Agree that organizing and holding an effective personal meeting is sometimes quite difficult. The task became more complicated when, suddenly, we had to switch to remote work mode and try to effectively hold all work and personal meetings online.
Discussing current company affairs, presentations, clients and reports – all this with unstable video/audio communication, distraction from household chores and stress from everything happening in the world.
It will take some effort to build the best communication experience in today’s virtual world.
Here are some techniques you can use to make your online meetings effective and comfortable.
Be an empathetic leader
As the meeting organizer, you have a great buy telemarketing data responsibility to lead all participants to a successful outcome.
So, as an organizer and leader of an online meeting, remember to be empathetic. Your job as a mentor is to guide participants in the right direction, because in such a situation, every conversation is more stressful and distracting than usual.
One great tool that can help you show empathy is to do a “check-in” at the beginning of each meeting. You can start with a simple “How are you all doing?”
Take time for yourself
If you’re leading a meeting, you’ll need a little more focus and concentration than everyone else. Take a deep breath before you start the meeting, or do a 5-minute calming meditation.
Start the meeting with a clear question.
Don’t rush into a meeting and immediately start solving work issues. Start the meeting with a casual and easy conversation, involve all participa here are examples, functions, and how to make one nts in this conversation. For example, ask them not just “How are you?”, but “Colleagues, have you had a chance to get some fresh air today?”
Make a personal connection
As soon as you are online, say hello and thank each person for being there, using their name. People want to feel seen and heard.
As a leader, you also control the first thing your participants see in an online meeting: your smiling face! So turn on your camera and ask your meeting participants to do the same if they feel comfortable doing so. If not, that’s okay. But your camera should be on so that participants can easily follow what you’re saying and feel connected to you.
Make sure you maintain eye contact by looking directly at the camera.
Reduce meeting time
Many of us are under extra pressure to be productive and contribute to the company during these difficult times. This can lead to a remote workday that is overloaded and leaves no breaks. The fact that in most cases there is no distinction between home and work environments makes the situation even more stressful.
The best way to show compassion for yourself and dating data your colleagues in this situation is to make room in your day by moving meetings from the standard 30/60 minutes to a new default of 25/50 minutes. This idea was first proposed by David Silverman in a 2009 Harvard Business Review article.
Additionally, some calendars and schedulers allow you to customize and change the default meeting length. Simply enlist the help of people in your organization to implement a new meeting format and see what the return on investment is in terms of productivity and positive emotions.
Create conditions for cooperation
Every speech should serve a purpose. If there is no need to persuade, there is no need to present.
Likewise, when you are running a meeting, you must work towards an end goal, and you will need the involvement of all meeting participants to achieve it.
If you’re thinking, “No, I don’t really need their input,” then you can build a good reputation by simply sending an email or updating a video.
Virtual collaboration is challenging, but it’s entirely doable if you guide your participants.