Effective Strategies for Leading Better Virtual Meetings

Effective Strategies for Leading Better Virtual Meetings

If you’re more used to in-person meetings, you might struggle to adapt to virtual ones. However, virtual meetings seem here to stay and you need to improve your virtual meeting-leading skills.

As a project manager, it’s your job to organize a productive and efficient virtual meeting no matter how frustrating you find it. 

The most common issues with virtual meetings are fragmented, other times people talk over each other or the louder ones dominate the conversation. Whatever the case, if not organized well, virtual meetings can be messy and a complete waste of time.

To help you avoid issues like this, here are all the strategies to help you lead better virtual meetings.

 

Ensure that a meeting is essential

Before you roll up your sleeves and organize a virtual meeting, start by determining if and why the meeting is necessary. The best way to improve the meeting quality is to reduce the number of bad or unnecessary virtual meetings.

You can evaluate whether or not having a meeting will benefit your team. If all the information you need to share can be easily discussed or shared via an email, or some other channel, try those routes first. Only if you notice that not everyone has understood your message the best, do you have a good reason to hold a meeting.

 

Prepare the meeting agenda in advance and share it with everyone

If you’ve concluded that the meeting is truly necessary, next up is creating the meeting agenda. Never start a meeting without a clear agenda that you’ve shared with the rest of your team.

The meeting agenda usually consists of a short set of talking points that will inform all the meeting participants what will be discussed. The goal of the agenda is to provide your team with advance notice so they can prepare effectively. When everyone knows what the meeting is about, there’s less chance of it being chaotic and going off the topic.

 

Choose the right meeting technology

If you want to lead successful and efficient meetings, choosing the right technology is crucial. However, choosing one won’t be easy because there are so many meeting software and tools to choose from. 

To find which one suits you and your team best, you’ll have to try out a few options. The most common options include Skype, Zoom, and Google Hangouts. When trying them out, look for specific features that can be useful to you and your team.

The best way to find the perfect meeting software is by experimenting with your team. If you find one that has everything you need and is easy to use, that’s the one for you.

 

Set some ground rules

The best way to keep your meetings organized and orderly is to set some ground rules with your team. 

For instance, ask all meeting participants to log in five minutes early to the meeting, ask them to mute the line when not speaking, and encourage everyone to actively participate in the meetings. On top of everything, encourage courteous behavior and application of virtual meeting etiquette. 

 

Allocate specific speaking time for each participant

In virtual meetings, it’s harder to know when someone is about to speak due to the lack of non-verbal cues. In turn, this can lead to miscommunication and feelings of exclusion.

Your job as a leader is to foster an inclusive atmosphere where everyone feels comfortable sharing their thoughts. Promote open dialogue, practice active listening, and show empathy. Utilize video conferencing to help close the communication gap and strengthen connections within the team.

 

Work on your leadership skills

As the leader of the meeting, everyone will be looking to you for guidance. So it's crucial to acquire the skills and tools necessary to excel in this role.

First of all, make sure you’re completely familiar and comfortable with virtual meeting software, its features, and tools. This will make leading the meetings so much easier.

Then ensure you know how to create a comfortable environment. If participants are meeting for the first time, encourage everyone to relax and get to know each other before you start talking business. To achieve this, you can incorporate some ice-breaker games.

Overall, it’s important to know how to create an inclusive atmosphere where everyone will feel comfortable sharing their thoughts.

 

Be mindful of the time

Make sure your meetings stick to the planned meeting duration. This will show your team that you respect their time.

To be able to do this, you’ll need to keep the discussion on track and avoid getting into unrelated topics. Streamlining meeting lengths can enhance efficiency and boost productivity throughout the organization.

Try to use a consistent meeting schedule. You can schedule weekly, bi-monthly, and post-project meetings and be consistent with them. This will help your team manage their workload around the meeting time and help them be prepared for the meetings. Unplanned meetings can still happen but they won’t be as frequent.

 

Encourage breaks

Extended virtual meetings can cause reduced focus and fatigue. Encourage your team members to take brief breaks during longer sessions to refresh their minds. You can also include team-building activities or icebreakers to sustain energy.

Go a step further and adopt audio-only breaks - turning off the video occasionally can help alleviate visual overload.

 

Follow up

Once the meeting is done, you should share with your team key information and other action items. This will help everyone on the team clarify any potential confusion.

You can also leave the meeting recording, in case someone needs to refer back to it.

Lastly, ensure your follow-up includes a request for feedback. The point of feedback is to find out from your team if they think the meeting was effective and how you can improve future meetings.

 

Conclusion

Virtual meetings have become a cornerstone of today’s collaboration. Your goal, as a meeting leader should be to organize a successful and productive meeting. With these strategies, you’ll be able to streamline your virtual meetings and make them more efficient, enjoyable, as well as productive.

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