What Over 10'000 Hours Of Video Calls Taught Me
Long story short, bad meetings are like a string of Monday mornings on loop. But I found a hack to make them better!
There are very few incomparable joys in this world.
Take me, for example. I’m writing this post from my beautiful home. Surrounded by trees, I can hear actual birds chirping in the background. Yes, real birds. No, it’s not a Youtube recording on loop.
If ‘tranquillity’ had a visual definition, this would be it. Now, if I had anyone to thank for, it would be the flexibility of remote work. It’s the only reason I can live and work in this beautiful place. No more boring glass cubicles, no more hour-long rides in the subway. Most importantly, no more feeling shackled to a desk job.
I think that’s incredible.
Everything aside, there was always that one challenge that I had to deal with regularly. If I had to pick one thing I hate about remote work (strictly gun to my head), it'd be meetings. Hours and Hours of virtual meetings. As someone who has done thousands of meetings online, I can safely say that they will always be boring (so much so that after a decade of virtual meetings, I have yet to encounter someone who goes, ‘Another meeting, yay!’).
I remember how I would be on video calls all day long and then I’d feel really tired towards the end of the day, not finding the energy to do something that I loved instead. Like, as spending time with my 4-month-old. Or listen to those chirping birds.
Here’s the thing. Virtual meetings are amazing but they can take a real toll on you if they’re not organised well. Meetings today are considered a waste of time. Often one-sided monologues, are designed for consumption and not collaboration. Some might even go on to say that they are boring and completely lack any soul.
Long story short, bad meetings are like a string of Monday mornings on loop.
This is why, first things first, we should understand the actual purpose of the meeting. After hundreds of conversations (and my own personal experience), I believe that we meet to:
Align everyone on goals
Build a working relationship
Hold each other accountable to get shit done
So the next time you organise a meeting, make sure you do a quick check to see if the meeting does any of these three things - after all, you want to avoid having the meetings suck the energy out of you. In fact, just while you’re reading this, let me give you some hacks that have worked for me in the past:
💡Prepare. Prepare. Prepare.
Want to know something interesting? You’ll be surprised to hear that it takes a little less than 5 minutes to prepare for the meeting. That’s the same time it takes you to cook a pack of instant noodles. Just five minutes. Three hundred seconds.
Most of us often feel lazy and go straight into meetings. However, just spending 5 minutes preparing for it (and then sharing the agenda with everyone in advance) can completely change how you feel about the meeting. See, meetings are required; they are a necessary evil, some might even say - but they don’t need to be as bad as you think they are.
Pro tip: Confused about how to prepare for a meeting? You can start off with a pre-designed meeting template (or even build one from scratch!) that helps you prepare for the meeting faster than the time it took you to read this sentence.
💡It’s never about the weather.
A mistake that I regularly used to make in the past was asking about the weather before jumping right into the agenda. Sometimes, it would drag on for a minute. It was always sunny or cloudy; too hot or too cold. I realised it was stupid because I’d repeat the same template answer every time and my meetings would end up starting on a not-so-bright note (just like the weather forecast for the day).
Boring weather conversations aside, I’d still recommend starting your meeting with small talk. It could be anything - just sharing a little bit about yourself, your passions, or what you did over the weekend. Sometimes, a little bit of a personal touch can make all the difference - it’s all about adding the ‘me’ to the meeting. This way, you end up starting on a fun note and the meeting doesn’t feel like a chore.
Pro tip: One of the best ways to do so is by using the Icebreakers feature on Dive. Want to know what kind of icebreakers you can use for your next team meeting? Thankfully, I’ve a whole list right here.
💡If the meeting is not required, don’t meet.
Often, we tend to meet just because there’s a meeting on the calendar. But it really helps to ask people what they want to discuss in the meeting first. If they don’t have anything concrete to talk about (or roadblocks that need to unblocked), do the most important thing you can do: just avoid the meeting entirely.
💡Say no to distractions.
Picture this scenario. You were paying attention for the first twelve minutes of a (rather long) meeting, only to get distracted by a quick notification on Slack. And just like that, you’ve lost all context. Yes, it happens to the best of us. Distractions can be overwhelming, because one minute, you are listening in with rapt attention, and the very next, you’ve no idea what’s happening. Thankfully, I’ve got a pro tip for that.
Pro tip: Switching your phone on to DND mode takes only a second and keeps the notifications (and spam calls) at bay. Just where they belong.
💡Engage everyone in the meeting.
At the end of the day, meetings are all about your employees. There’s a reason it’s called a meeting and not a monologue, after all. If everyone is participating and contributing, the meeting becomes conversational and much more engaging (read: less boring). Plus, it really makes everyone on their team (even the interns!) feel like their voice is important. Some easy ways to engage everyone are:
Take a poll: Get everyone’s input with a quick question. There's a natural curiosity in every one where they’d like to know what others have to say about it.
Taking collaborative notes: This is a great way to stay in the conversation at all times. It also enables you to pick up where you left off so that nothing is missed.
💡Make your meetings actionable
One of the biggest criticisms about meetings is how they don't always lead to action. You can help avoid this roadblock by incorporating actionable steps into your meeting agenda. This can be noted underneath each individual agenda item.
By taking some time towards the end of the meeting to actually record action items, you can forget about your team complaining about long and aimless meetings. With a little more development, your virtual meetings can be turned into efficient work sessions that your entire team benefits from attending (and also enjoys them)!
Pro tip: Sending a follow-up email is an effective way of cementing the main takeaways from the meeting and keeping it fresh. Plus, it helps everyone who might have zoned out during the meeting (happens to the best of us) stay updated on the proceedings.
I hope you enjoy your meetings after reading this. We have distilled some of these learnings into a product as well. Dive helps the best managers to make their meetings productive, engaging and fun.