3 phases of effective remote meetings
“ Successfully working from home is a skill, just like programming, designing, or writing. It takes time and develops that skill ’’ — Alex Turnbull
Meetings can cause people to feel a real love-hate relationship. Sometimes they simply have to be completed, whether they are in the office or not. But I’m sure that at times, we’ve all thought that they’re a complete waste of time, the agenda isn’t followed, and there isn’t any real result.
If you’re just getting started with remote work, you should be cautious about trying to exactly duplicate what people experience in the office. When you’ve been working alone, the face-to-face interaction we get from an online meeting might feel like a breath of fresh air, but that doesn’t mean they’re always required. We should all become knowledgeable about the best virtual meeting strategies as a result.
It is a skill in and of itself to learn how to communicate effectively in these circumstances. How can you ensure that a meeting is productive when you are thousands of miles away on a different continent? We find it much harder to keep people focused and engaged in the remote office while also ensuring that they aren’t multitasking.
We must plan, conduct, and follow up on our meetings in a manner that is geared toward the remote world in order to overcome these obstacles.
“ Remote work offers flexibility, and we appreciate work-life-balance that comes with that ’’ — Jess Scott
In order to help you make the most of your remote meetings, we’ve divided it into 3 easy steps,
Phase 1: Get ready
It’s not too dissimilar from the first step you would find in an office to take. To avoid the need for further explanation, you must send out calendar invites that include all the necessary information. Along with an agenda that must be meticulously prepared beforehand, whatever tool you use must be included.
The purpose and the objectives of the meeting should be covered in your agenda. It’s a good idea to consider your time constraints and whether you will actually be able to cover all the topics when writing the document.
Even time slots can be assigned to each specific point to help you stay on course. No one wastes time preparing for topics and conversations that don’t happen by seriously considering how much you can cover. Once you’ve put this together, a brief link in the calendar invite’s description should ensure that everyone can access it.
“ People today really value workplace flexibility & remote work because it allows them to focus their energize on work and life as opposed to commuting ’’ — Ken Metos
The assignment of roles to participants is the last step in preparing for a successful remote meeting. You will require a leader for the meeting, a note-taker, and, if necessary, a person to lead each topic discussion. If you schedule time slots, ask someone to keep track of when you are running late.
Phase 2: The Actual Meeting
It’s time to begin when all the tasks necessary for thorough preparation for the meeting have been completed. I hope you gave everyone enough time to get ready as well. Encourage everyone to be on time by being sure to arrive when you say you will. You need to maximize the time you have available because you don’t know everyone’s schedules.
Once the meeting starts, request that everyone turn off all other apps and concentrate entirely on them. One of the worst bad habits in remote meetings is the tendency to multitask, which is easy to fall into. Why would you do this online if you would never do it at work? You can only gently remind people to do this since you can’t really police it.
Make sure to follow the agenda you took the time to create. You put time and effort into creating the document for a reason. If you are facilitating the meeting, it is your responsibility to ensure that the agenda is followed.
Make progress with your topics, adhere to the deadlines, and make sure you finish on time. If you were unable to cover everything, you now know to limit the number of topics you bring up at future meetings.
“ Technology now allows people to connect anytime, anywhere, to anyone in the world, from almost any device ” — Michael Dell
When you’re finished, make sure that everyone understands what needs to happen next. Any tasks that each person needs to complete as well as any preparations needed for the next meeting should have been noted by your notetaker for each person.
These key points must be remembered because a lot can be lost or forgotten during a meeting. A decision should be made regarding who is responsible for assigning these tasks to deadlines so that they can be written down on the calendar. When you have everything written down, read it aloud to everyone to make sure they understand the main points. Voilà! the ideal way to conduct a remote meeting.
Phase 3: Follow Up
The notes should be sent to all participants or put in a group folder that everyone can access once you’re done and sure that everyone understands what they need to do.
We prefer to send them because, on busy days, I sometimes forget to check my folder. However, you can try different things and see what suits you. The time has come to go through the procedure once more and start making the necessary arrangements if there will be another meeting in the future.
Utilize the remote situation for your benefit
Many of the tactics we’ve discussed here can be used in office meetings, but they take on even greater significance when used remotely. Without them, it is simpler to get off course and for meetings to lose their initial meaning and purpose. It’s best to only use meetings when necessary because it does require a little more work and doesn’t feel as natural.
When working remotely, we have a tonne of other cool options at our disposal that are much more suitable for other circumstances. Even using virtual meeting software might prove beneficial for you.
However, a good old-fashioned (remote) meeting is still sometimes the best, so why not take advantage of the chance?
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