The Virtual Whisperer 2 — Meeting and Communications Etiquette
One of the major challenges for virtual workers is communicating seamlessly without creating noise in the system. Many of the practices we’re sharing below are actually just good business at any time, but they become critical when everyone is socked away in their home offices or cubbies.
Last week, I discussed getting set up with the right tools and getting dressed and ready to go. With that done, now it’s time to keep the business running. Here are our tips for keeping meetings functioning well:
Keep a cadence. If you typically have an exec team meeting on Mondays, and your staff has team meetings on Tuesdays, and everyone meets for an all-hands once a month, then keep that rhythm. If you meet with your staff quarterly in a F2F ops review, then do it virtually. Put Zoom or WebEx to good use, and make sure that you keep business running with the same meeting routines.
Insist on video. When we first started working virtually, we only had phone — we were operating blind. We got used to hearing voices, listening for cues, and hearing silence, and we learned to make inferences with keen accuracy. Today, we have the benefit of video, and with so much of human communication visual, it’s essential to use it — especially while we’re physically disconnected. Make sure everyone understands the ground rules: Video is required.
Set an agenda and stick to the schedule. This is “Meetings 101,” but have a purpose for the meeting, with desired outcomes clear at the get-go. Make sure the meeting starts and ends on time. We all have world clocks and can sync easily. Keep to the agenda and to the time and make sure the meeting’s purpose is achieved.
Moderate the meeting. The person calling the meeting needs to moderate it and remind people to behave as if they’re in a physical room. No one would leave a physical meeting without saying hello or goodbye, so don’t do this online either. No one would sit in a large conference-room setting and start talking over each other — they’d raise their hands and take questions in an orderly way. Ask participants not to multitask and to put cell phones down. If people take notes on laptops or phones in your culture, then fine, but make sure people aren’t taking calls, sending texts, or doing multiple things. If the kids come clamoring in or the dogs start barking because FedEx arrived, well, everyone understands, but hit the mute button if all heck is breaking out at your place.
Use email to tee up meetings. When calling a meeting, put the baselines out beforehand: materials for review, details of the topic at hand, or whatever people can review before they get on the phone to discuss. Use the meeting to dialog, debate, and make decisions, but don’t use it to establish the baselines for why you’re there in the first place.
Keep email to a minimum, and clarify channel use: If Slack is for internal comms and there’s a variety of channels, let people know that’s the place to voice opinion, catch up, or chat. If email is the way you bring the outside world into your inside world, then be clear that email is for primarily external purposes. Make sure individuals understand what your different media are for and that all phone calls must also include video, whether one to one or one to many.
Use “To” and “CC” email headers strategically. Be clear that people on the “To” line of an email are ones for whom there is an action to take or requests to be made. Someone on the “CC” line is there to be informed only — it’s “FYI,” and no response is required. And only put people on emails with a need to know or an action to take: No one needs more noise in their inboxes, especially during a pandemic.
Have protocols for quiet time: If you are away, set that status on Slack. If you read and reply to emails only mornings and evenings, then make that clear. Make sure that people have quiet time to get work done and that the organization supports protocols and expectations for being on, being off, and how to let each another know.
Keep it fun. One client started a meeting with everyone wearing a crazy hat. We celebrate holidays at our all-hands meetings. What are people’s favorite songs? Or maybe it’s “bring a recipe to work” day. We’ve got enough serious issues to contend with right now, so remember to keep it human, keep it real, and have some fun.