Tips for Leading Effective Virtual Meetings

In 2020, the global workforce was unceremoniously forced into virtual conference rooms. Group projects, meetings, even casual conversations that used to occur in the office are now taking place over video conferencing apps like Zoom, Google Meet, and Slack. As employees start to trickle back into the office, a new hurdle emerges with hybrid work. Any part of your team could be remote or in the office on any given day. How do you lead effective meetings with split teams? Here are

6 Tips for Leading Effective Virtual Meetings in Hybrid Work Environments

Set expectations of when and where and how

Mostly no one has worked in hybrid office environments before now. As employees and managers start to navigate what this means for productivity, fluid communication becomes the cornerstone of every meeting. Managers should set an expectation early with their teams about what is acceptable and what is not for team meetings.

Likewise, employees should speak with their managers about their perspectives and expectations. Nothing is more uncomfortable than a manager expecting an employee to be in the office for an important meeting, but the employee does not understand this expectation.

Be early

If you’re the host of a call, you may need to be the first one to join, depending on the software. That way, you can let other participants in. It’s also a nice courtesy to be there to greet your participants as they arrive and confirm with them that they’ve successfully joined the meeting.

If you’re not the host, being early is just a good habit to get into. Plus, depending on who else is early, you might even get some valuable one-on-one facetime with a critical colleague or client. Or time to chat with a work friend you haven’t gotten to see much of lately.

Similarly, being early means the meeting can start on time. Everyone likes a meeting that starts on time and ends early (more on that later).

Be present

Active participants in meetings produce useful meetings, no matter the location. There are a few simple ways to do this with a hybrid work environment: require every person to participate on camera, turn off your notifications from Slack or Teams, ask participants to give feedback and thoughts throughout the meeting. These three simple things can keep the participants accountable for being engaged during the meeting.

Of course, don’t hold a grudge if someone is forced to divert their attention for a moment or two. We are all in a very different work-life balance these days - both globally and individually. Keep the stress of the meeting to the tasks at hand by understanding unintentional interruptions will happen.

Set an agenda (and stick to it)

No one wants to be in a meeting that goes around in circles and gets nothing done. The number one way to ensure that your meeting is productive: set an agenda. Email the agenda out to all the participants (including any files needed for the meeting) and ask everyone to review the documents and agenda to be ready for the meeting.

Watch for body language

As the leader of a meeting that could be in-person and virtual, this particular advice will be tricky to execute. We know from experience. Some people may fall under the radar when it comes to their feelings about the meeting’s topic. Take frequent pauses for feedback and pointedly ask the people in the meeting to express their feelings. Allow for open communication. It’s a new experience, this post-pandemic workforce. By engaging your meeting participants, you can help to keep morale up and accountability strong.

Have a recording of the meeting

Traditionally, meetings have been recorded via notes of the person that leads the meeting (or their assistant if they are cool enough). In the digital age, there are several ways to keep a record of the meeting. Your video conference tool may be able to record the meeting time. Your project management tool may have a system to keep notes attached to the meetings. You may have a virtual tool that participants can collaborate on simultaneously. This is a highly effective way to keep everyone on the same page during and after the meeting.

For more tips, we also recommend this article from Hubstaff.