Run online meetings like a boss
I read an e-mail newsletter from Dorie Clark (a New York based consultant). I thought she summarised the first three weeks for leaders rather well.
Week 1: This is crazy and frightening.
Week 2: We need community. Let's set up a million Zoom calls! (Also, how do I fix the lighting on my Zoom calls?)
Week 3: I f***ing hate Zoom.
Zoom (or whatever your poison is - Microsoft teams/skype/skype for business) is a great enabler, although what I hear is that we are now working even longer. I spoke with a manager last week who had spent 7 hours straight in zoom meetings. I was impressed with his continued engagement in our conversation. I felt exhausted at the thought.
What online meetings are doing is amplifying more than ever we need to make our meetings, both online and offline, work for us. Here are some tips I share with bosses to help
Shrink the number in your meetings. Only have people there that need to be there. Otherwise you are going to have a lot checking of e-mails during the conversation. A good rule of thumb I read in Harvard Business Review is to follow an 8-18-1800 rule for attendees. 8 to solve a problem or make a decision, 18 for brain storming (for this use break out rooms and the think/pair/share technique), for an update invite as many you need to
Limit the time you are on the call. Parkinson’s Law says that “work will fill the space that is allocated to it.” The same goes for meetings. Schedule 30-minutes, a meeting will last that long. We tend to make meetings 60-minutes as we work our days in hours, but is that really needed? The research says, for online, if longer than 90-minutes and you have lost everyone. A magic thing about a Zoom’s free account is if you have more than two people on, you are limited to 40-minutes. To be honest I often feel relief when I see the countdown timer start up.
Have a break between meetings. At least 15 minutes to allow your brain to reset (and this can work well if you have a zoom 40-minute timer). Whilst we are all losing sense of time try to keep things to a normal working week and hours.
Ensure the purpose of the meeting is clear. If there isn’t one, your meeting will be a waste of time. I encourage all the bosses to ask for a PPO. And if there isn’t one cancel the meeting or don’t go. A PPO is (1) Purpose = the problem we are trying to solve (2) Process = the rules of what is in and out of this meeting to ensure it is efficient. What increases our chances of success? (3) Outcome = what does success look like, so it has been the best use of everyone’s time. To round it out we don’t need a to do list, focus on confirming the top 3 actions at the end.
Follow the basic online meeting rules etiquette. Dress for your meeting. Silence your mic unless talking. Silence your phone and e-mail pings. Keep your camera off if you are doing something distracting. Have someone facilitate to ensure everyone gets heard/a chance to speak and know that not everyone has to talk. Thanks to Brené Brown one great way to give everyone chance to contribute is at the end of the call ask for one word how everyone is feeling.
Tom Peters says “Like it or not, boss, meetings are what you do. Every meeting that does not stir the imagination AND curiosity of attendees AND increase bonding AND engagement is a lost opportunity.” So boss, it’s time to make our meetings work harder.