Virtual working tips #3 – Etiquette

I have been working virtually for almost 20 years, going way back to before we had all these wonderful technologies. Experience has taught me that virtual meetings and relationships can be very effective and rewarding as long as we follow a few key elements of etiquette.

1: Do your technology homework!

It gets very boring and frustrating very quickly if the first 10 minutes of every meeting are spent trying to get people connected or work out why we can see but not hear each other.

Take time beforehand to get any newbies up to speed on the tech, and if you have a large meeting consider having a designated tech facilitator to manage behind the scenes, so that you can focus on the meeting content and discussions

2: Design your agenda properly.

It’s true for any meeting, but especially important when working virtually – every meeting should have a clear objective, and be designed to deliver specific outcomes. The occasional ad-hoc meeting might get away without a pre-defined agenda, but even then, its best to start by creating an agenda together and working out how you will spend your allocated time to meet the required outcome. You will get better engagement by being clear in advance why people should attend, and how they can help achieve the required outcomes.

3: Keep it short, and take breaks.

Screen fatigue can easily set in if you are spending all day in virtual meetings. Think about how conferences are run. Presentations, workshops, breakouts, networking: They never last more than 30-90 minutes. That’s because people can’t focus longer than that. Try to keep your virtual meeting short (30- 45 minutes if you can), and if they have to run longer build breaks into the agenda. People need to get up and get the blood going again, not to mention other biological functions. You can help to keep it short by sending out pre-work and allowing off-line contributions so that the meeting is focused on what people need to do, debate or decide collectively.  Set and stick to your timings.

4: Keep it human with meeting openers and closers.

Build time into the agenda to strengthen relationships and make sure everyone feels included.  You could open the virtual meeting room a few minutes ahead of the official start time to allow you to welcome people in and give space to have an informal chat about whatever is going on in their lives.

Another great leadership tool is the meeting ‘opener’ and ‘closer’*.  This is a way to trigger the minds of participants to think about and share their thoughts about meeting objectives and outcomes in a personal way. For example, in a marketing meeting you could open by asking each participant to say ‘what is the image you want our clients to have of us’. This sets the scene for people to make meeting contributions with the client in mind.  At the end of the meeting you might close by asking ‘what do you most appreciate about the way our team works together’. This is great feedback, but also allows people to leave feeling a sense of pride and belonging.

5: Stay visible and engaged and focused

Let’s think about this one from the participant point of view: If you are taking the time to join a meeting its important to ‘be in the room’ and not be distracted by other things. Some people think they can turn off their video so that no one can see them ‘multi-tasking’. When you do that in virtual meetings you are not fully present and it’s hard to make a valuable contribution. Why waste your time joining a meeting if you are not going to engage? You’d be better declining the invite and focusing on what matters more. But if the meeting leader has followed the first 4 points then it should be clear why you’ve joined the meeting and what you have to contribute. So, switch your video on, be present, listen actively, and help move the meeting forward towards successful outcomes.

The more you follow these ‘rules’ the more enjoyable virtual meetings become

* From Pathways to Leadership by Verus Global