartleadership.com/non-verbal-virtual-
skills/?utm_source=feedly&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=non-verbal-virtual-skills
Source: Ken Downer

27. 4 ways leaders can find the fun despite the slog of remote working
1. Authenticity and vulnerability
Vulnerability isn’t ‘fun’ per se, but it’s essential. We can’t start with “fun” without acknowledging the current reality. The pandemic slog is
real. We’re living it. Friends, family, and colleagues have lost friends and family. We long for the days when we can once again gather
safely with loved ones or see colleagues face to face. Those days will come again, but right now we face the slog. Everyone’s tired of it.
And …we can do it.
2. Variety
The virtual happy hour was fun the first time, but the tenth one feels obligatory and routine. How can you mix up your routine remote
activities? Perhaps you could start every team meeting with a different activity? For more social or fun activities, keep it fresh. Many
teams have incorporated online games, themed events, and professional development into their mix of recognition and connection.
3. Anticipation
An endless horizon stretching ahead forever is discouraging and, on top of pandemic-related anxiety, can lead to significant mental
health challenges. Giving people something to look forward to will break up the monotony and energise performance. But don’t
schedule everything – leave room for …
4. Surprise and delight
One of the most powerful ways to find the fun is with the element of surprise and delight. Create moments of the unexpected where
people feel genuinely seen and valued. When people show up for a routine meeting, what can you do that would delight them? You
don’t need to rely on surprise and delight every week. If you do, it becomes routine–and the endless horizon returns. But every few
weeks, how can you make people smile, feel seen, and do it in a way they aren’t expecting?
https://letsgrowleaders.com/2020/11/23/how-leaders-can-find-
the-fun-during-the-slog/@HelenBevan A year of Twitter slides 2020: December 16th
Karin Hurt and David Dye

28. As a team, create a set of “rules” for when you will
default to video (e.g. Teams/Zoom) meetings
We use Teams/Zoom virtual meetings for:
• Any decision involving multiple teams
• Sharing data or visual presentations
• Working together on a document
• Learning together
• Team check ins where we want to see each other
• Sessions requiring small group work in breakout rooms
• A topic that’s personal in nature, such as mental health issues
• Situations where we haven’t seen each other for a while (alternate
team meetings between Team/Zoom and phone calls)
• HR and people updates
• Virtual watercooler or cocktail hour sessions
Source: Smart Brief
https://www.smartbrief.com/original/2020/10/h
ow-leaders-can-encourage-teamwork-while-
working-remotely with a few more added by
Helen Bevan
@HelenBevan A year of Twitter slides 2020: October 9th
What would you add to your list?

29. Why do we wave at the end of a virtual meeting and why
should even more people wave?
We're hungering for that
human interaction, that
friendliness, so we're starting
to do things like waving to
say goodbye. It feels a little
nicer than just clicking off.
Laura Dudley,
Northeastern
University
The [waving] gesture is a
regression to basics of sorts, as
waving is one of the first
elements of language we learn
as babies. Plus, it's easier than
everyone trying to say goodbye
at once and speaking over each
other. We've had to adapt. The
easiest thing for us was waving
goodbye. It's just kind of a
natural thing. How do you say
goodbye? You wave.
Larry Rosen,
The Distracted Mind:
Ancient Brains in a High-Tech
World.
The wave replaces the handshake. When
you're in front of a screen it's more
forced and stilted and I think we're
trying to compensate so we almost go
overboard with the nonverbal gestures.
Mindy Skura
People are overperforming
social cues of closure because
X-ing out a window on your
computer is so much more
ambiguous than standing up,
walking out of a room, or
doing other signalling for in
person terminations of
meetings.
Melanie Brewster
Columbia University
@HelenBevan A year of Twitter slides 2020: November 27th

30. How one person can change the conscience of
an organisation or systemUtilise:
1. The power of one: A single person with a clarity of conscience and a willingness to speak
up can make a difference. When a leader, even a mid-level leader or frontline supervisor,
skilfully brings a voice and a vision, others will follow and surprising things can happen—
even culture change on a large scale.
2. The power of sequential skill building: Challenging the status quo is a skill that you can
develop, and it applies at every level. Use every chance you have, even small, to develop
your skills of challenging the existing order for the greater good.
3. The power of sustained focus and determination: Attacking challenges is not just an
occasional adventure—it has to be a way of being.
4. The power of using your privilege to support people with less privilege: Be aware of the
larger change you could bring about because your voice and your vision gives you power
that people with less privilege don’t have.
“While corporate transformations are almost universally assumed to be top-down processes, in
reality, middle managers, and first-line supervisors can make significant change when they have
the right mindset”.
Nicholas Eyrich, Robert E. Quinn and David Fessell
https://hbr.org/2019/12/how-one-person-can-change-the-conscience-of-an-organization

