Online Meeting Fatigue? Tips to break up the routine
We are all suitably fed up with MS Teams and Zoom – spending days on end in front of your screen. The saturation point has been reached.
There are so many tips out there, but most are unhelpful and hard to achieve. A no meeting day on Friday – easier said than done when you have a number of critical projects on the go. A Zoom social to up morale – we spend all day by the laptop already, I find it hard to then socialise on screen too. We wouldn’t normally stand in a circle of 12 waiting for it to be your turn to speak.
So here are some practical and small things you can do to break up the routine.
- Start all meetings at 10 past the hour – that way you have time for a comfort break and refresh of coffee. You will find you are still able to do what you needed to do in a 50 minute slot.
- Go back to mobile phone calls. Take yourself away from the screen – you can still talk – that is how we used to work a year ago!
- Notch it up a level and go for a mobile-walk-and-talk. I do all my mentoring calls on the move – chat, walk and get some fresh air. What’s not to like?! Encourage your meeting buddy to do the same. Discussions are much more positive and creative.
- Issue pre-reads. Nothing worse than sitting through a Powerpoint deck where everyone gives their update. You can do this as a pre-read and have a much shorter and valuable meeting where you discuss real issues and find real solutions.
- Leaders – exercise by example. When the leaders of the business show it is fine to go for a run or cycle during the day, the rest of the team will follow.
- Play by the rules. You are allowed to exercise in twos as long as you keep your distance. Why not hook up with someone for a soc-dis-walk. No agenda, no rules, no minutes – just a chat. Nice!
- Buy a little token or gift for a colleague. Not a voucher – no something real! A new coffee mug, a magazine, a game for the kids or whatever would help them get through this period. One of my colleagues gifted a dartboard so they could have the annual appraisal in the usual pre-covid pub setting. Make someone smile.
We’d love to hear your tips for combating Zoom fatigue as well. Get in touch if you’ve found another way to keep the energy flowing! Contact: EstherM@NineFeetTall.com
