Feature
Some time ago, a reader emailed me to ask about distractions during team meetings. While he had read my previous articles on the subject, he wondered “How can you apply it when the team is remote? Rapport and trust are crucial but also difficult to establish in a purely virtual way.”
His concern resonates among digital workplaces worldwide that face the same challenge.
Now that digital workplaces are a norm, new employees are digitally onboarded, and many coworkers have never met each other in person. Employers are eager to foster company loyalty among employees who have felt more empowered to fight for a positive work environment since the COVID-19 pandemic: One survey found that 54.8% of 200,000 working professionals across industries and countries “have considered, or are considering, leaving their jobs for a company who cares more about their mental health and overall well-being.”
A fresh approach to virtual meetings is a strong step organizations can take to support dispersed teams, create a positive digital workplace and improve productivity.
Here’s how to hold distraction-free, engaging virtual meetings that build employee trust.
Show Employees Their Time and Mental Health Is Valued
Respect your employees’ time and well-being: Slash unnecessary meetings!
Conservative scheduling improves an organization’s bottom line, reduces distraction and promotes a healthy, functional workplace. It also boosts employees’ trust that their leadership and coworkers respect their time and mental health.
Studies have shown that spending hours or all day in videoconferences leads to fatigue. That’s partly because the cognitive load is much higher than during an audio-only or in-person meeting.
Yes, there are ways employers can make virtual meetings with video more engaging and worthwhile for employees; I mention a few below. But companies shouldn’t skip cutting superfluous meetings, which promotes strong communication among virtual teams, without burnout.
Related Article: How Organizations Can Subtract Their Way to Success
6 Tips for Effective Virtual Meetings
After cutting superfluous meetings, use these tips to build an approach to effective, community-building, distraction-free virtual meetings.
1. Standardize Virtual Meetings With Video
Organizations that have a phone-call culture should advocate for a switch to video calls — with the video on.
While studies show that too many virtual meetings with video can lead to fatigue and lower productivity, an organization that is conservative about scheduling meetings shouldn’t be affected.
In small doses, video calls increase engagement. A Zoom survey found that 67% of professionals said having video on allows them to “create deeper, more trusting connections with colleagues”; 75% reported feeling more connected when their camera is on, and the same percentage said video improves the quality of the discussion.
Here’s a tip for hybrid workplaces: In virtual meetings featuring some employees at home and some in the office, ask everyone to tune in on their device to see each other’s full face. If in-office participants share a screen, they appear distant, reducing the intimacy of a meeting.
2. Keep a Brisk Pace
If employees are zoning out during meetings, the meeting may be taking too long or doesn’t apply to them.
Companies can combat boredom in two steps. First, they have to adopt the belief that meetings serve one purpose only: to reach a consensus on an issue. (Updates that could have been an email, brainstorms and social engagements do not qualify.)
Second, the person who calls a meeting should be required to create a meeting agenda, which will keep the meeting on track, and write a briefing document that attempts to solve the issue.
The briefing document also helps everyone get up to speed before the meeting and make a decision faster.
There’s no need to present mind-numbing slides or a lecture when everyone already knows what decisions must be made.
At Amazon, meetings start with time set aside for reading the briefing document. The rest of the meeting is spent deciding the course of action based on the briefing document’s recommendation. Everyone chimes in to build a shared commitment around the team's next steps.
Related Article: What Are Meetings Costing You?
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3. Allow Employees to Decide if They Should Be There
Encourage workers to be fully present by giving them the autonomy to decide if they attend a meeting. The meeting agenda and briefing document filter out employees who aren’t involved, which keeps meetings as tight and intimate as possible.
Once the meeting begins, the host can repeat that participants who are not needed to reach a consensus are free to hop off the call.
4. Establish Guidelines for Participation
Have you ever asked, “Does anyone have any questions?” on a video call and heard crickets? It may just be that participants didn’t know whether they should come off mute and speak, type their questions in the chat or in the Q&A box, or raise their hands.
Establish standard participation practices and repeat them at the beginning of each meeting: “If anyone has a question or wants to jump in, please use the Raise Hand button.”
Related Article: Courage Coach: How to Stop One Person From Dominating Virtual Meetings
5. Ask Questions to Increase Engagement
Inspire interactivity by using the Socratic method and asking the team questions.
Take a cue from reporters and expert interviewers: Ask one simple question at a time. Avoid double-barreled questions like “What are your thoughts on option A versus B? And can we launch this seamlessly?” People will lose their train of thought.
Rather than ask a yes-or-no question like “Do you agree?” try posing open-ended questions that begin with “what” or “how,” such as “How would you approach this issue?”
6. Use the 10-Second Pause to Spark Conversation
When the same person drones on in a meeting, employees will turn to their email, internet tabs or otherwise multitask. A mix of voices keeps a video call engaging, so the host should pause to encourage people to speak — even when the silence seems daunting!
Plus, when a connection lag prevents participants from hearing a speaker’s full thought for a moment, a pause will facilitate smoother communication without accidental interruptions.
By taking these steps, organizations can transform virtual meetings from soul-sucking obligations to dynamic hubs of collaboration.