31. Six questions to ask before saying “yes” to the
next task someone asks you to take on
1. What purpose does this serve?
2. Why am I afraid to say no?
3. What else could I be doing with this time?
4. Can I delegate this?
5. What is stealing my energy?
6. How do I refuel?
@HelenBevan A year of Twitter slides 2020: July 25th
Jess Ekstrom
entrepreneur.com/article/309695

32. Nancy Klein’s ten components of a thinking
environment
Reflect on how you can apply these in virtual meetings so that collectively you do your best
thinking1. Attention: Listening with noticeable respect and genuine interest, and without interruption
2. Equality: Treating each other as true peers; keeping the talkative or powerful people from silencing
the quieter ones and requiring the quieter ones to contribute their own thinking
3. Ease: Offering freedom from internal rush or urgency, creating the best conditions for thinking
4. Appreciation: Practising a 5:1 ratio of appreciation to criticism
5. Encouragement: Replacing internal competition among colleagues with a wholehearted,
unthreatened search for good ideas
6. Feelings: Allowing sufficient emotional release to restore thinking: when people show signs of
feelings in meetings, you relax and welcome this
7. Information: Supplying accurate and full information and recognising social context
8. Diversity: Starting from the principle that the greater the diversity of the group, and the greater the
welcoming of different points of view, the greater the chance of accurate, cutting-edge thinking
9. Incisive Questions: Using inclusive questions to get beneath the untrue assumptions that limit our
ability to think for ourselves well
10. Place: Understanding that when the environment we are in (either physical or virtual) affirms our
importance, it is saying back to people “You matter.”
@HelenBevan A year of Twitter slides 2020: August 19th
www.timetothink.com/thinking-environment/the-ten-components/
Source: Nancy Klein and Time to Talk

33. Nancy Dixon’s ten big ideas of knowledge management
1. Connection (based on trusting relationships) comes before content
2. Circles connect (seat people in a circle not rows or a U)
3. Knowledge is created when diverse perspectives are brought together in conversation
4. Asking opens the door to knowledge
5. Small groups as the unit of learning
6. Learn in small groups – integrate knowledge in large groups
7. We learn when we talk
8. Learning from experience requires deliberate reflection
9. Different types of knowledge (explicit and tacit) needs to be shared in different ways
10. Knowledge sharing is sustained by community and reciprocity: if I help others, then when
I need help, they will help me.
Source: Nancy Dixon
https://www.nancydixonblog.com/2020/08/the-big-ideas-of-knowledge-management.html
@HelenBevan A year of Twitter slides 2020: September 1st

34. Headlines from “Scaling – from “reaching many” to
sustainable systems change at scale: A critical shift in
mindset”
• Everyone wants to transition from pilot to scale, but very few actually
achieve it.
• Scaling is more than counting adoption of innovations by project
beneficiaries.
• Scaling is a process of moving towards sustainable systems change at
scale.
• Scaling requires a different mindset and skills than stand-alone projects
do.
• Scaling frameworks help to systematically navigate the complexities
involved.
Source: Lennart Woltering, International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center and colleagues
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308521X18314392#!
@HelenBevan A year of Twitter slides 2020: August 29th

35. Twelve techniques for accelerating learning
1. Listen instead of reading: Listening is the new reading: take advantage of technology by listening to books, data and
articles rather than reading them.
2. Immersive reading: Read a book using the printed and the audible version simultaneously (that is, read with your
eyes WHILE you’re also listening).
3. Recursive sampling: Instead of diving right into a book, start by reading an article about it or a review of it.
4. Intuition flooding: Find a large number of examples of something you want to understand (say, 20 to 100) and look
at each of them carefully, one by one, scrutinising them, while jotting down any interesting observations you have or
patterns you notice.
5. Mind mapping: Uncover the relationships between the most important concepts
6. Tell a friend: Test your understanding of a topic you just learned about by trying to explain it.
7. Spot the Core: For the concept of interest, ask yourself — what is the most important part of this idea that I can
express in one tweet?
8. Triangulating Genius: pick two to four experts with differing perspectives on the topic and review their ideas.
9. Expert observation: Go to YouTube or similar source to find experts explaining their process as they carry out their
craft.
10. Active recall: Spend time retrieving the information to remember rather than just passively reviewing the materials
11. Spaced repetition: Schedule reviews of your learning materials at increasingly longer time intervals.
12. Incremental reading: Go through new learning material and review old material at the same time, using a process
that helps you understand difficult concepts that are new to you
Source: Belén Cobeta and Spencer Greenberg https://medium.com/accelerated-intelligence/12-techniques-to-accelerate-your-learning-f74fb589c194
@HelenBevan A year of Twitter slides 2020: October 24th

