7 Ways You Are Probably Doing Virtual Meetings Wrong

Best practices to improve virtual collaboration

As Millennial employees continue to seek flexibility in their jobs and as organizations grow globally, the ability to work remotely has become an expected workplace standard. In fact, a recent study revealed that 63 percent of companies today have remote workers—yet 57 percent have no official remote work policies. As a result, it’s critical for managers to learn how to lead effective virtual meetings and engage remote workers. 

The following are some helpful reminders to ensure you’re effectively (and respectfully) engaging with remote team members:

Whenever possible, share presentations with the group ahead of your meeting. This gives people a chance to digest information on their own time and come prepared to the meeting with ideas. Employees have different learning styles and some aren’t able to generate their best ideas on the spot, especially over the phone. 

It’s not that exciting to listen to someone talk through PowerPoint slides, but if you’re listening remotely, the experience can easily become outrageously boring. When you share your presentation in advance, be sure to include an agenda with questions and decisions that need to be made. That way, you can use the meeting for active discussion, brainstorming and problem solving. If you’re merely sharing information that people could review on their own time, consider canceling the meeting and sending an email instead.  

Let attendees know their expected roles for upcoming meetings. This not only gives virtual team members a confidence boost by acknowledging their areas of expertise, but also encourages them to come prepared. Some examples include: 

●    Subject matter expert: Provides valuable knowledge on their area of expertise 
●    “Yes, and” person: Encourages the group to explore all ideas on a topic
●    “Naysayer”: Pokes holes or flags potential risks
●    “Wild idea” person: Pushes the group to think beyond commonplace solutions
●    Data expert: Comes prepared with relevant research or data points 
●    "Yoda”: Steps back and takes a high-level view of a topic. (“Consider big picture we should!”)

You can assign roles based on team members’ strengths, or use it as an opportunity to challenge participants to take on roles they don’t typically embody in their day-to-day work.

Whether you use email, phone, Slack, Zoom, or the dozens of other collaboration tools available, it’s important to decide as a team which channels will be used for which types of communications. Each tool delivers different levels of detail, speed and accuracy, but when teams’ communication expectations don’t align, they run into trouble. For example, email has the potential to provide a high level of detail, but people use it very differently (e.g., responding immediately vs. days later, or crafting a long, thoughtful response vs. a one-liner). Setting consistent, team-wide communication expectations will help prevent frustration for virtual employees who rely heavily on these channels.

On conference calls, we lose the ability to view nonverbal communication cues such as facial expressions, body language, and seeing when someone is distracted by their phone. In virtual settings, it’s important to verbalize this nonverbal information. For example, when presenting on a call, pause and ask your colleagues, “Are your heads nodding?” If you’re listening in, don’t be afraid to say “I’m smiling at that,” or “That just made me sit up straight.” This helps to make up for the nonverbal, human cues that virtual employees are missing. 

Ever notice how the most important part of a meeting can happen after the meeting? When a few people linger in the conference room or around the proverbial water cooler to continue the conversation, they sometimes end up making critical decisions. This phenomenon favors in-person attendees and leaves out remote employees who joined the original call but missed the most meaningful part of the conversation. To prevent this, save five minutes at the end of your meeting for casual wrap-up conversations to recap decisions and next steps. This not only ensures that everyone has a chance to chime in, but also helps you avoid going over the scheduled end-time. 

After your meeting, share a summary with attendees listing decisions, action items, responsibilities and deadlines. This helps ensure you didn’t miss any agenda items—plus, it keeps people accountable. It’s also an easy way to share information with anyone who was unable to attend the meeting. 

As more and more workers demand flexibility, it’s more important than ever to effectively engage your virtual team members. Add these techniques to your own management toolkit to ensure your virtual meetings are productive and inclusive of all attendees. 

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Dave Collins is Founder and CEO of Oak and Reeds. Dave is a nationally recognized trainer, facilitator and speaker. He is the founder and CEO of Oak and Reeds, which offers practical business training to clients including Lyft, CBRE, PayPal, the Kellogg School of Management, and more. Dave is also an accomplished improvisor. Along with his teammates, he won the National Collegiate Improv Tournament, has headlined shows and festivals across the country, and coached hundreds of people in the art of improvised comedy. Connect Dave Collins Visit www.oakandreeds.com