The First 10 Minutes

What do the first ten minutes of a zoom meeting look like? What does it sound like? Who is talking? Who has their videos turned off? What are your norms around the first ten minutes of a meeting over zoom??

Just because organizations have had two years of virtual meetings doesn’t mean they have become more effective or meaningful. For some organizations, meetings on zoom could be feeling more mundane or taxing. People are “zoomed” out. There is virtual fatigue.?

And, zoom meetings are here to stay. That would be my prediction as a Sociologist. Organization culture has witnessed a movement that was first thought to be a temporary solution for a pandemic to what is now a shift in practice. Managers and team leaders cannot deny the efficiency of remote access. (And that is a topic for another article) So the question is, what do the first ten minutes of a zoom meeting look like??

What you do in the first ten minutes of a virtual meeting can meaningfully impact the remainder of the hour or more. As a manager or a team leader, you might be thinking that ten minutes are too much to give up. Or that if you don’t get to the task right away, you will be distracted for a longer period of time. Sometimes, there’s fear around being taken seriously if anything related to the agenda isn’t activated immediately. Here are some other things to consider for the first 10 minutes of your zoom meeting:

1. When your team members feel seen and heard, they are more likely to reciprocate that attention and focus for the remainder of the meeting. One way to use the first ten minutes is by asking “what do you need to express or get out of your system so that you can focus for the next 50 minutes?”. When I ask this question, not everyone is obligated to share and those that need to share, they will take up space. And because I have set a 10 minute timer, I ask others to not respond. This is simply a sounding board. You will get varying responses from “My mom who has covid has been on mind all day” to “I am coming from a morning of back to back meetings…”. Being able to express something that could get in the way of focus has a fascinating effect. For the person expressing, it could feel like giving themselves permission to accept what is their human experience. Being able to share allows individuals to remove that obstacle from their mind because now it belongs to a greater space than their own minds. See what happens when you give your team members to share in the first 10 minutes.?
2. Music. Ever have music playing for your team members as they enter the virtual room? My colleagues and I have this ongoing humor about entering zoom rooms and we will say things like “The room is all cleaned up and ready for a meeting!”. If you have recurring meetings, ask for volunteers to share music and allow the first 10 minutes to be about relaxing to the music and informal connecting. After 10 minutes, stop the music, and transition to the agenda. Music has a way of resetting the mind that can be effective especially if you work in an environment that has meetings all day long. One of my favorite tools is to include all the different cultures present on a team. I enjoy sharing Indian music with my colleagues and also appreciate listening to music shared from around the world. Just ten minutes of connection over music can energize the team, prepare minds to do something intense, and promote the feeling of collaborating.?
3. Maybe you have a large team and it’s hard to get everyone to feel connected and responsive during the meeting. WIth large groups, try using breakout rooms in the first ten minutes. Intentionally, find out who doesn’t know each other or who might benefit from being in a smaller group together before a larger meeting. There are individuals that will speak up more or engage differently after having had the chance to connect more intimately. As the team leader, it’s essential that you have a plan or a question to guide the small groups. Instructions that I may give for this type of engagement in the beginning looks like this– Before we get started, I am going to send you off into breakout rooms for 8 minutes so you can connect. When you are in your breakout rooms, see if everyone can answer the following question: ``What was the last thing you did just for yourself?”. The rooms will close in 8 minutes and then we will get started with our agenda. (Notice it says 8 minutes to allow for 2 minutes of people going to break out rooms and returning)?

There are only 3 ideas. There are many engaging ways to use your first ten minutes for connection. What do you do in the first ten minutes of a zoom meeting or what is something you would like to suggest to your manager to do in the future??

Zoom can’t replace the human experience of in person meetings and zoom doesn’t have to disregard that human experience either. Pay attention to what you receive by giving up 10 minutes of a meeting in the beginning.