By implementing these strategies, you can lead virtual meetings that are more inclusive, engaging, and conducive to collaboration among participants.
When thinking about leading effective virtual meetings, we first need to define the purpose of meetings, especially because these types of meetings take a lot of energy and often are more strenuous than in-person meetings. Part of the strain comes down to the fact that we are paying attention to meeting dynamics in a different way when hosting virtual meetings.
We need to have guidelines for how we engage in meetings in order to make them more effective. Leading effective virtual meetings can be more challenging than in person because there are more unseen dynamics – and if you have a camera off culture or you move quickly through the agenda, some folks can feel forgotten.
A way to ensure that voices are heard and are everyone feels welcome is to set up virtual meeting guidelines. Establish some norms as a group. Are you going to use the raise your hand function when someone wants to speak? Will folks stay off mute? Do you want reactions? Chat box usage? It’s a great teambuilding exercise to come up with some norms on engagement. This will serve you as the facilitator of the meeting and this will be useful for folks, especially those of us who are quieter or need a moment to process. Setting these expectations or norms upfront will help folks know how to engage in the meeting and will ensure they feel part of the process.
There are a few core aspects of being a leader of a meeting that we should discuss before we even prepare a meeting. One of the topics we need to center is inclusion and voice during meetings. One of the responsibilities of being a leader of a virtual meeting is to set the tone, send out an agenda, and ensure that folks can contribute meaningfully and are heard. Below are some items to consider on how you can lead inclusive and effective virtual meetings.
Responsibilities of leading effective meetings:
- Guide the discussion and meeting
- Manage the method rather than the content
- Mediate if the discussion breaks down or goes off track
- Notice dynamics but also if anyone is making exclusive jokes or creating an unwelcoming environment with side comments.
- Summarize discussion and conversations.
- Allow for silence to process information.
- Prevent dominance in airtime and ensure everyone has had an opportunity to contribute.
- Encourage the use of chat box and reactions.
Challenges of running meetings:
- Continually focusing on and attending to the group.
- Being comfortable with ambiguity and information overload.
- Filling the silence.
- Feeling like your questions aren’t understood.
- Not being able to see body language.
- Processing misperceptions, emotional reactions, and conflict.
For the actual facilitation of the virtual meeting, below are some tips on how to set yourself up for optimal success including things to do before, during, and after said meeting.
Tips:
Pre-meeting:
- Define the purpose of the meeting.
- Have your intro ready (names, pronouns, ice breaker, if applicable).
- Review virtual meeting guidelines.
- Share an agenda or a brief outline of the things happening in the meeting.
- Have an idea of what you want attendees to leave with.
During meeting:
- Invite people to introduce themselves (if they don’t know each other).
- Review virtual meeting guidelines:
- Establish meeting norms (e.g., muting when not speaking, using chat for questions).
- Notice if interruptions are happening and name them.
- Ensure that folks’ ideas are attributed to them and not others.
- Share that you’ll be waiting 10-15 seconds after a question is asked so attendees can process information.
- Invite folks to share, especially if they are more reserved. Give permission to share in the chat and not just verbally.
- Notice any dynamics that might be playing out:
- Are some people jumping in quickly and not leaving space for others?
- Is there a lot of silence? Are folks warming up?
- Are some attendees speaking over others or interrupting?
- Manage time effectively by keeping an eye on the clock and keep conversation moving.
- Stick to the agenda.
- Summarize key points.
Post meeting:
- Review any action items.
- Follow up, if necessary, with individuals.
- Make note of anything you want to do differently next time
- Seek feedback! Proactively ask for feedback around how things are going.
Finally, we all want something tangible to be able to leave with and as for strategies, below are several you could employ starting tomorrow! And the best part is that not all of them need to be by the “leader” of the meeting. Some of these strategies can be used by individual contributors.
Individual strategies:
- Preparing for meetings:
- What are things you can do for yourself?
- Top of the meeting:
- Intro: write out an elevator intro: name, pronouns, position, anything you think folks should know
- State that you are good with (if you are) using the chat and verbal. If you’d prefer people use raise hand, say that. Ask them to engage with the reactions so you know they are paying attention.
- Remind folks that pausing time is going to feel uncomfortable (13+ seconds!)
- Getting curious:
- “I’d love to hear more about what you just said, can you share?”
- Introduce the parking lot or garden:
- “I love where this is going and I want to recognize that it’ll get us off track. Can we jot this down for another time because we’re going to run out of time if we stay on this topic too long?”
- Inviting someone to share or contribute:
- “We’ve not heard from some folks yet, can we give space to hear from anyone who hasn’t spoken yet?”
- How do you want to pay attention or notice dynamics?:
- “Hey, someone was stating something… so and so are you finished?”
- Notice if someone shuts someone down
By implementing these strategies, you can lead virtual meetings that are more inclusive, engaging, and conducive to collaboration among participants.
Victoria Verlezza is employee experience manager at Fuss & O'Neill. Contact her at Victoria.Verlezza@fando.com.
