My 5 tips for reducing meeting fatigue in the time of online meeting fatigue

Without putting too much focus on C19, I’d like to share some thoughts I’ve had while talking to many clients all over the globe in the past 3 months.

We’ve all gone through our own personal change, adapted to lockdowns, and then the easing of restrictions (and either back into lockdown for some or threats of more lockdowns for others). Our life, dreams and goals have been shaken around but you know one thing about us humans is that we’re resilient and adaptable - particularly those of us that are open-minded and want to adapt. 

Our work environments have been critical for us to succeed for so long, yet to be forced to work from home constantly and juggle pets, children, family members is tough enough let alone the constant back to back ‘on and focused’ of daily online zoom meetings (or teams, or blue jeans whatever you use). We’re interacting more with screens than we are people and it’s having a huge impact on us.

Firstly our productivity is impacted, many of us are ‘on’ from early hours until late, and yet others have moments of productivity in between family distractions. It’s not easy but we all need to adapt to productivity.

Secondly, we’re suffering fatigue - fatigue of zoom calls with little human interaction outside of our family unit - resulting in signs of burnout which are everywhere. This is made worst by the uncertainty of not knowing ‘when or how’ this will all end.

I wanted to share 5 realistic techniques everyone can do from today...it’s imperative now more than ever that we and our teams implement ‘what we know we should do’ and as a leader, force it by changing your behaviours and routine first - it will immediately allow others to see that this is acceptable.

#1 Shorter Meetings

I’ve constantly pushed back on long zoom meetings - they’re just not productive. We suffer concentration, collaboration and learning fatigue anywhere past 30 minutes and you’ll have noticed not just yourself but other team members and participants doing the same. Three simple techniques are to ensure people read documents and do prep before the meeting, be super clear on the goal of this meeting (I tend to use one meeting for one topic), and also cap the meetings - you’ll find online video meetings people can easily talk more, and go over your allocated time. As useful as it is to allow people to talk, vent and provide input...the consequences of going over the time slot when you have back to back zoom’s is increased stress that contributes to feeling rushed, pressured and of course more burn-out. I call this the fatigue/burnout loop. The biggest technique here is profiling the behaviour and communication styles of each attendee and schedule the topic/type/duration of meeting to suite them (using something like DiSC and awareness of styles of individuals and how you can adapt is critical here).

#2 Schedule Breaks

We all know we ‘should’ schedule breaks between meetings but we rarely do (the what we should do vs what happens syndrome). Now more than ever we need that time to force a break so my advice is simple ‘just do it - get control of YOUR calendar’. Everyone will want time with you, but you’ll give that time up for others because it’s important but not schedule a break...why? Is that not important for your wellbeing too? Lead by example, and schedule breaks where you either have productive time or better still, get up from your desk, go for a walk, play with the pet or children or just have some non-screen and quite time for even just 5 minutes! I do this with a cup of tea outside or I’m lucky enough to go out, see the goats and chickens and then head back to the desk. If you don’t control your time and breaks then no-one else will and you’re part of the problem.

#3 Focus using Pomodoro

One of the productivity techniques I teach is Pomodoro. For those interested, I’m happy to schedule a 15-minute power zoom to walk through this or provide a short training link, but it’s simple - the concept is 25 minutes of focused work and 5 minutes of break/non-productive work. I have always used this technique when I have deadlines and doing it more now than ever before. Anyone that knows me, knows I’m easily distracted and have lots of ideas - I find Pomodoro grounds me and lets me focus whilst forcing a break. In my 25 minutes, I turn my phone and notifications off and focus on one task. Using an alarm I stop whatever I’m doing at 25 minutes and use the 5 minutes to make a cup of tea, go outside or any of the techniques above in #2. I’ve found on larger tasks, adapting this to 40 min focus and 20 min break works better for me but give it a go - be religious and stick to it for a week, you’ll notice a difference as you focus and then allow yourself to stop in between the next round of focused activity.

#4 Less video more phone

Yes, this is allowed! Remember when we used to hold our phones to our ears instead of holding it to our eyes! We’ve all become ‘trapped’ by the idea that zoom style meetings must have the video on! We all know what we look like by now, and I’m encouraging more people to do zoom meetings (or just group phone conference calls) without the video where you can. Firstly it takes the pressure off you and others and secondly, it allows you to move around the house or walk while on the phone. Everyone I know that has adopted this technique has given feedback from their teams that they welcomed a few non-video meetings as it reduces the pressure of being ‘on’ all the time! 

#5 Walking meetings

Those of you that have seen me speak may have seen this image before as I talk about it often. The power of walking meetings is incredible for not just our wellbeing, but also stimulating the creativity in our minds. Quite simply, when we’re slumped at desks, staring at a camera or a screen of 8 miniature faces looking back at us, neuroscience shows us that we become less productive. Our brains begin to shut down so instead, we spike our sugar and caffeine intake as a false ‘jolt’! 

I’ve done this for years in person but it’s harder now in lockdown times but now more than ever we need to get away from the desk and encourage everyone to do this. The image below shows a quick example of a brain scan showing the difference and correlation between exercise and cognitive function. 20 minutes of sitting vs 20 minutes of walking has a huge difference to our cognitive abilities - that’s why some people walk and talk while they’re on the phone...partly by habit but they don’t realise it’s the addiction to the dopamine caused by walking and the creativity. 

So in short, combine #4 with #5...look at your upcoming week and see which meetings can be moved to the phone, and better still which ones are walking meetings where you can walk and talk whilst still participating. If you can set weekly or daily ‘walk team meetings’ where everyone is out walking, take a photo on WhatsApp and send it to the team, then this is even better - it gets everyone up from their desks, allows them to feel comfortable to walk and everyone benefits - it’s the most simple way to balance productivity with a positive effect on wellbeing. If we’ve survived peering into people’s personal life’s via video, with the disruption of pets, kids and partners then surely a few passing cars on the phone isn’t going to kill us!

These are just some simple ideas that when we think about it are obvious but set yourself a challenge to adapt them and lead by example. I’d be fascinated to hear what else you’re doing to mix up your working styles and how these tips have changed your mindset about online meetings and balancing productivity vs fatigue vs mental well-being.