After a year of doing all meetings virtually, I have discovered many essentials to making virtual meetings more productive and engaging. Beyond my own meetings, I’ve trained hundreds of leaders in the past year on how to reduce boredom, multi-tasking and burnout in virtual meetings. Of course, some virtual meeting fatigue and frustration is inevitable.
Feeling a little bit Zoomed out? You’re not alone. Several researchers and social scientists have weighed in recently on why virtual meetings can be so draining. First, you experience a cognitive dissonance as your brain thinks you’re with someone but you can’t pick up all their non-verbal cues. Second, you typically have more distractions coming
Since writing the article below a year ago, virtual meetings have become exponentially more common – especially with global health concerns restricting travel and group gatherings. It’s more important than ever to ensure virtual meetings are productive, engaging, and relevant. Each person responds differently to a virtual environment: some struggle mightily to resist multi-tasking; others
Do you ever feel resentful that people aren’t listening well enough to you when you talk? Perhaps it’s your boss, a client, or your husband. Maybe you’ve said, “I told you that, but you didn’t listen!” Or you’ve thought, “Why are people on their phones in our meetings!?” It can be a difficult and frustrating
Most managers of people think their job is to direct work and drive results. Not my colleague Scotty. Does work get done well under his leadership? Definitely. Does his area of responsibility achieve results? Yes! So, doesn’t that mean he’s doing his job as a manager? He would say no. He says that his job
Ask someone why they want a particular job, and they might tell you they: Are looking for a new challenge Are passionate about the product/company Want to leverage their skills, abilities, and experience Have a connection to the organization’s culture/values Have practical considerations (e.g., money, hours, location) These are all good reasons. Yet research shows
How might you describe the organizational cultures you’ve worked in? For me, I’ve worked in independent-detached cultures, toxic-politics cultures, unhealthy-anxiety cultures, and high-trust cultures. The one constant across all of these is that the organization’s culture—the way people think, behave, and interact—has influenced my own thinking, behavior, and interactions. You’ve probably experienced something similar. It’s
Several years ago, I was sitting in a team meeting when I noticed something. It was one of those recurring meetings, the kind that don’t have a lot of focus or urgency, and most people were sitting quietly on the sidelines…that is, until the topic arose of whether we should have cake or cupcakes at
If I told you that a year ago I started working out with a personal fitness trainer, you’d probably give a nod to my discipline. If I told you that a year ago our company started working with an expert consultant on innovation, you’d presumably think we were staying ahead of the curve. If I
I recently experienced the powerful impact of a masterful questioner. He asked questions at appropriate times. Each question was insightful and thought provoking. Each prompted deeper discussion. And all led to greater trust. You could see the impact in real time. As he asked questions, people would look up at the ceiling thoughtfully for a
Matt Norman is president of Norman & Associates, which offers Dale Carnegie Training in the North Central US. Dale Carnegie Training is a global organization ...READ MORE