Almost every single aspect of modern civilization can be traced back
to collaboration and some division of labor on a grand scale. This
fractal of synergy is what makes us the most innovative species by far
on the planet. In the 21st century, we count on things like team
meetings to clarify everyone’s individual tasks and coordinate large
projects. But you can’t count on meetings alone to boost the
productivity of your organization. If you want to remain competitive,
the meetings have to lead to something. If you’re hosting the meeting,
you need to lead the discussion into something highly-productive and
positive.
You need to know how to have a proper team meeting on Zoom! The road
to a great meeting can be summed up in four basic principles that you
must adhere to whenever possible in hosting your meetings. Let’s have a
look at those, shall we?
Make the conversation about data.
After the chit-chat has finished, it’s time to make it clear that
we’re getting down to business. One of the best ways to do that is to
get the numbers flowing as soon as you can. All the data related to the
conversation should be discussed here. Emotional and opinionated talk
should be discouraged and put aside in favor of empirical discussion.
This pushes everyone towards a data-driven mentality. It makes people
use the numbers discussed to justify their points of view later in the
conversation.
If you can, present some visual cues of the importance of data by
using Zoom’s screen sharing feature and displaying charts and graphs
that are relevant to the discussion.
Steer towards inclusivity.
Now you have started to see embers. It’s time to breathe life into
them so that they may transform into flames. At this point, make sure
that the conversation is as inclusive as possible. Do not allow people
to dismiss each other’s ideas, and make sure that you are as attentive
to all of them as possible. In short, make everyone feel that their
voice has been heard. Even if an idea sounds objectively weak, try to
expand on it for a moment. If all else fails, just acknowledge the idea
and move onto the next one. The idea is to make people feel as much a
part of the conversation as possible.
Build consensus through win-win thinking.
The most productive meetings have some form of consensus between
their attendees. Working towards a consensus involves trying to engage
everyone in a similar mindset. Yes, humans are humans, and because
they’re humans, they’ll have a confrontational and competitive nature.
There’s nothing wrong with healthy competition as long as the end goal
of collaboration and compromise comes first. In a team effort, everyone
has to be on the same wavelength. It might actually take you a few
meetings, but you can accomplish this as long as you try as much as you
can to create environments in which people can come up with win-win
situations in every possible occasion.
Find common ground.
It’s inevitable that you will reach a point of entropy, where
conflict will overtake the discussion. It is at this point that you
should actually avoid going into “damage control” mode as much as
possible. If you want to solve the conflict, backing down is only going
to make things worse. Instead of trying to quell things, focus on trying
to find common ground. Elevate yourself above the rest of the voices
and be assertive. Then, once you have everyone’s attention, attempt to
find where the dissent comes from. After that, discover every point
where everyone is in agreement and pick it up from there.
Once you’ve finished quelling the conflict, you should then try to
work with the naysayers to see whether they are spotting a potential
issue with what’s being discussed. Sometimes, they’ll spot something
that could cause deep problems with the goals you’re trying to
accomplish. Listening to negative input doesn’t hurt!
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