36. 1. Revolutions don’t begin with a slogan; they begin with a cause: Our vision for change always needs to be rooted in solving problems
people genuinely care about.
2. Transformation fails because people oppose it, not because people don’t understand it: For any significant change, there are
going to be some people who aren’t going to like it and they are going to undermine it. That is our primary design constraint.
3. To be effective, change efforts need to be rooted in values: Values represent constraints and constraints bring meaning and
credibility.
4. Resist the urge to engage those who attack and undermine us: In fact, as a general rule, we should avoid them until we have gained
significant momentum.
5. Focus on building local majorities: We want to be continually expanding our majorities within communities and clusters. When we go
outside our majority, however, we get pushback. Stay on the inside pushing out.
6. Shift from differentiating values to shared values: Differentiating values are what make people passionate about an idea, but shared
values create entry points for people to join our cause. We overcome our opposition by listening and identifying shared values in what they say that
can be leveraged to attract others to our cause.
7. We design effective tactics by mobilising people to influence institutions: Every action has a purpose. We are always mobilising
someone to influence something. For everything we do, we should ask who are we mobilising and to influence what?
8. Scale change and weave the network through co-optable resources: Instead of trying to get people to do what we want, we should
seek out people who want what we want and give them tools to help them take action. It is through taking action, not taking orders, that people take
ownership of the movement and make it their own.
9. Survive victory: The victory phase is the most dangerous phase. We need to think about how to “survive victory” from the start. It’s not enough
to make a point, we have to want to make a difference.
10. Transformation is always a journey, never a particular destination. :The most important thing we can do to bring change about is
simply to get started. If not now, when? If not you, who?
https://digitaltonto.com/2020/10-principles-for-transformational-change/
@HelenBevan A year of Twitter slides 2020: November 15th
Ten principles for change
from Greg Satell

37. Five characteristics that we see often in effective
collective change initiatives across a system
https://www.bcg.com/en-gb/publications/2020/collective-action-
in-a-connected-world
@HelenBevan A year of Twitter slides 2020: December 12th
Martin Reeves and Roselinde Torres
The proponents of the change are able to:
1. see the cause as worthy
2. be united in their stance
3. be sufficiently numerous to make a difference
4. have sufficient diversity for the cause to be of
broad appeal
5. be committed to making change happen

38. Some factors to think about as we move from 2020
to 2021
A checklist for setting your mid-pandemic course correction on
the best possible path
1. What do you want to take with you when this is all over? Even if a lot about 2020
didn’t work for you, this is the time to reflect on what has. If you’re not leaving the house much, what
do you like about being home more? What is working for you?
2. What are some aspirational goals that you could set for yourself? Where can
you do better despite the pandemic (and everything else)? The goal is not to add more pressure to an
already difficult time, but to identify goals that could help you feel better and have more energy at the
end of the day.
3. What new habit have you wanted to get into for a while now? Like it or not,
limited travel can make our daily routines more consistent, and that makes this a great time for many
people to establish a healthy habit.
4. How can you invest in yourself? What “deferred maintenance” do you need to take care
of? Remember, the best resource that you have for making a contribution to the world is YOU. When
that resource is depleted, your most valuable asset is damaged. In other words: When we
underinvest in our bodies, minds, or spirits, we destroy our most essential tools for leading our best
lives.
5. What do you want to feel more of in 2021? Perhaps you want to feel less
overwhelmed and more at peace, or maybe you want to feel more connected to others and less
isolated. What behaviours or habits have, in the past, elicited the emotion that you are looking for?
https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/it
em/why_new_years_resolutions_matter_
more_in_a_pandemic#thank-influence
@HelenBevan A year of Twitter slides 2020: December 30th
Christine Carter, Greater Good Science Center, UC Berkeley