The Ultimate Coda Handbook for People & HR Teams
Share
Explore
The Ultimate Coda Handbook for People & HR Teams

icon picker
Training & development

Build inclusive training materials that suit different learning styles.
At Coda, we understand the deep connection between personal development and a sense of belonging. Coda’s building blocks make it easy to design all of our learning materials and moments with an inclusive lens. Whether it’s a standalone guide or an interactive “slide deck” for a virtual workshop, Coda offers a blend of flexibility, functionality, and clean design that makes it easy to engage an audience of distributed employees and cater to a wide array of learning styles and experiences.
Try out these templates to help you deliver effective training and development sessions, or read on for more on how to use them.
⁠
Facilitating with Coda for engaging & inclusive learning
aka, why I’ll never go back to using Google Slides for a virtual workshop!
coda.io
⁠
⁠
⁠
Fireside Chat Template - Simple
A simple doc to host interactive fireside chat discussions.
coda.io
⁠
⁠
⁠
5 building blocks to make your meetings more inclusive · Running inclusive & effective meetings
Add these tools to your meeting toolbelt
coda.io
⁠

1. Prompt thought and drive participation with interactive docs.

We know that material is more likely to stick when learners engage directly with it. Rather than give an out-loud prompt and wait for the first person to cave into the discomfort of silence, Coda gives the space for learners to reflect and write their answers in a shared doc.
We recommend collecting these in a table with a filtered view to minimize the distraction of other’s answers. We get so much great feedback from participants that this helps them collect their thoughts, ease into their engagement with the materials, and feel safe not having to put themselves on the spot.
In the example below, the participant can focus on their own experience and entry first, before they see what others have to say. The card view allows for a collective display of sentiments.
⁠
Screen Capture on 2023-10-03 at 20-04-28.gif
⁠
⁠

Try out the facilitation template
⁠
⁠

⁠

2. Align your group and move a session forward with reactions.

One of Coda’s simplest features is also one of the most powerful for driving participation in a low-stakes way: the reaction button
⁠
. Reactions allow you to interact with the content directly in the doc. For example, you can use reactions to track who has read the pre-read material or to get the group to vote on options in a table. This is particularly helpful with big groups who might have a variety of experiences to capture, or who may be shy to start. Reactions can also be a quick way to take note of where folks stand and see how common a sentiment is, and facilitators can review them for future content or classes.
⁠
Screen Capture on 2023-10-03 at 19-52-21.gif
⁠
⁠

Try out the facilitation template
⁠
⁠

⁠

3. Keep sessions on track with a simple timer.

Facilitation and discussion time is precious but there’s nothing like being assigned to a breakout room to discuss a topic without knowing how much time you have. At Coda, we add timers to any facilitation docs. If we forget to add it, it’s super easy to plug into a doc by typing /timer .
⁠
Screen Capture on 2023-10-03 at 20-01-15.gif
⁠
⁠

Try out the facilitation template
⁠
⁠

⁠

4. Engage your audience with a fireside Q&As.

Fireside chats are an excellent way to promote education and communication within a company. These informal conversations between leadership and employees create a relaxed atmosphere that encourages open dialogue and fosters relationships.
But who gets to decide what questions are asked? With the upvoting feature, your audience has a say in what they want to learn more about. Watch popular questions climb to the top of the ranks and the less exciting ones stay at the bottom.
⁠
Screen Capture on 2023-10-03 at 20-17-02.gif
⁠
⁠

Get the fireside chat template
⁠
⁠

⁠

5. Invite participants to respond, reflect, and meaningfully bring their experience into the mix.

Humans have different ways of digesting information. Leading a session with an interactive Coda doc makes it easy to make space for the folks who need to write to think. While we are famous for “Dory” question tables like the one found in our
fireside chat template
⁠
, another way Coda can be used for a more inclusive conversation is shown in the
group discussion sentence starters
⁠
template.
After absorbing a bunch of content, this template gives your audience ample time to add their reactions, takeaways, and questions. Then, you can give folks time to read and upvote, so you can focus the discussion on the most upvoted questions. This also helps highlight ideas that might otherwise be lost if they weren’t logged in the doc.
⁠
Screen Capture on 2023-10-03 at 20-11-11.gif
⁠
⁠

Get the inclusive meetings template
⁠
⁠

⁠

Explore the rest of the People Team handbook:

⁠
People Team hub
⁠
⁠
Recruitment & headcount
⁠
⁠
Onboarding
⁠
⁠
Career & succession planning
⁠
⁠
Rewards & recognition
⁠
⁠
Workplace management
⁠
⁠
Offboarding
⁠
⁠
Performance management systems
⁠

⁠
Compensation & benefits
⁠
⁠
Employee engagement
⁠
⁠
People analytics
⁠




Gallery
Share
 
Want to print your doc?
This is not the way.
Try clicking the ⋯ next to your doc name or using a keyboard shortcut (
CtrlP
) instead.