Zoomed Out? A Meeting Strategy for Hybrid Work

I think it’s safe to say that many of us are still “Zoomed out” from the pandemic. I certainly am. And I cannot begin to count the number of times in the last year when I heard someone say, “that Zoom meeting could have been an email” or “that meeting should have been a phone call.” As many organizations develop and implement hybrid plans as part of the “Return to Work,” we have an opportunity to re-set–to plan and implement meeting strategies that respect employees’ time and energy.

I have been helping organizations plan and implement virtual teams since the mid-90s, and there are three key criteria I recommend in deciding whether meetings should be face-to-face, video conference, audio conference, email, phone call, etc. We have become too reliant on Zoom-type technologies. Many researchers are telling us that there really is something called Zoom fatigue, in which employees feel like they must always be “on.” There is an exhaustion that results from continually trying to read non-verbal cues and nuances that are difficult to see  in video conferencing.

The key principle In determining what type of meeting to have is “social context.” We can ask questions like, “what does the meeting topic or agenda dictate related to social context?” Social context is the degree to which social interaction is promoted with the meeting technology. Some situations require high social context meaning face to face or video conferencing should be used. Some topics or agendas require much less social context.

In my experience there are three key criteria in determining what type of meeting technology to use:

1. How much social context does the meeting require?
2. What does the information to be shared in the meeting require? Or what kind of meeting are we having?
3. What do team ground rules suggest?

Let’s look at each of these criteria.

High social context: Situations that require high social context—heavily reliant on non-verbal cues–would be:

• If your team is just starting up or starting a new project
• If there is interpersonal or technical conflict or if there is a controversy among the entire team that needs to be resolved.
• If there is a tough decision to be made and there are many strong diverse opinions on the team
• If there is a wide range of international cultures on the team, and the team has not become comfortable with lower social context mediums
• If there is a high degree of complexity in the information being discussed and/or a large amount of data
• Complex decision-making

Mid-range social context: mid-range social context technologies such as teleconference, phone calls, data conference with audio and messaging, workflow tools, etc. are widely recommended for communications that must be same-time but do not require as much social interaction. For example:

• Information sharing meetings
• Discussion and brainstorming
• Day to day decision making

Low social context: these technologies include bulletin boards, web pages, non-real-time data conferencing, file sharing, messaging, workflow tools, voicemail, and email and are appropriate for:

• Information sharing and/or decision making in which same time communication is not required
• When there is a degree of comfort and trust between members of a team

What do team ground-rules dictate? Once teams have formed, members know each other well, and team members understand the technologies available to them, I strongly recommend that the team develop ground rules, generate, and agree to which technologies should be used in which settings.  Teams can determine how they operate best. The team sets its meeting ground rules, and then the team revisits them on a regular basis to see how well those norms are working.  Mid-course corrections can be made as needed. The nice thing about team ground rules is  (they are generated by the team, not dictated by the manager) that since the team created them and came to agreement on them, members are more likely to live by them.

There is a lot riding on your organization’s plan for returning employees, and an effective plan based on these principles can help your organization make the right decisions. For more information about creating a great Return to Work plan please see our recent blogs.

Please contact us for a complimentary review of your Return to Work Plan or a complimentary 60-minute strategy session.

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