The Science Behind Successful Remote Meetings
Regular meetings have their challenges. Poorly run meetings negatively impact team productivity. Research suggests that approximately 50% of meetings are effective. This number greatly reduces when regarding remote meetings.
Remote meetings are plagued with unmet and unique obstacles. Increased communication challenges invite interruption and without visual cues, finding a communication flow can be difficult. In addition, these meetings often result in social loafing; this occurs when people exert less effort working in a group, and productivity suffers. Top it off with poor quality connection and background noise, the effectiveness of the meeting is further undermined.
Thankfully, there are ways to navigate this new remote landscape we all find ourselves in and we have the science to prove it. Meeting science has yielded insights to help leaders manage their teams and increase productivity.
Tips for conducting remote meetings:
Set Precedent
As the meeting leader, how you begin the meeting will set the tone and agenda. Start on time. Account for technology or software error and log on five minutes early to make sure you are all set. Nothing kills momentum like starting on the wrong foot.Mood Matters
The meeting leader’s mood does matter. Research suggests that it can produce a contagion effect which makes employees mirror you. To achieve a positive tone for the meeting express energy and appreciation. This will be met with listening and foster creativity.
Establish Norms
By establishing an effective remote meeting, you must talk about remote meetings. Set expectations and intentions. This could include setting guidelines or rules such as announcing names before each person speaks or limiting contributions to 60 seconds to make effective use of everyone’s time.
Roles
As the meeting leader, it's imperative to embrace the facilitator role. Without this role, there is no direction and the effectiveness of the meeting will suffer. Keep employees engaged and the discussion on track.
Virtual meetings can be met with success. Invite feedback to learn what works and what doesn’t. Working remote is here for the foreseeable future which means so are remote meetings. Focusing on intentionality will be met with positive engagement and efficiency.