Workplace Meetings

Meeting relief

From check-ins and task and project reviews to video calls about goal planning and business updates, the number of meetings we have on a daily basis can feel overwhelming. But fatigue caused by meetings isn’t necessarily about quantity. It’s about how we participate in them.

For virtual meetings, it’s becoming easier to develop poor habits that affect the way we perceive meetings altogether. Rather than acknowledging the purpose of a call, we begin to see them as opportunities to focus on other things, leaving us disengaged and less involved.

Consider putting your communication tools and skills to work to improve your part in workplace meetings:

1) Your role in a meeting isn’t to put on a show to demonstrate how well you’re paying attention, but it’ll become quite obvious you’re not focused if you’re visibly working on something else or give too long a delay in responding to questions directed to you.

• Tip: If you have something pulling your attention that you can’t put off until after the meeting, ask for a quick second to dissolve the distraction. This way, you can take care of everything urgent without unintentionally expressing disinterest or lack of attention.

2) It’s not a flaw to be unfamiliar with the tech you’re using for online connectivity at work. Maybe you aren’t that confident about which functions are available through your company’s video meeting tool, and it leads to avoiding participating at all.

• Tip: Get familiar with your video platform by launching a meeting with just yourself. There you can practice using shortcuts, test out different functions, and increase your familiarity with the tool before your next meeting with others.

3) Whether the meeting is long or short, taking notes of everything mentioned or remembering every important detail can be a challenge. And nothing’s more frustrating than feeling behind without a thorough meeting recap.

• Tip: Request that important meetings are recorded for review or suggest that meeting notes are compiled somewhere for easy access. This minor extra step in the process will help ensure that everyone is on the same page about the next steps to take post-meeting.

Check out this quick read about overcoming some frequent causes of video meeting fatigue:

Making meetings count

The purpose of intentional and better-planned office meetings is to increase engagement and productivity during meetings, allowing more time to focus on important topics. Are you reaping the benefits of well-structured meetings?

What you can gain from effective meetings:

• Improved communication - Better collaboration and understanding of each other's roles and responsibilities on tasks and projects.
• Increased productivity - Clear expectations and preparations for after a discussion takes place.
• Better decision-making - When all relevant information is presented, and everyone has an opportunity to provide input, better decisions and outcomes are brought to the table.
• Increased engagement - Meetings that are straight to the point lead to increased engagement and participation.

By simply planning better meetings, companies can reap these benefits and effectively bring people together, solve problems, and make progress. Read this article with tips that put that goal front and center:

Find more resources on creating more effective and productive workplace environments at our gpac blog, the Knowledge Center.

Visit: https://gogpac.com/knowledge-center/