An A4 page, a Post-it Note and a large Stamp go into a bar, I mean a Teams Meeting…
Which one is going to struggle to order a beer—I mean persuade people of what they want them to believe? The post-it note or the stamp?
What’s your answer?
This is the post-Covid world. Now, 320 million of us use Microsoft Teams. Sadly, with the average laptop screen size being 14″ and most meetings involving presenting slides, we are now a large stamp.
In essence, we have gone from persuading people of whatever we wanted them to think by standing up pointing at a screen and watching them twitch, move, and itch, to now not having the first dam clue what they are thinking because they are large stamps. Specifically, they are a book of large stamps. Plus, for most people, presentations are now a fabulous opportunity to get some emails done.
I’m afraid that the biggest learning virtual meetings have provided is how to do our emails whilst feigning interest when someone presents.” -Darren
Here’s One Solution to the Problem
So, what’s the option? Call them out—yes, possibly.
“Mark, you’re doing your emails. I can see your eyes reading,” you say a bit schoolteacher-ish. And if you do, you need to never do your emails whilst watching a presentation. But unfortunately, you will. So are we all doomed? Possibly.
We’re reduced to a world of stamps where we can abandon any idea of knowing what the audience really thinks because half aren’t listening. And for the other half, we can barely see them because most don’t even take up the whole stamp or are at a funny angle watching on another screen. The apocalypse is here but not as we thought. The stamps have taken over!
Is It the Zombie Stamp Era?
Just before we start looking for the zombie stamps, there is hope. It’s the same hope as before, only a little different. That is, we need to get better at presenting.
Meh, I hear you moan. Yep, meh!
Well, we were poor at it before, and sadly we’re still poor at it. Now, the only difference is that it has gone from being darn important to critical to career success.
Thinking positively, in a sea of stamps, what if we were the stamp that stood out? The Penny Black. “Roger’s presentations are always worth attending”. Not possible? Well, as Ted Lasso says, “I’m possible”. So could you be ‘Roger’?
If You Want to Be Roger Among Stamps, You Have 3 Options:
Option #1:
First, get great at creating engaging presentations. Use more slides. Yes, I said it. But use focus. Also, watch the Ted Talk below ‘How to Avoid Death by PowerPoint’ to understand focus.
Click to watch the video on YouTube
Option #2:
Secondly, get great at delivering better. Practise. Use pauses more, use fewer words, vary your volume, and use different tones. No-one practises. Hence, it is key to standing out as a stamp.
Option #3:
Don’t use slides. “Do you want to take-away my left arm?” I know, shock, horror. Instead, use props. Write on a pad and show it to the screen. Additionally, use Teams whiteboard or break out rooms. In fact, use anything other than slides.
Do all of the above, if you want to be a stamp that stands out, like Roger.
In short, there are some principles you should adhere to, but in the main, you are the chair and you should speak as the leader of that group. You set an example to be followed.
There are a few rules you should try to follow when being the chair of a meeting
In terms of what you specifically say is around the following principles:
How to start a meeting: Welcoming and introducing people that are new or do not know each other.
Sharing the agenda, or inviting items for the agenda.
Agreeing on the ground rules of how the meeting will be conducted. For example, how the group deals with covid for each other, e.g. social distancing, should that still be a relevant issue.
Identifying who and how the agreed actions will be taken and when they will be circulated.
Reiterating the end time of the meeting.
Conveying the objectives of the meeting.
How to end a meeting: Reading the agreed actions to check for ambiguity or disagreement, and possibly having an evaluation where you ask each person for one thing that this meeting could have done better.
Many of the above are only used for long, important, or more formal meetings. Usually, the chair of a meeting in an office that is about 5 people, for 1 hour, is more discussion and less formality. The meaning of a chair is to lead the meeting, set an example, and steer the attendees to achieve the objective/s. A confident chair knows what they want to achieve, how they will steer the attendees to doing so, and manages the conflicts carefully.
Most meetings are informal and in a meeting room with your colleagues, so there is no formal opening, yet you could use the more formal that follows as a basis to begin. Usually reserved for large, important, or more official meetings, this is how I suggest you begin:
Step #1: Start With a Quick Introduction to Make Everyone Feel Comfortable
Begin, or open, a meeting, whether it is face-to-face or online, by introducing yourself, and greeting everyone, and making introductions to those that don’t know each other.
Self-introductions is a good way to start the flow of the meeting
For example: ‘Hello everybody, and thank you for joining. My name is Darren and I have the task of guiding us to achieve our objective today. I suggest everyone takes a few moments to introduce themselves by just saying their name, title, and where they work. Is that ok?’
Be careful because some people will say something like, ‘Oh, I’m not sure. I’ll be quick. My name is John and I work in Engineering over in Building C, and I’m here…’. Then Joh speaks for 2-minutes. Others that follow then believe that they need to do the same. Before you know it one-quarter of the meeting has disappeared in introductions.
My tactic for dealing with this is after John speaks, cut in and say, ‘Thank you, John. We’ll need to pick up speed because I don’t want to keep you later than our agreed time’. This lets the attendees know that if they speak a lot we will be delayed.
Once the introductions are complete, step 2 is to share the subject.
Step #2: Sharing the Subject with the Group so that Everyone is on the Same Page and for How Long
For example:
‘Now that everyone knows everyone, our meeting today is about managing the redundancy process effectively and with kindness. Our scheduled time to end is 3 pm. What questions do you have about either why we are here or our end-time?’.
By using an open question (A question that began with ‘what questions…’ you invite more responses than if you used a closed question like ‘Does anyone have any questions about the objective or the time?’. A good chair knows when to use open questions and when to use closed questions.
