The mechanics of successful online team meetings

Working online is not the same as face-to-face. So much of interacting in groups we do unconsciously. It has been learnt since childhood. So how can you translate the physical world of team work into the virtual one when many of the social rituals and cues you’d pick up in a physical meeting are invisible online?

Keeping your team engaged

When a meeting is moved to online from face-to-face, most don’t really understand what the difference is — aside from that you’re now on-screen. But so much happens in social interactions that is second nature and unconscious and is therefore missed from virtual meetings. By drawing awareness to these social habits you can replicate them, to then host better meetings and work more successfully as a team.

It’s undeniable that we’ve all lost a lot of the structure from our lives this past year. With our social lives altered with social distancing and lockdowns, and our working lives too — as businesses have needed to change direction, we now work remotely and have to manage other changes such as home schooling children.

Working from home brings its own challenges, not least of which is the online meeting. This is most evident when teams are new or change due to growth, re-structures or new projects. Of course there are benefits of meeting online, but so much of building trust and relationships is missed when participating in meetings virtually and not in-person.

You as a leader can help to re-inject some structure and certainty back into your team’s working lives and connection between team members just by hosting team meetings in which you replicate those unconscious social habits and cues which are so important in our daily team interactions.

Here is a great place to start:

1. The Welcome

It’s all too easy for Zoom meetings to feel impersonal, with multiple faces floating on-screen and with the option of the ‘mute’ button or turning off video, participants can feel invisible.

ACTION: Combat this as the meeting host, be present when welcoming people, get up close to your screen and say “hello” and use their name. You’ll be amazed at how this small action works to get your team present, alert and engaged with the agenda.

2. The ‘Check-in’

Each person is bringing their own thoughts and feelings into the meeting with them. Invite your team members to check-in; what’s happening with them as they join the meeting — are they in good sprits, in the middle of something, managing children home from school, waiting for a delivery? Anything that may affect their behaviour or contribution to the meeting.

By being aware of what we are bringing into ‘the room’ we can park those thoughts at the door and focus on the meeting ahead, and by knowing what others are experiencing we can be empathetic and know not to take their behaviour personally.

ACTION: At the start of a meeting you can invite each team member to ‘check-in’ with a simple exercise such as choosing one word to sum up how they are feeling — with no right or wrong answer, or explanation required. Or invite them to write down what’s on their mind, fold up the piece of paper and put it aside to come back to after the meeting.

3. Attention

Avoid distractions. Give your attention to the person speaking and don’t give them any reason to be distracted either visually or mentally.

ACTION: To give your fullest attention, start by turning off self-view in your meeting software. Trust your team to tell you that you’ve drawn on your face with your pen or have food between your teeth — just as they would in person.

Pin the speaker’s image and move it to the top-centre of your screen so that you are looking as close to the camera as possible, which gives the sense you’re looking straight at them.

Remember that your team can’t see what you’re doing off-camera. If you’re taking notes during the meeting, then let others know that’s what you’re doing when you look away. If you’re bringing up a document or email to refer to, let them know so they don’t need to wonder why your face just went blank and eyes glazed over.

4. Focus

There are so many more distractions online. Each participant is visible on screen and brings their own world; of backdrops, sounds and interruptions. Online meeting software gives you the option to choose your focus — whether you see the speaker or all participants, mute and unmute, raise a hand or clap.

ACTION: Use meeting software functionality intentionally and make it part of the meeting agenda. In Zoom, during a presentation or individual updates, ask team members to use ‘speaker view’ and mute themselves or pin the speaker during Q&A. Ask the team to change to ‘participant view’ for a team discussion use and, as meeting Chair watch for social cues to ensure all contributions are being heard.

5. Limit participant numbers

Whatever your maximum of participants would be for a team meeting held in-person, reduce this number if held virtually. There is a lack of research in this space but we know that virtual meetings take more time to run effectively, due to less obvious social cues and technology hiccups.

ACTION: In-person the maximum number of participants for a productive team meeting would be ten. I would suggest six or less for virtual teams, and encourage the use of break-out rooms.

6. Find ways to relate

Did you know that perceived closeness or relatability between team members increases commitment and motivation? If the team have shared goals, then that goal commitment is a relatable topic for the team. We are unable to recognise the ideas of people who we view as ‘not like us’. The more team members can relate to one another, the better they will work together by hearing and building on one another’s ideas. As team leader it is especially important that you relate to each team member and them with you.

ACTION: As team leader, create opportunities for one-on-one conversation between team members and ‘small talk’, to discover topics individuals can relate through. As meeting chair, strengthen team engagement by focussing attention on achievements, team strengths, successful collaborations, the vision and goals for the team and shared milestones.

7. Provide structure

By providing structure you are giving your team certainty which will set them at ease and encourage appropriate participation and focus.

ACTION: You can set structure for a meeting just by doing the following;

• Let the team know the duration of the meeting.
• Share an agenda and circulate it in advance, agreeing allotted times for owners of each agenda item.
• For meetings which aren’t regular, speak to each person who is invited in advance and let them know why you are inviting them and ask what they need in order to best contribute.
• Assign roles: the meeting ‘chair’ manages the agenda; ‘timekeeper’ for agenda items and the meeting as a whole’; ‘note-taker’; and in Zoom the ‘Zoom host’ who will let people into the meeting, navigate connection issues, break-out rooms and questions in the chat function.

8. Share the air-time

As a meeting host it’s your role to ensure equal air-time between participants when a discussion takes place. If you don’t expect someone to contribute, do they need to be there? You could instead record the meeting for them to watch at their leisure — a benefit of online meetings — or send them summary notes.

ACTION: Set expectations from the beginning: “We are going to go around the room to hear from each of you.” or “I want to hear from every one of you on this agenda item.“

When one person finishes speaking invite your team to count to three in their heads before speaking or use the’ raise hand’ functionality in Zoom so those who don’t feel comfortable interrupting don’t miss out on contributing. As meeting host it’s then your role to invite people to speak.

9. A clear close

After a discussion or if the conversation goes off in an unexpected direction, team members may not be unclear on the outcome or next steps, or how a decision relates to them and their work. Clearly closing off agenda items will help to avoid decisions being ignored or overturned, and issues from re-surfacing. Summarising also works to keep everyone in the meeting focussed, on the same page and out of unnecessary detail or drama.

ACTION: Summarise the main points made at the end of each agenda item, and ask “does anyone have something more to contribute on this or a question before we move on?” Keep it factual and finish with actions and next steps. If a topic can’t be resolved and has to be parked, be clear on how it will be progressed, by whom and when an update or decision will be brought back to the team.

Why is it important to try and replicate our social habits and cues while in online team meetings?

Simply because we are social beings. To perform well as a team we need to know what to expect, to feel that we can contribute without judgement and that our contribution will be recognised and valued. Enabling your team like this creates trust among the group, also known as ‘psychological safety’ and results in more resilient and adaptive teams.

If you have any hesitation bringing this level of structure to your team meetings, add this article to your next team meeting agenda as ‘the new way of working together in 2021’ and invite feedback from the team to tailor the action list to suit the team. Or invite a Chair, such as Founder Coach, Jennifer Clamp to facilitate the conversation.

Source of inspiration: NeuroLeadership Institute Webinar ‘Coaching Your Team Virtually: Coronavirus and Beyond’.

Hi, I’m Jennifer Clamp, a Founder Coach who works with purpose-driven female founders who are ambitious for the future and wish to bring their vision into reality 💫 ↓

Learn more about how Founder Coaching can be a liberating experience for you at withaata.com