Six Steps to Better Meetings in an Era of Social Distancing

For most companies, working from home is no longer just a perk for employees, a way to liberate its workforce, or to save on expensive office space. During these uncertain times, and in the midst of a global pandemic, it is the only way to work – period. Allowing or requiring employees to work from home is not new but during our current crisis, there may be many companies that find themselves in uncharted territory. This said I suspect that some of the guidelines below may be useful for even those companies who have been operating a full or partial mobile workforce for some time. There are many, many facets associated with the concept of working from home, from technology infrastructure and security to human resources and pay policies. In the era of social distancing, this short article is focused on holding meetings, a business activity that consumes a surprising and large portion of our daily work weeks. Whether your firm is large or small, it likely holds a number of meetings for a myriad of reasons.

1. Don’t just replicate existing meetings

If one were to tally all existing meetings across a company, I think they may be surprised at the number and, more importantly, the person-hours spent in face-to-face meetings. I have personally witnessed two hour weekly meetings with some 50 people in attendance, equating to 100 person-hours of effort for a single gathering. While now is not the time to conduct a full analysis of the firm’s inventory of meetings, it is the time to determine which meetings are absolutely necessary and which can be replaced with a report or a combination of some sort of email distribution and the gathering of a smaller group to discuss or to make decisions.

2. Adjust applications to provide more or different information

In concert with setting a leaner meeting schedule for your enterprise, consider making minor changes to your software to provide new capabilities or data that might ease the need for team members to meet. This might be a simple adjustment to your email/calendar platform or perhaps new reports from your various enterprise systems that help manage your financials, customer service and so on. It’s not the time to make wholesale changes though as these will require more resources and coordination and as a result will pose greater business risks and significant disruptions to your operating environment at a time when your company is already facing significant challenges.

3. Be more disciplined

Remote operations require greater discipline as gathering team members for ad-hoc meetings will be difficult, if not impossible. Decisions that are made in hallway discussions will no longer take place. While I am suggesting to reduce the number of meetings overall during this period, companies will need to formalize other meetings to ensure that information continues to flow to the right people at the right time, replacing interactions that would take place in a normally staffed office environment. When meetings are scheduled, those invited to attend need to attend otherwise gaps in information or knowledge will stall progress.

At the same time, companies need to improve the structure of meetings ensuring that there is an agenda, objectives, defined roles and responsibilities for follow-up, a designated chair person or moderator and so on. Sounds basic, but I know many firms rely on in-person dynamics to achieve their desired meeting results. A cavalier approach will only add to uncertainty.

4. Turn on the video

Technology has come a long way. There are now numerous options to host video conference calls across multiple end-user platforms. While the bandwidth and technology has been in place for a long time, I know that many companies do not mandate or encourage personnel to turn on the camera on their devices. This is perplexing but understood as many work-from-homers admittedly roll out of their bed and into their home office and perhaps conclude their work day in their pajamas. I have personally found that live video creates a much more engaging experience and best replicates the dynamics of a face-to-face meeting and improves results.

5. Shorten meetings

How many times have you looked around a meeting room and noticed that your colleagues were disengaged, tapping on their phone, staring out the window, or perhaps even having a side conversation. It’s hard enough to hold participant attention at an in-person meeting but even with the cameras turned on in a video conference, your colleagues will struggle with the many distractions at home. This is a reality that is difficult to change, especially when many staff will not have been ready to work from home. The solution: make meetings significantly shorter. Sending out information beforehand, and improved preparation coupled with better meeting structure should help minimize the duration. Start on time, end on time to give staff an opportunity to work around their conference schedule and to better blend their home and newfound ‘office’ environments.

6. Seek feedback and iterate

Like anything new in the workplace, it’s unlikely that companies will get this right the first time. Leaders will definitely have a view on what’s working and not as each will have their respective perspectives on productivity and outcomes. While managers will know what adjustments are necessary, it is important to reach out to the team to get their feedback and input as they will have first-hand information on the impacts of working remotely. There are definitely best practices for managing and operating a virtual workforce but every company is unique, so adapting your firm’s culture and operating model is vital.

Of course there is much more thinking and work that goes into a successful mobile workforce implementation. Core values like empowerment and trust are paramount but paradoxically governance is also critical. Well-defined and smoothly operating policies, processes, procedures, systems and tools are a must. Perhaps I will write further on these topics as we continue to face the COVID-19 challenge together, but I am hopeful that this article provides practical and timely information, especially for those organizations that are entering the work from home world for the very first time.

Let’s all heed the advice of our local health authorities as we come together to fight a common enemy.

About the author: David Tom is Managing Director at the Inthink Group and has successfully led both sales and delivery organizations. As a management consultant, he advises leaders and teams on how to improve their businesses and enter new markets. In this article, David looks at steps companies can take to enhance their ability to function remotely in an era of social distancing as the workforce is sent home to do their jobs.

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