Step #3: Agreeing How the Meeting will Be Conducted
There are three approaches to how the meeting will be conducted:
The first is to dive straight into the meeting and deal with items of how the meeting is going, as they arise. For example, people talking over each other – you step-in as the chair, and ask Mike to speak, and then we’ll come to Sarah. As a chair you are a little like traffic lights, encouraging (green light) and stopping (red light) the verbal traffic,
The second approach is to have a list of rules that you share with the attendees and ask them to adhere to. For example, no talking over each other, end on time, and actions captured & sent by the end of today. It helps to write these on a flipchart or a slide so that the attendees can read them for themselves. Remember that they can read x7 times faster than you can speak, so don’t read your slides – just add highlights. For example, ‘Number 4 is the most important’.
Brainstorm with the group the ‘ground rules’ or ‘rules of engagement’. Again, these should be captured in a place that everyone can see. You will need to manage the verbal traffic. Encouraging those that do not speak, to do so, and those that are very vocal, to speak a little less. Much of the traffic management can be managed with simple hand gestures, like a police person stopping traffic and waving traffic. It just has to be done very gently.
Decide which approach to use to conduct the meeting
Step #4: Closing the Meeting Successfully with Agreed Next Steps
There are 3 simple parts to closing a meeting:
Actions (Also known as the ‘minutes’): The actions can be read out to the group so that everyone is clear on what they are doing next. This is good practice. Just bear in mind that A takes a while to do, and B can resurrect discussions that you thought were closed. Agree on who will send the actions and by when. Ideally, they should be sent on the same day.
Evaluation: An evaluation is a good practice. Again, be careful how long it takes because some people can be very vocal and want to fundamentally change the structure of meetings everywhere, because meetings for them, are largely unproductive, and this is their platform to speak. My preferred evaluation is a simple one. For example, ‘I’d like to evaluate this meeting, giving everyone 20 seconds to share one thing that they would like improved. Is everyone good with this?’.
Thank you: A thank you goes a long way. Thanking everyone for their time, attendance, and if the discussions have been tough, then a thank you for everyone’s passion and a reminder that ‘we are all on the same side and fighting for the same thing.
How Do You Successfully Chair a Meeting?
These chairing a meeting 5 tips will help you to have ‘chairing a meeting’ skills and understand what is the role of a chairperson in a meeting and what is involved in being a chairperson:
1. Do Your Preparation
In everyday meetings, this is not always realistic, but let’s say that this is an important meeting with 12 attendees. The cost of the meeting, though not transparent is a lot. You only need 10 people with an average salary of £50k meeting for 1-hour and the cost is hidden, yet expensive, which means that the meeting needs to deliver a return on investment.
Preparation for a chairperson or a facilitator is like a good football referee. You want to ensure that football is play – the meeting keeps moving along – without getting stuck on a topic, or for foul play to stop play – interruptions, mobiles ringing, ‘I must go to another meeting’, etc.
Your preparation must include answering these questions:
Is the room ready & appropriate, and with the right & working equipment?
Are the attendees aware of why they are attending and what is expected of them?
Has the agenda been circulated beforehand to manage expectations?
What ground rules will you suggest to the group for them to build upon?
How well do you know how to make the ‘car park’ work? (See below).
How will you handle potential phones ringing, interruptions, late attendees or early attendees?
Have you given yourself a buffer, in case discussions are prolonged and you cannot get it all done on the time given?
2. Know What the Group Want to Achieve
Stephen Covey, the author of ‘The 7 Habits of Highly Effective people’ said in Habit #2 – ‘Begin with the end in mind’. In essence, he was sharing with us that if we can look forward into the future to what we want to achieve, then the present is about making every step towards delivering that future. Successful chairmanship is about achieving the objectives. Getting done what everyone wants to get done in that meeting.
Having a clear goal for the meeting is key to success
The reality is that it is harder said than done. This is because most informal everyday office meetings happen too frequently and the business moves at too much speed, for an objective of the meeting to be agreed upon at every meeting. You may argue that if each meeting had an objective we might achieve more. You’d be right. Meetings have been happening for so long and are such habitual behaviour that we have to be practical about what is possible. And that is to make reasonable changes to the meeting protocol that will make the biggest changes.
Realistically, we could spend a minute or two, at the start of the meeting agreeing with the group on one simple and overriding objective. Accepting that there are many discussions to be had and many smaller objectives to be achieved, yet one common objective would keep the group on track. For example, if the group was meeting to discuss sales performance then the objective of the meeting might be to have 3 new and practical ideas to find new leads. The chairperson should write this onto a flipchart (The power of the pen – Don’t underestimate that whom has the pen and stands next to the flipchart has the power!).
3. Capture the Actions
Of all the elements of a meeting, this is the most important. This is because meetings can become ‘talk shops’ where lots is discussed, yet little is achieved. As someone once said, ‘Meetings are where the hours are lost and the minutes nowhere to be seen’. I believe that it can be the case that people/attendees do not want productive meetings because productive meetings mean that actions happen, and they are busy enough. This can be a cynical view and we’ll need to assume a level of whilst people are busy they do want things to move forward, we just need to bear in mind that there is a subconscious dislike of meetings for this reason.
If you are chairing/facilitating the meeting either capture the actions on a flipchart for everyone to see, or ask someone to have a laptop open and type them straight into a draft email. The best format for actions is a simple one:
<Who> <What> <When>
Michael…Create the presentation for client ABC and send to Sue…01-07.
Clear Actions are Key
Whilst this looks easy, it rarely happens and if it does happen the actions are rarely captured well. We only need 3 pieces for an action to be clear and simple:
Who is going to do the action. Not multiple people because one will always say, ‘I thought Mark was doing it’. Don’t give them any reason not to do it.
