Virtual meetings
Discover the new face-to-face meeting
Face-to-face meetings will not be replaced. They provide a sense of intimacy, connection, and empathy that is difficult to replace with video. Ninety-three percent of communication effectiveness is determined by facial expressions and body language - non-verbal cues. I enjoy meeting people in-person, getting to know them intimately --- and finding common interests which leads to building a more authentic and trustworthy relationship.
How do we replicate the best practices of the face-to-face meeting into a virtual meeting? As businesses open up, in-person will slowly come back, but people will assess the value/risk of each meeting and plan. The advantage of video conferencing is that people can participate from anywhere, saving time and money. The process is the same for virtual as it is for face-to-face meetings – research, preparation, presentation, and follow up. Here are ideas to help achieve the best virtual meeting.
Create Virtual Meeting Success Strategy
Prepare for meeting
Send agenda and accompanying materials for pre-read.
Set maximum time limit – 30 minutes. If longer, incorporate breaks.
Limit individual presentations to 10 minutes or less.
Utilize online brainstorming tools to collect ideas between sessions. Use meetings to review and discuss.
Consider younger employees living conditions (small crowded studios). Issues with coworkers viewing space? Set guidelines to limit team videos to weekly. Allow employees the audio only option. Is video always necessary? Ask how they would like to communicate.
Unorganized meetings with no clear agenda/time limit are boring and go on forever. During the current pandemic, people are dealing with children at home (young and adult), job losses, and extreme anxiety every day. A good leader spends time planning the most efficient, goal-oriented session that saves time, is focused, and keeps moving. Employees should do their homework ahead of time. What can you contribute? What can you learn?
Engage participants
Start weekly meetings with one-minute share by all – weekend, projects, family, pets, etc.
Reach out to people ahead of time. Share meeting goals and get questions, issues, and input.
To avoid dominant participants, call on specific people.
Encourage collaborative problem solving. Leaders suggests a topic and the team works together to resolve issues. This can be facilitated outside the meeting and shared subsequently.
Not everyone enjoys participating on video calls. A leader is responsible for making everyone feel comfortable and connected. Conduct weekly personal/professional check-ins with each team member. Allow different participants to prepare agenda. The more involvement people have, the more vested they are in a successful outcome.
Learn to Listen Empathically
Listen with intent
Your undivided attention is critical. No distractions, devices, or multitasking. Be aware of speaker’s body language.
Make eye contact and react authentically to the speaker.
Be open to another point of view and understand speaker’s perspective. Withhold judgement and advice.
Don’t relate issues back to you. Listen as people share and don’t reiterate a similar story.
Paraphrase to ensure greater understanding and clarity.
Connecting the dots demonstrates effective listening and helps people understand the bigger picture.
Embrace silence – good listening allows for people to collect their thoughts, feelings, and process information.
Listening is how you develop understanding, strengthen ties, create better connections, and show you care. People want recognition, understanding, acceptance, and to feel valued.
Stephen R. Covey’s book entitled “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” suggests that we should first seek to understand, then to be understood. Empathic listening means understanding how people feel, see the world as they see it, listen with intent to understand, and listen with your ears, eyes, and heart. You don’t need to agree to understand. This builds trust and “real” relationships.
Ask open-ended questions
Ask questions to show genuine interest.
Ask difficult questions. Team needs permission to discuss sensitive issues, otherwise they make invalid assumptions or draw inaccurate conclusions.
Give people the opportunity to respond. Set aside enough time to answer. Perhaps two-minute limit each.
Pose the right questions. Leaders craft a series of questions that will encourage open participation.
Consider follow-up questions to learn more.
Asking questions provides the opportunity to share something personal. As a business development person, my favorite conversations were the ones where they did the most talking and I listened. Think about it. Everyone wants to talk about themselves. Asking open-ended questions makes a better listener. Spend time crafting the perfect questions demonstrating respect by soliciting opinions and ideas.
Educate Team on Virtual Etiquette Rules
Set meeting etiquette guidelines
Establish individual expectations. Be respectful, be on time, don’t interrupt speaker, speak clearly, and dress professionally.
Send email invitation with all pertinent information including:
Agenda (identify meeting goals)
Attendees
All pre-reads (mandatory)
Meeting technology
Call-in details
Assign facilitator to ensure all voices are heard.
Successful virtual meeting are based on a clear understanding of goals. Select the right technology, respect speaker’s time, and participant engagement. Assign additional roles to ensure involvement such as timekeeper, notetaker, technology support, conversation assistant (handle chat box), and rotate agenda responsibilities. Successful meetings require a vested interest.
Share pro tips for video success
Decide on the best video technology such as Zoom, Skype, WebEx, Join.Me, GoToMeeting, etc.
Get comfortable with chosen technology. Know how to:
Mute/unmute people
Send join links
Manage chat
Make someone presenter
Start breakout sessions
Test technology ahead of time
Create online space meeting material – place to post reports, pre-read, and link to remote technology. All attendees need to know how to access online repository by including link in meeting request.
Pro-Tips
Turn camera on.
Check for good angle and lighting.
Sit still – don’t pace.
Be focused, pay attention, and be present.
No eating or drinking.
Close office door, turn off phone, close windows on computer.
Keep family and pets away.
Stay on mute when not talking.
Don’t multitask – don’t check email, text, stop notifications and twitter alerts, etc.
Remind employees to make direct eye contact with webcam. Focus on camera, not colleagues.
Frame yourself – head and top of shoulders dominate the screen.
Check background – remove clutter and distracting elements.
Adjust chair height so camera is at eye level.
People need to meet in-person to form “real” relationships. This is especially true in the beginning. Whether it is a meeting, conference, dinner, cocktails – this is how humans connect. Today we are on a break from face-to-face and the next best thing is video.
Now is the perfect opportunity to gain important insight into the remote workforce. Evaluate what does and doesn’t work for the company and get valuable feedback. Think about what remote working means to employees – better housing, less commuting, keeping safe with physical distancing, work and childcare flexibility, autonomy, work from anywhere, more family time, happier, and healthier employees. Possible company benefits include: an expanded talent pool, improved workplace satisfaction, enhanced productivity, employee retention, higher profitability, and increased engagement levels.
Remote working in various forms is here to stay. Everyone has a different challenge based on personalities, culture, creativity, and job functions. The solution will be unique to each company. The hybrid home/in-office model makes sense for many companies. We are in the early stages of the work from home experiment with much to learn. Continually innovating and reevaluating will hopefully lead to a better live/work future.
Please share your lockdown stories. What was the most positive experience that happened to you/what are you most grateful for?