A big part of the success of remote work is the virtual meeting. It has emerged as the most important method for teams to stay connected, troubleshoot, and discuss any important issues that come up. Yet even though the technology has been steadily improving, we’re still stuck in the 1990s when it comes to some outdated practices.
To make sure that your virtual meetings are adding value and velocity to your projects, you need to do three things:
The quality of the relationships among the people in a meeting determines the quality of the conversations that will occur during the meeting. That’s why it’s important to set aside time to build relationships among team members.
Make it a practice for the conference lines to be open 10 minutes early. Ask someone to be there to greet and talk with people once the lines are open. If you’re leading the meeting, be prepared so that you can spend time chatting rather than answering emails or reviewing your notes. Encourage others to show up early and converse.
Then, at the beginning of each meeting, ask three people to take a couple of minutes to share what’s happening with them. These are my favorite prompts to start this brief conversation:
When you refer to earlier comments, acknowledge the people who said them. Keep a chart next to you so that it’s easy to remember who’s out there. People love to be recognized, and in virtual meetings, it helps with the sense of community that is diminished by not being in the same space. As a practice, it also pulls meeting participants into a zone of being more attentive and thoughtful.
Virtual meetings can be enhanced by having a clear agenda that allows people to understand how the meeting will be conducted. An agenda lets your participants think about and prepare for each topic. This is particularly important for those who speak English as a second language. If people can prepare, they can participate more fully and powerfully. Expecting people to develop their thinking and then express it in the moment, during a meeting, is expecting too much.
The agenda doesn’t need to be elaborate. For each topic, answer these questions:
The process of getting broad participation and checking to see if everyone has had a chance to express their views and ask their questions takes time—lots of time. You don’t want to feel any pressure to get through an agenda. Clarity and alignment will be sacrificed if you or your team members feel rushed. You can always end early if the time is not needed.
Ask yourself these questions:
Part of feeling included and adding value in a group is being self-expressed—having the opportunity to share what you are thinking about the topic. Being self-expressed can be difficult when you’re in the same room, and it’s even harder to do virtually. Letting people know that you want broad participation is the first step; calling on people strategically and gently is the second step. Knowing ahead of time who you want to get into the conversation for each topic will make this easy.
Virtual meetings require a stronger leadership approach, because you don’t have access to the nonverbal cues about whether people have questions or would like to get into the conversation. These meetings also require more empathy and thoughtfulness on your part, because people have a sense of being less connected than when they are in the same room.
Ask for the permission you need to be able to relax and enjoy leading the meeting. This is what I usually ask for:
I also let people know that while I have a plan for the meeting, I’m very open to their coaching and ideas on making the meeting work for everyone.
Asking for what you want gives you the opportunity to guide the group without making anyone wrong. It also gives the group permission to step outside of their normal ways of interacting and participate authentically. It’s easy to be ourselves in small groups of four or five people over coffee. In larger groups and virtual groups, the conversation needs to be set up to be safe and effective.
Consider covering these points in your opening:
With your permission, I intend to manage our conversation today in a deliberate fashion so that we stay on track and make sure everyone gets heard. Please don’t interpret this to mean that I intend to be heavy-handed. Just take it to mean I’d like more freedom in keeping the conversation focused and permission to call on people to ensure we have everyone’s questions and views expressed before we end a topic.
In each conversation, I’d like to ask certain people to start the topic off. I’ve made notes on who I think might be impacted and will check with each of you. Of course, if you want to add something and I haven’t called on you, please do so. You always have permission to get into any conversation if your ideas, questions, and views have not yet been expressed.
Then, manage the conversation thoughtfully.
Without being able to see people as they speak, it’s not only harder to hear, it’s more difficult to process what is being said. Speaking succinctly will help, and a calmer pace will provide openings for people to ask their questions. Keep track of who has spoken to help remind you about who you might invite to add to the conversation.
Consider adding a process step to check for clarity on each topic. Without visual clues, you can’t always tell when people are not understanding or agreeing. If you have people with different language or cultural backgrounds, getting to clarity and alignment may require more time for going back and forth.
Use the five elements of closure, as follows:
As our work environments continue to move outside the office, it’s vital to get virtual meetings right. It is no longer acceptable to sit and multitask to get other work done while you listen in. Of course, the person who calls and leads the meeting is accountable for making it effective. Given the extra difficulty of virtual meetings, we can all make a difference by preparing, asking questions, and sharing our thinking.
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Paul Axtell is an author, speaker, and corporate trainer. He is the author of two award-winning books: Meetings Matter and Ten Powerful Things to Say to Your Kids, now in its second edition. His most recent books are Making Virtual Meetings Matter and Compassionate Leadership.
Adapted from content posted on hbr.org, April 14, 2016 (product #H02T9L).