What is that person going to do. Despite the enthusiasm to achieve that action at the time, you will find that Karen’s enthusiasm dies as soon as she leaves the meeting and gets back to her desk. Make the action very clear. No ambiguity or wriggle-room. No reason to say, ‘I’m not sure what they meant, so I couldn’t do it’.
When will the person get the action competed by. The key here is clarity. A date. It is that simple. If they say ‘next week’, seek clarity – ‘Do you mean by Thursday the 24th?’.
Number the actions because at the start of the next meeting the first item should be ‘Previous Actions’, and so, ‘Starting with number 1 – Michael – completed?’.
The actions should be sent within 24 hours. I’d go one further and say that the actions should be at the attendees’ inbox by the time they get back to their desks. No room for wriggling – ‘I didn’t get the actions until 2 days later’.
4. Keeping the Ball in Play by Using a ‘Car Park’
The car park technique keeps the flow of the meeting without forgetting anything
The ‘Car Park’ is simply a flipchart page titled ‘Car Park’. If the discussion is not relevant, dragging-on, or not productive, the item gets written onto the car park and is addressed later in the meeting, when appropriate. Your commitment to the group is that items are never lost in to the car park and all of them will be revisited by the end of the meeting. If you do not deliver on your promise the attendees will start to think the car park is just a place to put stuff that you don’t like as a means to shut them up. Your trust will be lost.
5. ‘Everyone Shall Be Heard’
You’ll have seen American courtroom dramas where the usher begins the court with ‘Anyone that has business with this court, please come forward and you shall be heard’. A good chairperson is like a traffic light system, giving the red light to those that talk too much, and the green light to those that do not. Balancing the conversation across the room to ensure that not only the loudest ideas are heard, but the mouse-like person in the corner who has a great idea but no influence, is also heard because their idea is probably the better one.
It is worth watching the 3-minute video of the Parish meeting that went horribly wrong – click on the image below:
Handforth Parish Council meeting goes viral after massive Zoom row. Watch the video!
Meeting Problems and How to Avoid Them, and Use Meeting Solutions Instead – Chairing Tips and Meeting Tips
The meeting problems below can in some cases be managed and solved by the chair and in other cases they need to be solved by the attendees, with the guidance of a good chairperson:
1. Problem: The Chairperson Lacks Confidence.
Solution: Either replace the chairperson & appoint someone else, or postpone the meeting until the chairperson has prepared better – Preparation normally gives confidence.
3. Problem: One Person Consumes the Meeting (They Talk a Lot!).
Solution: A chair’s phrase like this works, ‘Mark. You are very passionate about this topic. That is welcome. We also need to hear from everyone because I’m sure you’d appreciate their perspective too, wouldn’t you?’ (Closed question because you are seeking agreement and not discussion).
4. Problem: ‘I Thought He Was Doing That’ – No one has Done the Action.
Solution: Make sure that only one person is assigned to each action. Plus, make sure the deadline is specific and the what is very clear.
5. Problem: The Meeting Starts Late.
Solution: The chairperson can deal with late arrivals in a number of ways. My recommendation is that for the first 1-2 times the person is ‘let off’. For the third time, you speak directly to that person after the meeting and explain why it is unacceptable that 6 other people wait for one person. And if it happens a third time, that they will not be allowed to attend.
6. Problem: The Meeting Overruns.
Solution: Chairs tend to get a poor reputation if the meeting always overruns. Overrunning either happens because not enough time was allowed for the topic, or a few people spoke excessively. You need to decide which for next time and deal with accordingly.
For a meeting that looks like it will overrun, you share a chair’s phrase, like ‘We have 20-minutes to go and I am doubtful that we will solve these issues in the remaining time. Let’s decide now whether we reschedule a second meeting or accept that wherever we get in 20-minutes is the best solution we can achieve. Which option do you prefer?’.
A great chairperson has few meeting overruns
7. Problem: Actions Not Completed.
Solution: As a chairperson and a leader you have to decide on your stance regarding actions that are not completed. Hold people to task, or let them off? The situation should lead to which option you take. For example, if the actions are critical, or not. Yet be careful not to treat people differently.
8. Problem: ‘It’s a Talk Shop’.
Solution: This phrase is used by many for meetings when they believe that very little is achieved. As the chair, you can change this by everyone agreeing on a worthwhile objective before the meeting begins. You might say, ‘So, we are agreed that if we achieve this objective written on the flipchart within 2-hours, then it will have been a good use of time. Agreed?’.
9. Problem: Actions are Getting Done But the Group is Not Making Progress.
Solution: Sometimes a group meets weekly, but the check-in on actions each week achieves very little progress. The solution is to have more meetings. Yes, more meetings. No one likes more meetings. Consider this story about the snow and the trees because it will help explain why, sometimes, more meetings, work.
10. Problem: Dealing With Difficult People.
Solution: Your options are; use the ‘car park’ explained above, postpone the meeting, take a break, invite the rest of the group to share their opinion, or because people want to know that they are heard, you as the chair can paraphrase. For example, ‘I hear what you are saying Paul – the project will falter unless we involve the stakeholders immediately. Is that what you are saying?’.
We All Have Them But are Your One-To-One Meetings Effective?
Company growth is hugely dependent on the quality of people in the workforce. Each individual’s abilities and potential matter to the role they’ve assumed for the company. But teamwork, collaboration, and the depth of employee-manager relationships significantly influence the company performance and overall longevity. Insert one-to-one meetings here.
