Ensuring the success of our calls/videos/other interactive telecoms is more important than ever in our current situation, where many of us are working from home. And also for the future as it’s anybody’s guess as to whether we will have changed our working patterns so much at the end of this crisis that this will be the new norm, or whether we’ll throw it all out in our excitement to get back to being with people again. I’m hearing both views, but definitely think, as we also consider our environment and carbon footprint, that technology-driven communication platforms are going to be part of all of our lives form now.
I’ve been using such technology for many years, given my corporate career in multinationals such as Unilever, and especially when I moved to Save the Children International and then the British Council – where we needed to connect internationally, but could not justify the spend to be constantly shunting people all around the world for meetings. It’s amazing how the technology has moved on, especially recently, so much so that we can communicate with large numbers of people in different locations at a low cost and with relatively few technical problems. In fact, the problems often arise from our behaviours, and that’s what I’d like to explore in this blog: reasons for those problems, as well as solutions.
It's an interesting phenomenon but, more so than in physical meetings, when we are on the end of a call we tend to feel we have to get our point in quickly, and also loudly. Or at the other extreme, we clam up and when we do speak it’s a real effort for everyone else to hear. We have the problem of trying to speak at the same time as another (tricky to avoid at times), or of getting no reaction at all and wondering if our question is going into a black hole somewhere. Then there are the usual meeting problems of wondering what the meeting’s actually for, not keeping to time, and filling the time when things could be managed much more efficiently.
The key aspects to making virtual meetings a success are:
Preparation
It’s key to have an agenda for the meeting (or an objective at least – say, if it’s a brainstorm or an induction meeting). For a structured agenda, allocated timings per agenda point and a realistic agenda are critical. If the time allocated does not match the content, then you need to plan again! Be clear on what you expect the outcomes of the meeting to be – is this to make a decision, for information, or some other purpose? And think about pre-reading, and ensuring people have that in time and you don’t go through it all in detail in the meeting again. Be clear who the chair is, and a note-taker is generally helpful.
Chairing
The role of the chair is not to have the best opinions or to dominate the discussion, in any meeting, but rather to guide and include the participants to facilitate the best possible outcome. For virtual meetings this is critical. By managing the proceedings, as chair you can ensure everyone has a voice – either by inviting each to speak, or clarifying when more than one person starts to speak, and by ensuring no one is forgotten. In my experience, when a number of people are in one location, they often forget the minority outside the room. This is a less likely situation nowadays but serves the point. By inviting the ‘minority’ voice to speak first, you immediately create a sense of inclusion. Managing the time during the meeting is key – long virtual meetings can be particularly difficult in terms of maintaining energy – as is setting the tone: speaking clearly whilst not shouting, no favourites, and managing to create a sense of calm yet purpose.
Behavioural reinforcement
When people start to realise that you will begin meetings on time, you will allow everyone to have their say (because you have time, because you planned properly), you expect people to speak up or will invite them, their behaviours will start to change. They are more likely to arrive on time (they are looking forward to the meeting), they will be more relaxed and not feel they have to get their point in quick, and they will also know there is nowhere to hide. If someone interrupts someone else you will be swift to point that out and ask them to wait their turn, and any other unacceptable behaviours won’t be tolerated. Those behaviours should soon die out.
Given a lot of our communication over the coming months is likely to be in the form of virtual meetings, whilst not a point of etiquette, it’s also worth thinking about how you can make your meetings more fun, introduce different elements and indeed additional meetings of a more informal and social nature. We’re certainly going to need something to keep us all sane whilst we have limited human contact, so let’s get creative, and see you for virtual drinks and canapes later!
