Make Over Your Meetings: How to Combat “Zoom Fatigue” and Take Back Your Productivity
By Katherine Lewis
With remote work now in its second year throughout much of corporate America, many employees are reporting feelings of burnout, especially when it comes to video meetings. While such meetings have become the norm, especially for teams that may be working together from various geographic locations, a group video call is not necessary in every situation. I have been encouraging the teams I coach to revisit this approach and inject some fresh thinking into their meeting schedules.
If it used to be just a phone call, it should still be a phone call.
This is the first piece of advice I offer. And people are very receptive to it. Especially if the meeting is just between two people, there’s really no need for it to be a video call. When I say this to people, they are relieved. Why waste time and be late for your meeting because you can’t find the video link? Just pick up the phone. Ask yourself: Before the pandemic, would this have been a phone call? If the answer is, “yes,” don’t hesitate and don’t feel you’re shortchanging anyone. Make it a phone call and hear the sighs of relief from your coworkers.
Video calls aren’t helping you become a better listener or communicator.
Did you know that deep listening is actually the best way to understand what is on someone’s mind? This sounds counterintuitive, because many people think that video calls are better for communication because you can see body language. In reality, much of what you are seeing is merely a distraction; focus on what you are hearing. In business coaching, we call this “Listening at Level 3,” and it simply means being able to pick up on things like tone and inflection, paying attention when someone hesitates and seeing when they are most animated. Really deep listening is more effective when all you are doing is listening. Video calls hinder your ability to do this, another reason to stick with phone calls whenever possible.
Take your meeting on a walk.
A fascinating study out of Stanford University showed that walking boosts the ability to think creatively about a task — and way more than being seated. The study was published in 2014, but it’s especially relevant today. It showed that the benefits last even after the participants stop walking. If team members live close to each other and feel comfortable gathering, replace the next Zoom meeting with a walk on the greenway. But don’t feel limited by geography -- everyone doesn’t have to be in the same place. They can each walk wherever they are: in their neighborhood, around their house, on the treadmill, anywhere. But it’s up to the team leader to encourage everyone to get up and move. (Yet another reason to make the meeting a phone call; video connections are hard enough to maintain when everyone is sitting still).
There’s a brand new app, called Meet With Spot, that’s aiming to transform walking meetings with technology that blocks out excess background noise, a virtual assistant that takes notes, and a calendar tool that lets participants know it’s an audio-only call. The app is still in beta testing, but you can put your name on the list.
If you must Zoom, make it interesting. (Not with a cat filter.) Try an interactive whiteboard.
The larger the group, the better suited it is for video meetings, because it’s easier to see who is talking. Plus, the pressure on any one particular person is less, because ideally everyone should get a turn as speaker. An easy way to improve a Zoom or Teams meeting is to make it as collaborative as possible. Interactive whiteboard tools like Miro, Mural or Jamboard allow remote users to collaborate by adding all forms of content to a shared digital workspace, either in real time or asynchronously.
With a little bit of creativity and thoughtfulness, you can upend boring meetings and reinvigorate your teams. Try modifying one monthly video call with one of the strategies above, then seek feedback from the people on your team to see if they’d like to reshape even more meetings.