It’s challenging to find reliable literature on how managers should approach one-on-one meetings. This is because their effectiveness is subject to opinion, industry, and overall dependant on the type of relationship the manager has with their employee.
However, the recent shift towards remote work has highlighted the need for better communication among managers and employees all around, as dynamics shifted drastically in the workplace. Improved use of one-to-one meetings is an opportunity to address those communication issues and better relationships throughout your company.
Click the green button to learn more
Why are One-to-One Meetings Valuable?
Often, one-to-one meetings are the first thing canceled or rescheduled when a busy week hits us. But, these meetings should be the last thing you think about postponing because of how powerful they can be in developing a trust-filled manager-employee relationship.
The purpose of a one-on-one meeting is to dedicate time to learn important information about your employees, provide support to them, let them know where they stand in their productivity and quality of work, and offer guidance for growth. The value of one-on-one meetings with your team members is in the opportunity to provide them with valuable feedback, intentional coaching, a personal relationship, and a work environment suitable for personal and professional development.
Other Advantages of One-to-One Meetings Include:
Managers and employees are more inspired, motivated, and comfortable bringing up challenging issues.
Employees have better productivity and a renewed sense of purpose in their roles.
Credibility is built between managers and employees.
Employees can begin trusting senior leadership through intimate and reliable relationships.
They improve communication among employees and between you and your employees.
They help employees overcome professional and personal challenges.
When an employee trusts you, they’re more likely to perform at a high level and follow your lead. The best way to build trust is to get to know your employees personally and take an interest in their progression. One-on-one meetings will help you build a solid foundation for trust-filled relationships.
Six Steps to an Effective One-to-One Meeting
Managers have an incredible workload all on their own. They also have the added responsibility of managing each team member’s workload and ensuring they’re performing at their highest level. Effective one-to-one meetings ensure you’re wholly supporting your employees’ professional and emotional wellbeing. For the high-resolution infographic, click on the image below:
10 Key Tips for effective one-to-ones
Here are six steps to hosting an effective one-to-one meeting:
1. Send a Questionnaire or Email Asking for Information Beforehand
Once you’ve scheduled a one-to-one meeting with an employee, you need to start preparing for the meeting. Consider preparing ahead of time through a questionnaire or email asking for information beforehand that you think would aid a productive discussion. Especially if this is the first one-to-one meeting you’ve had with this particular employee.
Consider the following talking points when preparing for your one-to-one:
Which was their biggest challenge this week?
What was their greatest success this week?
Are they dissatisfied with anything in their current role?
What does a productive one-on-one meeting look like for them?
How you can help them open up in this setting?
Any questions or concerns they have?
2. Prepare a Shared Agenda for your Meeting
After receiving the relevant information and feedback from your questionnaire or email, prepare an agenda for your meeting. Show up with potential solutions to expressed challenges, feedback on their concerns, and questions that will help you get to know them on a deeper level. You should also note any behavioral changes or signs of conflict with other employees that should be addressed in this meeting.
Start your meeting agenda with a positive. Share your appreciation of your employee’s work by highlighting a recent milestone or achievement. This starts the meeting off with the right energy and makes it easier to express any concerns you have later on. The rest of your meeting agenda should be filled with helpful questions, feedback, and suggestions for moving forward. While also ensuring the employee has a chance to speak candidly and openly.
Further, this should not be seen as a time to speak at them, but rather, in collaboration with them. Ensure they feel like an equal part of the conversation. According to Maryville University, “Many managers tend to lean more toward collaborative leadership styles, such as an affiliative or participative leadership, in which managers and employees work together as a team.” Depending on your industry and the kind of workplace culture you’re cultivating, this type of leadership style may be the most successful in regard to earning your employees’ trust and respect during one-to-one sessions and beyond.
Having an agenda helps to keep the meeting focused
3. Give your Undivided Attention to the Meeting
Respect and value your employee’s time by actively listening and fully engaging in the session.
Take notes during the meeting and encourage your employees to do the same. Don’t spend the entire session talking about work, either. The heart of your conversation should be getting to know your employees personally so that you can better support them through all of what they’re going through. Even if that includes learning about their pets at home, what they do to decompress after work, upcoming vacation plans, and more.
Some questions you can ask to inspire conversation in an effective one-to-one meeting include:
How are you feeling this week?
How can I support you to be able to face these challenges head-on?
Are you having any issues with coworkers or management you’d like to discuss?
What does your dream career entail?
What’s your life vision?
How can your role here help you achieve your vision?
What do you like to do outside of work?
Are you taking care of yourself off the clock?
Do you feel like you know all of the resources available to you here?
Can we put together a plan to move you forward?
Do you feel supported?
4. Prepare an Actionable Plan for Moving Forward
You don’t want to end a meeting without a plan for moving forward. Create an actionable plan based on what you talked about in the meeting. Take a moment to review the notes you’ve taken and pinpoint one or two things you’re employee would like to make progress on. Additionally, you might even consider sending a follow-up email or message to outline the things you’re going to follow up on. Either with them or with another member of staff that the employee had a concern about.
If one of their goals is hitting a sales goal, identify steps they can take to get closer to that goal. These steps could be having a conversation about a product or service with a set amount of customers each day. Alternatively, if the goal is improving the employee’s ability to meet deadlines, set up real consequences for the employee if they don’t meet the goal and awards for when they do. No matter what it is, following up regularly and with positivity is going to ensure a strong relationship between you and the employee.
5. Schedule the Next One-to-One Meeting
Having regular one-to-one meetings is vital to their effectiveness. If you go weeks or months without a meeting, it affects how well employees take to them. Practice consistency by scheduling the next one-to-one meeting before ending the current one.
