The spread of teleworking and the flex office is forcing managers to adapt their teamwork, in particular through remote meetings. But is it possible to design this type of meeting in the same way as face-to-face meetings?
Adapting your management practices to teleworking is not just a matter of applying these practices using digital tools. The widespread use of teleworking during the various confinements has seen companies move towards a democratisation of this type of organisation, forcing directors, managers and employees to re-evaluate certain professional practices. New environments (and therefore new constraints) need to be taken into account, as do slightly different levels of concentration and availability. Management expert Pierre-Hugues Cacheleux reveals the secrets of successful remote meetings.
Remote meetings: the essential tool for teleworking teams
During the recent containment phases linked to the COVID-19 pandemic, each of us was able to experience remote meetings. Before the health crisis, we already knew (Barco & Circle Research survey conducted in 2019 among 3,000 managers in France and six other countries) that managers took part in an average of 10 meetings a week (and that was just an average!). With the shift towards meetings in Zoom, Teams or Google Meet, the feeling of leaving one meeting to instantly start another has continued to grow.
Of course, this has had many positive aspects: the vast majority of surveys have highlighted their effectiveness, whether in exchanging views, finding solutions or making decisions; in short, in keeping the business going. But from a relationship point of view, satisfaction is not always the order of the day, and many observers have identified as fundamental the role ofentertainer which the meeting leader must take on board, particularly to prevent participants from becoming disengaged.
To put it another way, you can draw on your face-to-face facilitation reflexes to run a video meeting. But there are so many specifics to remote meetings that it is essential to approach the exercise with a fresh eye and the right behaviours.
Remote meetings: imperatives not to be forgotten
In addition to the imperatives of controlling time, detecting interfering activities, managing breaks in the connection and paying attention to feedback, every manager or project leader in a position to lead a remote meeting needs to respond to two essential challenges:
- on the one hand, it is important to prepare It is therefore a task that can be likened to a job: to plan a meeting carefully and to anticipate the way in which it will be run so that it is better adapted to the specific context of videoconferencing, its constraints and its opportunities. It is therefore a task akin to a role of director, upstream of the meeting ;
- on the other hand, it is essential toanimate in a different way, by rethinking its posture to better involve participants in this format so conducive to dropping out. And it's more the a player's skills that the presenter must mobilise, and this time, for the meeting.
Videoconferencing: the attention challenge
First and foremost, the remote meeting moderator must bear in mind that the attention of the participants is extremely important. unstable and volatile. This should force the moderator to review the sequencing and possibly the agenda of the meeting, to refresh the participants' minds as regularly as possible. Sequencing involves alternating subjects and presentation methods (pitch, brainstorming, etc.) to keep everyone's attention.
Arouse the interest of participants
This question of sequencing must be coupled with the question of the tools used to facilitate the meeting. This is the cornerstone of the success or failure of a videoconference meeting: regularly alternate the visuals on offer in the eyes of the participants, to offer variety and always reactivate their involvement, and return to the trombinoscope as often as possible of the meeting.
It is also possible to enhance the value of participative dimension of the meeting by moving away from the traditional slide show, thanks to demonstration aids (expert software, etc.), interactive tools (such as Klaxoon or simply a whiteboard), and once again, return to the faces regularly to question the participants, validate a point, finalise a sequence, etc. In short, prepare your meeting by thinking about vary the media and insert participatory sequences !
Golden rule: make your meeting vibrant
In addition to these first imperative rules to be taken into account, you will also have to prepare your meeting by planning to slide from emotion in its agenda. It has been scientifically proven that emotionally charged events leave a more lasting impression on our memory. As part of our visios, we need to make information more emotionally powerful, for example by preparing a concrete example (why not use a video example?), by recounting a real-life experience, by slipping in an anecdote that generates humour and complicity (along the lines of "we've all been in this type of situation before"), or by linking an idea to its concrete effects on individuals (employees, customers, prospects, partners, etc.).
And of course, don't hesitate to take advantage of an exotic event (a cat passing by, a child asking a question, noise from the neighbours) to bounce off it and share your sense of humour. So, put this advice into practice: put some emotion into your videos, to capture and keep your employees' attention!
Leading a remote meeting: the art of communication
And then, of course, there is the meeting itself. In addition to the classic recommendations on the quality of the equipment and the connection (on which the quality of the shared sounds and images depends), it will be important to fix the rules of communication. These include
- the warm invitation to everyone to activate their cameras;
- Using the "freehand" function to speak ;
- Whether or not the microphone is activated depends on the number of players and the sequence;
- Using the chat area ;
- And so on.
But more than these aspects, which are now often better mastered, it is the the host's attitude who will ensure the a climate that is both benevolent and effective. It is this attitude that will set the tone for the exchanges, by calibrating the verbal and non-verbal communication (volume of voice, calm flow, hand gestures, looks, smiles, etc.). It's precisely in these details (which are obviously not details, it goes without saying!) that the difference lies between transmitting information and getting people to accept it. And that too is something you can work on, especially with ORSYS!
ORSYS was quick to recognise the importance of this emerging managerial role, at the same time as the advent of videoconferencing. Over the past two years, we have helped hundreds of managers to successfully lead remote meetings. Thanks in particular to a 100% distance learning module with a 3.5 hour focus that this challenge has been met.
