How to Run Effective Zoom Meetings
On Tuesday, May 12th, Harvard in Tech hosted a webinar with Holland Haiis, a human connection expert helping individuals and organizations create better relationships with technology, people, productivity, and creativity. She has been featured on CNN, Inc, Fast Company, NBC, John Hancock, and FOX. Holland shared her advice for leading and organizing more effective Zoom meetings.
Have a facilitator for your team, company, or meeting. When people feel they need to fight to make a comment with others constantly jumping in or speaking over each other to be heard, their cortisol levels rise and their flight or fight instincts kick in, which ultimately leads to stress, antagonism, and poor cultures. With a facilitator, one person can be point on delegating talking time, directing questions and asks at the relevant people on calls, and making sure all perspectives are heard.
In the physical office, when people step into the conference room environment, they instinctively feel the need to focus professionally (just like changing into workout clothes puts you in the mood to go on a run or exercise). Mimic this type of setting in your Zoom calls. For example, tell people to mute their microphones unless speaking and ask them to raise their hands to speak. If one person even unintentionally appears to be focused elsewhere (with background noise coming from their microphone, for example), then others will quickly pay less attention as well, and the meeting rapidly deteriorates and loses its constructive air of authority.
Have a point person to update an action document delineating the who, what, and when of all follow ups from each meeting. People do better when interfacing with key takeaways versus a stream of notes from an hour long conversation. With actionables laid out after each meeting, teams can better stay on track and maximize the ROI of their meetings.
Ask everyone to bring a notepad. Taking notes by hand (more so than typed notes) helps with memory and even doodling has been shown to help with memory recall.
Agree to do walking meetings, even if over Zoom or phone. Have some meeting(s) each day or each week where everyone agrees to do a walking meeting to take some time to get some fresh air and Vitamin D.
See green. Seeing green (trees, grass, bushes, etc.) has been shown to help with physical and mental health to help employees stay happier and productive. Find ways to see green easily and organically, like sitting near a window facing the yard or having a plant on your desk.
Think critically about whether everyone is needed on a call. Some Zoom meetings have dozens of participants, and it is hard to imagine all of these individuals are truly needed. Maybe invite one point person from each department or stakeholder group instead of their full team.
Honor hard stops. Act as if everyone has a hardstop at the end of the allotted time. Some people may have a true hard stop and will feel uncomfortable, rude, or stressed jumping off on time before the meeting officially ends. By enforcing hard stops for all, you eliminate this point of concern and prevent domino style delays throughout the day.