One-to-one meetings should be scheduled at least once a month, but weekly meetings seem to be the most effective because it gets employees in the habit of sharing. Also, frequent meetings give managers more opportunities to improve their employees’ overall productivity and boost their performance. Because it makes it easier to have a finger on the pulse of the employee’s day to day without a lot of time passing in between. Ensure that you and your employee have the next one-on-one meeting on the books before stepping out of the office.
Be sure to schedule your next one-to-one before you leave
6. Check-in on the Progress with the Established Plan
Until the next meeting, you should be checking on the progress an employee is making on the previous meeting plan. Whether it’s sales goals, a mental health improvement plan, or a strategy to support them through a particularly challenging project, you want to check if what you planned is actually happening.
Checking in on progress regularly shows your employees that you were engaged in the meeting and are committed to supporting them fully. Whilst building credibility and trust in the relationship.
Start Utilising One-to-One Meetings Today
One-to-one meetings are valuable in any industry, for any company culture. You can begin implementing one-on-one meetings by first hosting a team meeting expressing your intent to hold individual meetings with them weekly or monthly. Also, let them know why you want to have these meetings and encourage feedback on implementing this change. Hosting this initial meeting will allow employees to prepare for the change adequately.
Our workforces look different today, because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many companies had to move their operations online and are partaking in remote work. Therefore, it can be challenging to hold one-to-one meetings remotely and have the same level of effort, accountability, and collaboration presented in a face-to-face setting. But after ensuring you’re set up with the right communication tools, you should have no problem hosting successful one-on-one sessions after a little bit of getting used to it. Use tools like Zoom, Slack, Asana, and Google hangout to get the best results in a virtual meeting.
Meaningful one-to-one meetings will positively impact you, your employees, and your attempt to build a solid company culture. Start small, focus on collaboration and inspiring conversation, and take it from there.
We’ve done a few of them before. But now online calls and online meetings are the norm because of the pandemic. Some people call it ‘Zoom Doom’. It’s that feeling of just feeling dog tired, yet not knowing why. All you’ve done is sit and meet people all day: you normally do that – so what’s different?
Why We’re All Struggling
Your laptop has a resolution of about a million megapixels. The human eye can see 576 megapixels.
That is 576 million bits!
Simply, real-life, face-to-face meetings are easier because they are in full technicolour/extra high definition. Seeing someone through a screen is 500 times harder. This is why in virtual presentations we have to concentrate so much more and it is exhausting. The non-verbal cues we use to understand what someone was really saying – a stifled yawn or a tapping of the foot – now take a huge amount of concentration to notice.
Meetings and presentations are much more tiring via video call than they are in person
This is the first reason for that Zoom Doom feeling. The second is that you are tired because you feel like you are always on stage. Ever noticed someone start a meeting, catch themselves on camera, and then put their hands through their hair? Being watched, and watching yourself, is like presenting all the time. When you present you want to put your best foot forward. Being in an online meeting is the same. It takes energy to be the best version of you.
The third and final reason is two-fold: it is easy to be distracted in online meetings. Boring presentations and boring people become really boring online because there is so much else craving our attention. In online meetings, we can get away with checking our emails or sending a sneaky text. Ultimately this means we are doing two things at once. We’re now listening, trying not to miss anything AND composing an email.
The key to exhaustion is to adapt.
These Five Tips Will Help You Overcome Zoom Doom:
Make some calls – the less important ones, perhaps – audio-only.
This Meeting Template Will Help You to Have More Effective Online Meetings
Meeting, meeting, meeting – oh look, another…yep, you guessed it…meeting…!
You don’t need me to tell you that meetings are to productivity, what kryptonite is to Superman.
Yet, meetings can be improved. They can contribute to your productivity. And no, our advice is not the usual, have an objective, get the right attendees in the room, etc. This is practical and actionable advice that you can implement now by using this meeting template.
Download this Meeting Template
Use this meeting template.
It is in an excel format and prints on 1-page. Just click on the image below to download:
Click the image to access your free Meetings Template!
How to Use this Meeting Template
Here are the step-by-step instructions for using this meeting template in order to improve your meeting productivity:
Complete the template on-screen or print and complete by hand.
Section #1 Meeting Management
Complete the details of the meeting; date, who attended, name of the meeting – a name you give to the meeting, e.g. the weekly team meet, and any other information that is useful, e.g. the venue, the time, or the type, e.g. face-to-face or zoom/Teams/Skype/Google.
Section #2 Word on Head
How you approach your meeting is important. You know when someone has just had a difficult conversation with a client because they’ll bring that to a meeting, or when someone looks like they are fed-up with meetings. They’ll bring that to this meeting. The purpose of ‘word-on-head’ is yo help you to bring your A-game. This is achieved by asking you, ‘What is the word on your head?’. This is a powerful tool to help you to influence better and to be the best version of you.
For example, if you are heading into a negotiation maybe the word on your head is ‘Strong’, in order to demonstrate strength. If you are going into a conflict situation you may need to remind yourself to be ‘Collaborative’. Or if you are leading a team meeting maybe you need to bring some ‘Fun’. Find out more about this powerful influencing tool.
Section #3 Distraction Notes
Concentrating all-day at work is not possible. We need breaks, and especially in back-to-back zoom calls. This section allows your mind to wander, capture what you were thinking about, get it out of your head, and come back to the meeting.
Simply by having a ‘Distraction Notes‘ section in your meeting template enables you to have a place to capture those daydreaming moments we all have in meetings. For example, Mike was talking about us being late for a customer’s delivery, and that reminded me ‘Wedding Anniversary!’. Written down. I’ll deal with that after the meeting.
