How to run more effective conference calls

Talk about workspace collaboration and you just can’t ignore conference calls and long-distance meetings. Conference calls are ubiquitous and inescapable in today’s setup.

I find it amazing that in present times, we are able to start projects without even meeting our partners in person. And we’re able to not just kick-off successfully, but thrive and find balance in communicating responsibly.

I believe a lot of that comes because the hierarchies have flattened now — teams are more democratic. And, they understand that it’s not just a project lead’s or manager’s responsibility to attend calls, gather information and then distribute it to the team. These days most team members attend calls, share status and standup notes and fully participate in project-related decisions.

But here’s a paradox — a lot of focus is put on reducing meetings so that the team member’s productivity is not hampered. On the other hand, conducting conference calls is important in teams which are distributed around the globe. It’s important to come together and collaborate on things which require people to discuss and arrive at conclusions.

Is there a way out?

How about we run meetings and conference calls that are super-effective? How about following some pre-decided conventions so that conference calls don’t feel like punishment?

If you were to research on the internet for guidance on conducting conference calls, you would find a lot of good literature available.

However, I would still like to take a stab at listing down a few things which work for me -

Schedule wisely

Always try to figure out the best time for all participants of the call. Since they might be scattered in different time zones, it can be difficult to figure out a common time slot. Tools like WorldTimeBuddy can help.

Also, there will be times when some participants have to compromise on their family time in the evening or night. In such scenarios, you can rotate the time slots every few weeks so that everybody gets a break from the difficult time slots.

Share agenda and resources prior to the call

Please make sure to share the agenda and any accompanying documents/resources for the call beforehand, so that all participants have enough time to go through it and think through it to be prepared.

On many occasions, I myself have made this mistake of sharing documents directly on the call, and that has rarely been fruitful. It has always taken a follow-up call/discussion to arrive at decisions.

In the agenda, it also helps to mark points on which decisions depend, anything which needs to be addressed separately, points which are for informational purposes, and finally who will be the owner for each point to be discussed.

Make the right choice between Video and Audio calls

Always prefer to have a Video Conference over Audio. Especially when you are starting to work with a new client or team and are still in the initial phase of building a relationship.

Video forces people to focus on what is being discussed in the call and not give in to the urge of checking emails or messages or get distracted during the call. Other than that, subtle facial expressions or body language can also be picked up from the video to ensure that the other participants understand what is being said and are not confused.

Once sufficient trust has been built with the client and in the team, then maybe some calls can just be audio.

Keep an eye on time

I’m sure we’ve all been in marathon meetings which last for 2 hours or more, and I’m pretty sure you’ll agree that those meetings are never productive. Unless you are trying to troubleshoot a production issue live, which can take its own time.

So, always be professional and start and conclude the meeting on time. If it seems that the meeting will extend, take everyone’s permission to extend. Otherwise, conclude and set up a follow-up meeting.

Know when to go into Walkie-Talkie Mode

We are still not at that point where our video/audio conferencing technology could be compared to face to face meetings, and there would be no speech lag, and multiple people could speak simultaneously on the call.

Speech starts getting garbled if too many people start speaking simultaneously.

So, to avoid that chaos — adopt the walkie-talkie mode. Think of how you’ve seen people talking on a walkie-talkie in movies, and try to wait for pauses. And, when another person stops speaking, put forth your point for discussion.

Troubleshoot hardware problems

I’m sure you’ve experienced how sometimes calls can feel like root-canal treatment. Especially, when there are network, microphone or background noise issues.

Always call out such issues, before you start losing track of what is being discussed in the call. If there is a hardware or network issue from my side, then I would prefer to not be on the call, rather than catching bits and pieces of the conversation.

Sometimes people don’t realize they have a microphone, network or background noise issue; you need to point it out to them. These days all conferencing software indicate whose microphone is active, so it is easy to ask someone to mute themselves when they are not speaking.

Always test out your laptop and headset with a colleague to make sure that you are audible and you can hear their voice clearly as well.

Never be shy to ask your client to run a ping www.google.com to check if their internet connection is stable after you’ve run it on your machine first. Even the developed world has Wifi issues!

Listen carefully

Listening is an art. And it is as important as speaking. It’s the most important leadership skill. So, try not to interrupt someone; and if someone is interrupting you, ask them politely to hold their thought and allow you to finish.

Wait for pauses before you chime in. Write down points you want to discuss while someone else is speaking; lest you forget them when your time comes to speak.

Sometimes, based on the nationalities of the participants it’s difficult to understand their accent, in which case ask them politely to speak slowly and repeat what you’ve heard from them to confirm you’ve heard right. Watch foreign films to pick up other accents! :)

As you get more experience in conversing with people from other countries, you also start observing culture differences, for e.g. people from the US are generally more direct and open to speak to, compared to Europeans who are more formal and take longer to open up.

It’s difficult to pick up these subtle cultural or personality cues initially and it takes practice and time to get used to it. That’s why video calls can sometimes work better since you can also observe body language and understand the non-verbal parts of the communication.

Always conclude calls with a follow-up email

Always have somebody (a scribe) taking notes for the call so that you can summarize the call at the end. Sharing minutes of the meeting (MoM) without losing any of important decisions or action items helps keep everyone on the same page. Set aside a few minutes at the end of the call to summarize and conclude the call.

Those were few of the things which I have learned and am trying to practice them in my conference calls to make them more effective.

Hope they help you as well.

I wrote this blog for our Medium Publication- Unboxing Product Management. If you liked reading it, clap your heart out and help others find it.