How To Have More Effective Virtual Meetings
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Many organizations are not winning when it comes to virtual meetings.
There’s too many of them, they’re expensive, meandering, employees say they’re time-wasters, and we’ve all attended plenty that “could’ve been an email.”
According to a study by Attentiv, “America Meets a Lot: An Analysis of Meeting Length, Frequency, and Cost”, over 24 billion hours are wasted per fiscal year on meetings deemed unproductive by employees.
Attentiv. “America Meets a Lot. An Analysis of Meeting Length, Frequency and Cost.”
Inefficient, excessive meetings are costing employees their sanity, and they’re costing organizations a lot of money.
The work landscape has changed and more meetings than ever are virtual these days.
It’s ultra-important for leaders to find efficient, creative ways to make these meetings suck less and be more productive across the board.
Without further ado, and in no particular order, here are a handful of ways to make virtual meetings more effective:
1. Have “Machete Meetings.”
This idea is actually something that we implemented inside my company to prevent meetings from dragging on forever. We designate certain meetings on the calendar as “machete meetings” (yes, machete as in chop, chop). Machete meetings are created to be strictly agenda-only items. No check-ins, no idle talk. The point is to get everyone off the call as soon as possible.
2. Less is (sometimes) more.
Always have less people on meetings if it’s possible. Everyone spends so much time in meetings that don’t apply to them. Make sure that people who are not pertinent to the meeting are not required to go, or stay the entire time.
A challenge: Often, when someone is in a meeting and realize nothing on the agenda has to do with them, they stay because they don’t want to interrupt or be impolite. Create some language together as a team for employees to have a signal to leave a meeting quickly that does not pertain to them or once their part is finished up.
For example — a team member is ready to leave a meeting they don’t need to be in. they just pipe up an say “Hey all, I’m going to go fishing.” That’s the code for them to exit. Everyone on the team knows that they are welcome to “go fishing” when meetings do not pertain to them, and it’s a fun way to allow folks to politely and quickly exit meetings.
3. Establish signals and codes.
Piggy-backing on #2, coming up with common language and some unspoken signals is super helpful for teams. On our team we have one for redirecting a conversation and getting a discussion back on track called “shiny things”. Any time we realize we are off topic during a meeting, someone says “Shiny things!” as in, “We’re chasing this thing that seems interesting and it’s distracting us”. We’ve found it to be a fun, casual way to get everyone refocused.
Another signal we implemented is for ending meetings. Near the end of a meeting, anyone can put a hand up and stop talking which means they’re done with the meeting and have nothing else to say. As people realize that other’s hands are up, they all put their hands up. Once everyone’s hand is in the air, the meeting ends immediately.
These signals are important for teams because they allow people to communicate messages that can often times be awkward or intimidating to say out loud. Having “codes” and common language allows everyone to feel like they have the means to communicate important, relevant things which saves time and possible frustration.
4. Create rules of engagement.
Creating rules of engagement and norms for what is expected of people during meetings is extremely helpful to teams looking to make virtual meetings less of a headache.
They don’t have to be extremely rigid rules, but proactively creating some ground rules helps set expectations for folks joining the meeting. For example, are employees expected to have their camera on, or can they keep it off? When people are talking is it important for people to be attentive and not distracted? Be clear about some expectations beforehand to create clarity and some ground rules to make sure everyone is on the same page when it comes to conduct.
5. Make time for ‘water cooler talk.’
One of the reasons I think that virtual meetings are less productive is because without being in a physical office, team members have less chance to connect and catch up with ‘water cooler’ and hallway chat.
If you find that random chatting is getting in the way of being productive during meetings, set up intentional time for folks to chat about whatever they want.
Maybe that looks like a weekly 15-20 minute optional, open Zoom meeting for team members to join and chat about TV shows, sports, or whatever they want. Try out a meeting purposely for people to have the chance to check in and talk about random, idle stuff that has nothing to do with work.
Doing this helps facilitate personal connection and bonding, gets that kind of chat out of the way, and gives a chance for teammates to see each other if they don’t get to every day in the office.
A necessary evil that doesn’t have to suck.
Whether or not you hate meetings, they are a pretty necessary part of every virtual, hybrid, or in-person team. While virtual meetings can be a source of frustration for teams, it’s easy to implement creative ways to make meetings more productive and tolerable.
Identify pain points among your team when it comes to meetings, ask what is and isn’t working, and build from there.
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This article was created by Galen Emanuele for the #culturedrop. Free leadership and team culture content in less than 5 minutes a week. Check out the rest of this month's content and subscribe to the Culture Drop at https://bit.ly/culturedrop