Section #4 Questions
Asking questions and the right questions to gain the information you need is hard. In my experience, everyone has heard of open questions and can explain them versus closed questions., Yet, few people actually use open questions. Prepare before, or at least during the meeting, a few questions that get you the information you need. Plus, have a few stock questions that are always useful for any meeting. For example:
As people share information in the meeting there are pieces you want to capture. Maybe to use later in the meeting or to use after the meeting. You can use the notes section of the meeting template to record these.
Section #6 Actions
As the conversation moves from discussion to action, imagine that a fly has just lifted off and is flying. Buzzing around your head. The only way to get rid of it is to ‘swat that fly’ and that can only be done by capturing the action. Simply captured as who will do it, what is it that they are to do, and when are they to do it by.
Many meetings lack progress from one to the next because no-one wrote down who was to do what next.
If we could improve each meeting by just one thing, would we improve the productivity of meetings significantly in 6 months? Yes. By improving just one thing. Maybe reducing it from 1-hour to 45-minutes, or just capturing the actions, or starting each meeting with the actions from the last one.
In Summary
A huge amount of time is spent in meetings and yet they are as productive as a blunt saw. The above meeting template sharpens your saw. Here is a meeting template completed:
‘The reason people don’t want productive meetings is that they’d have to do more work.’
My old boss gave this sage-like advice. The ‘but’ is that if we accept this as the norm, we are doomed forever. Having to accept that meeting, after meeting, after meeting, is the way it is. Are we doomed to live in this eternal nightmare?
We don’t have to be.
Yes, you can read the meeting books. They’ll normally start with ‘Have an objective’. The words ‘…Sherlock’ come to mind. As with many self-help books, the advice is obvious and will not change your behaviour. But that’s a story for another time.
The Change Formula
There is another way though, here’s the rub. It’s the change formula. The formula works by each of the first 3 parts being multiplied and if they are bigger than the resistance, change happens.
Click the image below for a higher resolution.
The Dannemiller Formula for Change includes Dissatisfaction, Vision, First step, and Resistance
So, in order for you to make a change in behaviour, you need to be dissatisfied a lot. Enough to want to overcome any resistance to change, which there will be – ‘Non-one else is changing, so why should I?’
The other two parts of the change formula we’ll cover in a minute.
How to Use A.C.E. in Meetings
Click the image below for a higher resolution.
A.C.E acronym stands for Agenda, Capture, Evaluate
(A)genda
At the start of the meeting take the first 5-7 minutes. Ask, ‘What items are we here to discuss?’. Write them down. Preferably where everyone can see. Once you have them all, group them into the high medium, and low whilst people watch, allowing them to shout, ‘We must do that today’. This whole process is quick and dependent upon you being strong enough not to allow discussion about the content of each point at this stage.
(C)apture
Ask someone to capture the actions. Typing them directly into an email in this format: ‘1. Bob…Get the PowerPoint presentation updated of the XYZ…18-10-20’. And as soon as the meeting ends, bang – send the email out. No tidying-up the formatting. No re-checking. Live the 80:20 and just get it sent. The subject heading is ‘Actions – 09-10-20 – Bob/Andy/Mike’. First agenda items next time? ‘Previous actions’.
(E)valuate
At the end of the meeting spare 90 seconds. Ask this question – ‘What one thing can we do to improve this meeting?’. Three people get up to 30 seconds to share. Only choose 3 people.
Click on the infographic below to see a higher resolution version:
No meeting at all may be better than an unproductive meeting
Revisiting the Change Formula
Coming back to the change formula. The two other parts are the first step and vision. Your first step is to do A.C.E. at all of your meetings. Get it wrong and then do it better at the next one. Vision, well, imagine if meetings actually added value, people did their actions, and the business moved forward because of them. We can hope…
Fed Up With Virtual Presentations? You Might Be Suffering From ‘Zoom Doom’
There is a reason you are tired. A legitimate reason why doing all these virtual presentations, online meetings, and zoom meetings is exhausting.
We were having dinner on Tuesday night – Me and my family. It was 5 weeks into lockdown and conversation was drying up. I was describing feeling a sense of exhaustion that I hadn’t experienced before. Strange tiredness. I shared my day and my daughter said that it was ‘Zoom Doom’. Also known as ‘Zoom fatigue’. Never heard of those before. A term used to describe the sapping of your energy. Now I was intrigued and wanted to know more. I went forth to explore. I’ll share with you the summary of my findings on this strange phenomenon in this article and solutions that will help you.
Back to the conversation above. We each shared our experiences of facetime, zoom, and skype, finding a similar feeling. Trying to nail this online thingy down to something we could explain. My daughter Gabby (20) said, ‘Dad, you know when we went and saw that 3D film? It’s like when you take your 3D glasses off to see what the film’s like and it’s all out of sync. It’s hard work to make sense of it’. Boom! She’d cracked it. That’s exactly what it’s like. Life just feels a little ‘off’ when we do online meetings. A little out of sync.
What’s Your Zoom Attention Span Like?
Below, you will see our tongue-in-cheek graph showing some of the factors that may be limiting our attention span when having a virtual presentation. How many of these distractions can you relate to? I’m sure you’ll agree, issues arise that wouldn’t normally exist in a real-world environment. After all, I don’t think many people will have had to remove the cat from the boardroom!
Are you experiencing Zoom Doom?
Let’s take a closer look at these virtual presentations, online meetings and Zoom Dooms. Whatever you call them. To see what is really happening under the hood with 8 things you probably won’t know…
Virtual Presentations are Exhausting
According to Gianpiero Petriglieri, it is true. He is the Associate Professor of Organisational Behaviour at Insead. The Business School of the World. Gianpiero says that it takes more focus to video chat than to talk face-to-face. Even without his specialist experience, you’ll agree. But why? Well, there are several reasons. Professor Petriglieri expands on his thinking in his interview with the BBC. Citing the following issues:
We are processing non-verbal cues, like facial expressions, tone, pitch and body language.
