How to run a great virtual meeting

How do you structure a virtual meeting?

In most virtual meetings, we observe people jumping straight into content, meaning discussing what they think the meeting topic is. This meeting usually has a time limitation, and delegates feel under more pressure to get straight to the point and discuss the topic in hand.

In truth, cutting short the effective meeting process usually results in achieving far less than if attendees had absolute clarity on what they were there to discuss, on how they were going to use their time and (for certain topics) how they will come to a decision.

5 easy steps

Start using this model in all your virtual meetings – at first it will feel awkward and you may feel like you are wasting time but soon it will become second nature.

Purpose

What does everyone think the purpose of the discussion is?

It is important to check in that everyone is on the same page and have absolute clarity on what you are looking to achieve in the time together.

If the purpose and objective seem unrealistic in the allocated time, then re-contract to try to do something achievable.

Process

What is the process you need to follow to ensure you meet he process?

Mapping out the whole process with a long discussion is not necessary, as you may agree on the first part and decide how to progress as you are halfway through. If part of your desired outcome is to come to a decision, you should agree how that decision will be made. How should this decision be made? What is the most appropriate action? Who should be involved? Does a decision need to be made at all? What is the urgency/timing? When does it need to be made? etc.

Be aware of “Group Think” - Groupthink was identified by the American author Irving Janis. He analysed some of the disastrous decisions made in the public sector, such as the Bay of Pigs, Vietnam and Watergate. He concluded that the bad decisions were caused by peer pressure to conform, by short-sightedness in looking at the options and by high stress levels which affected judgement. Peer pressure can force members of a group to conform against their better judgement and not state their view.

Content

Having become clear about purpose and process, discuss the real issue or question that needs to be resolved.

Putting in a process does not negate time for free debate – it just ensures that it doesn’t stop you from achieving your aims.

Be mindful to watch time and if you feel a change in the purpose or process needs to be discussed based on the nature of your conversation, then do it.

 Commitment

At the end of your discussion, confirm the decisions made and agree on the actions to be taken.

Address time frames and communication needing to happen because of the decisions made. 

Review

In a longer meeting, build in time to review ‘how’ you ran/are running the meeting.

With meetings that last a few hours, it is great to have a five-minute review at mid-point and then at the end.

Check in with everyone on what is going well and how it could be improved to meet the objective, alongside making it a good experience for attendees.

Sounds simple, but when applied skilfully and with the right intent the process can transform your meetings. 

Like a pair of new shoes, they may feel uncomfortable at first but the more you wear them in the more comfortable they will feel.

Give it a go....and let me know how you get on.

 Other great tips, gathered from Bruce Daisley's book The Joy of Work:

• Halve your meetings; Why meetings are so unproductive? The problem is that people in meeting talk and debate; they discuss and dissect every single thing. Their ability to learn is slowed by members of the group subconsciously asserting their social standing and position. Teams should be small, and meetings smaller. The objective of a good meeting has to be to get as few people in a room as possible to make a rapid decision and to allow others to be aware of the process that went into making that decision.
• Go for a walking meeting (around your house for now); Walking proved highly effective when it came to liberating ideas, even if it wasn’t the most effective way to resolve complex logical puzzles. As the scientists put it, walking may not be good for convergent thinking (i.e. homing in on the ‘correct’, standard answer to a question) but it is a powerful tool for divergent thinking (coming up with fresh, imaginative ideas). But it’s not just about coming up with productive ideas. Walks are a way of having meetings, too. ‘Walk It Out’ to help people unblock subconscious mental obstacles. All truly great thoughts are conceived by walking. Friedrich Nietzsche
• Create a virtual social meeting; Constant communication is the essential oil that lubricates an enterprise and ensures its smooth running. It’s what creates Sync. Social time turns out to be deeply critical to team performance, often accounting for more than 50 per cent of positive changes in communication patterns. The crucial thing is the social bonds between people. If you want them to work well with one another, you have to give them the opportunity to meet informally, to get to know each other properly, and to swap thoughts and ideas
• Replace presenting with reading; By removing the grandstanding possibilities of the virtual PowerPoint presentation and the conventional agenda-driven meeting, and by giving a memo to read and substituting a period of reflection and thoughtfulness, could one level the playing field. Good meetings should engage everyone, and everyone should feel prepared and confident to contribute. The driving force of decision making and problem solving at meetings is engaged discussion.