Bad meetings can turn your IT team against these conversations forever. If your employees are disinterested, scrolling through their mobile phones, or show any other signs of weak engagement, then you might need to take steps to change that. Here are seven tips from other businesses on how you could turn those meetings from bad to good.
1. Set the Meeting’s Objective
That objective has to matter. Keep in mind that when you’re pulling people in for those meetings, you’re basically taking them away from their work. That’s a productivity killer. Set an objective and make it count. Do you need a decision, want to brainstorm for ideas, require updates or status reports on a particular project, want to make plans with your team for the coming year, or want to touch base with everyone? By knowing what that objective is, you can easily make arrangements to get that meeting work, says Mind Tools.
2. Use Technology
More and more companies are using video conferencing to improve the way they work. It cuts down on travel expenses and companies can channel those cost-savings into other projects or organizational needs. If you think your team can benefit from those cost savings (and really, who wouldn’t?), then you might want to look into video conferencing tools for your team.
3. Keep It Simple
You’re set on finding the right video communication tool for your team. Then, assess its ease of use. Go with a system that your employees won’t have problems adapting to. That’s one of the factors many other companies are taking into consideration. This is especially true if you already have a complex infrastructure. You wouldn’t want to pile on even more complexity on top of that situation. Otherwise, you’re just going to make it even more difficult for your teams to get their job done, adding unnecessary time and effort into every task and ultimately derailing their productivity.
4. Stay Connected
Take a lesson from startups all over the world. Plenty of them are turning to video conferencing to maintain client and employee connections. With video calling solutions, staying in touch with their employees is easy. For most startups, it can be hard to monitor and keep an eye on remote employees or teams. Video technology makes it possible, though, and in a such cost-effective way that there’s really no reason for more companies not to adopt the technology. It also helps startups reach out to their clients all the world over, without incurring a boatful of costs. Companies like the BlueJeans Network offer business video meeting for IT teams so that you can easily reach out to your employees and customers at the same time.
5. Develop Engagement through Meetings
Meetings aren’t just there to discuss things or arrive at a decision. One of the things startups need to be good at is fostering employee engagement. This is even more essential if your employees are miles or continents apart. In the absence of daily interaction, it can be hard to build up a strong and engaged team, one that’s efficient and productive. Given how remote employees are more at risk of feeling isolated, daily chats through video helps your remote staff develop a deeper connection with the rest of the team and the company in general. That means they’re less likely to hand in their resignation. They also work better. If you have dispersed IT teams, use video meetings to improve the quality of their engagement. That’s also going to improve the way your onsite and offsite teams interact, work, and collaborate.
6. Enjoy Better Work-Life Balance
As plenty more employees demand greater flexibility at work, companies are now able to provide arrangements that make room for employee demands. It’s a win-win situation. Employees get to have more time to spend on their personal lives so they’re happier and healthier. They’re less stressed. They smile more often. They deliver better performance, all because companies switched to video meetings instead of physical ones. If you’re still meeting your IT teams at the office, you might want to give video meetings a solid try.
7. Get Faster Results
Video conferencing tools have also found their way into the recruitment industry, says Cisco. With video communication, hiring teams can now attract more talent by expanding their search to a global one. As a result, they won’t have to compromise on hiring standards and requirements just to fill up vacant positions. Video also shortens the hiring process, which reduces cost. And because video helps those interviews happen faster, hiring decisions and results are quick and speedy as well. If you’re wondering what you can do to improve decision-making process for your hiring teams, it might be a good idea to go for a reliable video communication system.
By looking at how other companies conduct meetings, it won’t take you long to turn your meetings from ho-hum to great.
Image Credit: Open Grid Scheduler