Our minds being together but our bodies not together causes internal conflict.
Silence is hard to manage in an online call.
Being ‘forced’ to do these calls, rather than face-to-face is a contributing factor.
Using the same space for everything that we do – The context has collapsed.
The BBC report also cites:
Delays also affect us because we can see people negatively or less friendly. According to a German scientific study.
The inner conflicts from Zoom meetings can be stressful
Marissa Shuffler, an Associate Professor at Clemson University who studies workplace wellbeing and teamwork effectiveness adds:
You are being watched. Like being on stage. The camera is on and we feel like we need to perform.
Additional underlying pressure of financial security during the lockdown just adds more stress.
These 8 reasons all contribute to the feeling of Zoom fatigue. Let’s explore some of them more closely.
Laptop Resolution Vs Life Resolution
A laptop screen is made-up of pixels – ‘a minute area of illumination on a display screen, one of many from which an image is composed’. Those pixels make-up the resolution. Your tv is probably a ‘1080’ which means that the screen consists of 1,920 x 1,080 pixels. 1080 is the number of rows and 1920 is the number of columns. If you multiply those two numbers you get 2,073,600 pixels. So, about 2m megapixels. Your laptop is about 1m megapixels, at best. The human eye can see 576,000,000 or 576 megapixels. Why is this important?
Simply, real life, like face-to-face meetings are easier because they are in full technicolour/extra high definition aka, the real thing. The best you can get. Seeing someone through a screen is 500 times harder to see. This is why with virtual presentations we have to concentrate so much more.
‘500 times harder to see’
These highlights can help to decrease your Zoom Doom syndrome
Click the image above for a larger version.
Non-verbal cues are hugely important when we communicate. This is because they help us understand what someone is really saying. Normally we have no trouble seeing the slightest facial change. The smallest twitch. The pull of an ear. But now it’s like trying to understand what someone is saying from across the other side of a football field. Though we can hear them, but not make out what their face and body are saying.
The Whole You
When you meet face-to-face you get the whole person. Head, body, arms, and hands. On a virtual call, you are a head, shoulders, and that’s about it. The screen cuts off a huge part of us. About 80%.
Now, whilst we don’t do much communicating, even non-verbal, with our legs, and even in a face-to-face they are under the table, there are still pieces missing. A good example is our hands. Some people talk a lot with their hands. In fact, I once had an Ant, that if you held her hands she felt like she couldn’t speak! These people will feel muted in online meetings. The loss of 80% reduces our whole understanding of the person. We don’t know if they are tapping their foot, crossing their legs, shifting in their seat. Gone. All gone.
‘One-third of the words are gone’
It’s like communicating in a language where someone has removed a third of the words. We are operating with a reduced vocabulary.
Delays are a Real Problem and We had No Idea How Much
The International Journal of Human-Computer Studies published a paper in May 2014 on the research of ‘Why are you so slow? – Misattribution of transmission delay to attributes of the conversation partner at the far-end‘. The 3 professors; Katrin Schoenenberg, Alexander Raake, and Judith Koeppe studied how transmission delay affects user perception during speech communication over telephone systems. In short, what does a delay mean to you in a call? The summary of their findings was:
…With even slight delays, a person is perceived as less attentive…
And we know this because we’ve all thought that someone wasn’t listening in a call that has a delay. We just never understood why. It is because we could not see the active listening cues of a small nod of the head. Or the slightest of smiles. So, we try harder by really engaging them with stronger eye contact, asking them more questions, and becoming on high alert for a cue that they really aren’t listening. All because there is a second delay in the communication due to the technology not operating at the instant speed of face-to-face.
Silence is Not Normally a Problem in a Conversation
Yet, in a call silence is a problem. Normally small silences are a part of the natural conversation when you are together. Maybe someone is pondering a reply for a moment. The non-verbal cues tell us that they are thinking and that this is ok.
Online those are mostly gone, so silence becomes an uncomfortable problem. Has the tech stopped? Did they not hear me because of the delay? ‘Can you hear me now?’. And then we start talking over each other. The whole thing becomes problematic and we almost resort to radio syntax. ‘I am ok, Over. And how are you? I mean, no over. Yes, now…over’.
What started as a business meeting about solving an important client problem slips into a poorly planned military call where no-one knows the protocols and resembles a scene from M.A.S.H.
The Problems are Magnified
The challenge with doing things online is that the problems that were there before become highlighted for everyone to see. Presentations, People and Performance.
We’ve all sat through presentations that never seem to end. The guy is standing up. He has 1-hour. You tried to get a sneaky look at the number of slides when he was setting up, and now wished you hadn’t! The first slide goes up. Yep. Text. He reads it. Each line. You fidget. You check your watch. This could be a death sentence.
Online this becomes 7 times worse because you are being constantly distracted by literally everything. In the meeting, you could get your phone out and sneakily have a look, maybe. Here, you absolutely can. Check Facebook. Type a text. Anything. Half listening. And thinking that you are being twice as productive. Boring presentations become very much so.
Virtual presentations force us to rethink our presentations. That’s a good thing because Powerpoint is the lazy default. Too many slides. Too much thought on content. Not enough thought about delivery. Online separates those than can present from those that CAN PRESENT!
Boring Presentations become even More Boring In The Virtual World
For more useful content on presenting, check out our ultimate guide on presentation skills. There you can discover useful tips for making more interesting presentations too!
