How to Beat COVID Zoom: Four Hacks for Better Stuff

So part of the ‘new abnormal’ is hours of meetings on Zoom and other similar platforms.

And, since the COVID rise of this phenomenon in our working lives, many have noticed changes. For example, teleconferencing is clearly more purpose-specific than in-person work meetings. There’s less ‘pre-meeting’, less ‘after meeting chat’, and fewer side conversations — which have all existed in the past to help us figure out what’s really going on and where we fit in to it.

Then, there’s the cultural part. Screenlife isn’t a great place to get to know your team and your colleagues, and form the bonds of workplace success and survival. No matter how much we try to show off our pets or share casual drinks, it’s hard for the human to cut through the digital.

Equally, years of behavioural research tell us that humans communicate and learn in a variety of ways — visually, audio-digitally, kinaesthetically, and aurally. Yet, teleconferencing platforms don’t suit that variety of modes very well.

Therefore, as a manager, it’s probably time to get more creative about how to facilitate teleconference meetings that are both productive and people-centric. You don’t need fancy new facilitation software. You just need to have a go at four, left-field hacks. Each is aimed at somehow ‘changing the conversation’ and getting teams to participate more richly rather than just stare down the computer camera.

1. Thingify it. People understand things better than they understand abstract concepts, especially abstracts communicated about via optic fibre cables! The visual and concrete image of an air bag, for example, conveys a lot more than a long technical lecture about safety engineering standards for cars. Use this human strength to your advantage.

Ask teleconference participants to find an object in their household / workspace to find an object that best illustrates a situation, issue, problem or opportunity that your group is discussing. Have people ‘show and tell’ the Pot Plant of Profitability or the garden gnome of customer service.

2. Headliners. In a complex and chaotic contemporary world — made even more so by COVID — clarity is vital. For our productivity, our sanity, and our futures.

Ask teleconference participants to use the chat function of the call to write down mock headlines based on what’s under discussion. Read out the “Middle Manager Has My Back” and “Paula Said Pivot Twice” content. It’s funny, it’s real and it actually captures what’s most important.

3. Gametime. The Gamestop stock market episode of last week showed us many things including the absolutely massive impact that a gamer mentality can have. Four decades of video gaming have made a huge proportion of us very adept at the gaming mindset. Let’s leverage it.

Introduce “Bullcrap Bingo” and ask your team to point out stuff they don’t understand or don’t think works. Or, “Jargon Buster” where we check ourselves on the usual vocabulary to better understand what’s really going on.

4. Dadirri. “Dadirri” is a word from an Australian Aboriginal language that means “to listen with deep intent and unconditional regard”. Namely, to really listen rather than think ahead to what your reply will be or to give advice or to be the smartest person on the call. Listening is even more important now that we don’t have the benefit of face-to-face communications and all the subtle things we pick up in real life. It both helps us work together better and feel better, especially when our colleagues respect us with their real attention.

One way to practice powerful listening is to have teleconference participants break out into groups of three, talk to each other about a scar on their bodies, and then brief the broader call. It’s a bit personal, but we need to work harder to hold our humanity when circumstances might be driving us apart.