In the absence of 100% in-person schooling, you can still drive effective communications with virtual tools – but measuring timely results and demanding the accountability that goes with them, is something easily lost in the virtual world.

“Did Ms.Smith do any interventions with this group of students? If, so how effective was it?”

“How many rounds of feedback did my lead teacher provide to her new teachers?”

“Did  Mr. James resolve Larry’s absences from last week with his mom?”

These are just a few typical “back of mind” questions that principals wake up with everyday, needing to find answers to. Many of these typical lingering concerns tend to dissolve once the principal makes it to the building and schedules time to follow up and close the loop. In the “live world”, enroute to a class to provide some feedback for a teacher or pull a student to encourage him to keep up the good work, you’re able to shuttle into the next classroom or “stop by” the counseling office, or even close the loop with a dean while monitoring the hallway during transitions for 4th to 5th period. In a “virtual world” follow up or “closing the loop” requires scheduling a Zoom meeting after coming to a consensus that any individual staff member can actually meet at a certain time. You may be accomplished at closing the loop in person 10-15 times a day, but how do you apply this critical skill with different return-to-work protocols in virtual or at least partly virtual settings?

The keys to virtual accountability:

• Define who is responsible for what – A simple list with the name of the item, a brief description and the name of the lead (or the primary person who you want updates from) is all you need. Using a progress management approach, establish the key accountabilities and benchmarks.
• Recognize that measurement is the reduction of uncertainty – not an exercise in specificity.
• Create a virtual social space – to take the place of or amplify the physical space where individuals can see what other people are doing – and where essential progress can be recorded.

RespondAbility Quick Accountability Use Case Videos 

Program Management

How can you make this happen in a virtual setting?

Respondability’s unique ability to assign and monitor accountability using clear organization and real-time metrics is a true game changer that can keep you focused on not only great communication but the crucial results that come with it. Its common-sense monitoring designed to complement efforts in both the live and virtual worlds, acts as “connective tissue” that keeps you and your teams on-task and on-time as you move between instructional worlds – and drive your communications and follow-up needs forward.  

RespondAbility Success Stories

District Director,  Karla Kirkling, discusses how increased accountability and seamless communication empowered her remote team to hit targets in a more collaborative way across complex projects and multiple locations.