Boring People Become Very Boring In The Virtual World
You have spoken to that person in the office. They give nothing away. You have no idea what they are thinking. Almost a robot. In virtual meetings, they become an even bigger nightmare because you are constantly asking what they think as you are getting nothing back. You already struggled to see their non-verbal cues anyway. Now they seem to have disappeared completely. You’re reliant on just asking them questions or searching Amazon for a defibrillator to see if they deliver!
Zoom meetings force us to need to be more animated. More engaged. This is because we know that communication is restricted so we need to beef-up, almost exaggerate the communication that we do have. A little like a blind person relies upon and uses their ears more. We are more reliant on restricted communication and need to help the other person to understand our messages. What was a small smile to indicate listening, becomes a bigger smile. A nod becomes an ‘I get that’.
A Sense of Being Watched
Ever been in a meeting and caught your reflection in a door? Or on the screen of your laptop? Or your phone? You become self-conscious. You move your hair. Adjust yourself. And when we present, we’re naturally nervous. People are watching our performance. Waiting for me to perform. Like the dancing bear.
The problem we now have is that we are always performing. Always on camera. Catching sight of ourselves. Worried about how we look. Trying to pay attention whilst checking our bags to see how tired we look. The screen is now starring back and it’s us. This is a new phenomenon and we are not used to it. It’s disconcerting.
We’ve moved from occasional performance to all-the-time performance and it is hard to deal with. Stressful.
Is it Just Zoom Doom or Is there Any Hope?
There is hope.
Like any behaviour, our online meeting presence can be improved. We can learn. Be the best version of ourselves. Some of these solutions you’ll know, and some you won’t. We’ve put them all together in a neat mnemonic: O.N.L.I.N.E. P.O.W.E.R. This is because mnemonics, Greek for ‘remember’, mean that you are more likely to adopt these new behaviours as you will have remembered them.
A handy mnemonic to help you improve your online presence and combat Zoom Doom!
O: Oh My Eyes!
Research says we blink half as often when we watch things on screens as we normally would with face-to-face interactions. This means that our eyes have a higher probability of getting dry, irritated, and tired. Try the ’20-20-20′ rule. Every 20 minutes you take 20 seconds to look at something 20 feet away.
N: Not back-to-back Meetings
Yes, it’s hard. You have a full day and want to be as productive as possible. Of course, you do. Just know that by scheduling back-to-back meetings you will be less productive. Rather than schedule your meetings at the default of 1-hour, make the new default 45-minutes. Giving you time between meetings to re-energise.
L: Lighting You
Most people are new to virtual meetings. They’ve never really had meetings at home before, so why would they have thought about creating a business self at home? We need to. The best version of ourself. Check the lighting for you. If it is behind you, they won’t be able to see your face. Make sure that you are lit well. Maybe you need a lamp?
I: Interpersonal Skills
Do you remember we said above that boring people become more boring? Out interpersonal skills become even more important when we work from home. Find your new skills for communicating online. A thumbs up? An exaggerated nod? Holding your chin to show you are thinking? Identify your non-verbal cues that people will understand that you are listening.
N: Need to Move
One of the reasons that we feel tired is that we are holding ourselves in an online meeting. Keeping our posture. Shoulders back. Head up. This can be tiring. Make sure you move. Certainly, get up between meetings. In meetings, you are confined a little, but adjusting your posture will help. And being aware that you are holding yourself will help too.
E: Eye-level
Camera position is important. Again, we’ve never really had to think about this stuff before. Some computers were being made without cameras because people weren’t using them. I bet that’s changed! Your camera needs to be at eye level. Not leaving a great big space above your head and not cutting-off your forehead either. Move your camera angle to show the best ‘you’. Plus, eye-level removes any double chin we might have!
P: Proud Presenter
If your presentations were never engaging, now’s the time to change. This article ‘Don’t Start with Powerpoint‘, could be your best friend. It takes you through 7 steps to creating very engaging presentations and doesn’t touch PowerPoint. Well, not at least you have to. Either way, this will help you with how to create more engaging virtual presentations.
O: Over Your Shoulder
I saw a pie chart doing the rounds on Facebook. It showed what people did during Zoom presentations. One of the large slices of the pie was to nose at the stuff around the person. ‘Oh, they have a pot plant’. ‘That picture is awful’. ‘Interesting set of books’. What’s over your shoulder? And what does it say about you? A simple quote poster is a good talking point.
W: Wardrobe
We recommend 3 wardrobes. You can find out a lot more about the ‘3 Wardrobe Principle’ in this article. It is one of the 7 essential practices of working from home and uses the mnemonic of M.I.N.D.S.E.T. to help people to become the best version of their working from home selves.
E: Ears only
One of the best recommendations we can make to you is to turn off the video for some meetings. Agreeing ‘ears only’ (Audio) for everyone in that meeting can give all the attendees a welcome respite from all the energy that we now realise online meetings demand. Plus, there is no delay and it is more like a phone call, which we are all used to.
R: Reality
It’s here to stay. Some people will return to the office. Some will stay. Either way, we suspect that the pandemic has made ‘working from home’ a credible option. And online meetings are an acceptable alternative. Plus, productivity can go through the roof when you get some ‘me at work’ time. Finding a way to accommodate this new working practice is essential to survive.
Summary: Make the Most of Virtual Presentations and be the Best Online You with O.N.L.I.N.E. P.O.W.E.R.
O: Oh My Eyes! – Use 20:20:20.
N: Not back-to-back Meetings – Change from 1-hour to 45-minutes as a default.
L: Lighting You – get the best lighting to show you.
I: Interpersonal Skills – What are your exaggerated non-verbal tools?
