When the pandemic struck and with no signs of it slowing down, we were forced to move to all things digital overnight. Leaders and businesses have been forced into leading teams via video conference, teams are forced to work with each other via video. Working virtually has many benefits, it has forced many of us to multitask, while dividing our attention among our other activities. Is your team attendance inconsistent? Do only a couple of your team members participate or engage? Do you find that some team members are distracted during a video call? We are here to help, below are five tips on how to keep your employees engaged during a Zoom video call.
Stick To A Schedule
Being consistent will help create a habit for your team and yourself. Routine is key when it comes to keeping employees engaged. If you met in the office every Monday morning for a meeting, then stick to this. It is important for every team member to attend so everyone is on the same page and gets the same information. If changes are made to the meeting or it has to be cancelled make sure to reschedule accordingly.
Communication Is Key
Make sure you are communicating with all your employees. We all communicate differently. Some prefer phone calls or texts; others prefer email. Do all three! Before your team meeting: you can send an email with the agenda, the date and time. Using zoom you can also pre send them a link, so they know when to join. Send a calendar invite with the link attached. If you see that someone has not replied, then chase them up by giving them a phone call.
Short and Sweet
Try and keep your meetings to an hour or less. If you have lots to get through and it will take you longer than an hour, make sure to implement lots of breaks. People will get distracted and will start to not pay attention to what you are saying.
Introduce Everyone
Not all video meeting software will show everyone in the meeting it could just be an icon or off screen. It is good practice to introduce everyone attending, it is very important to include everyone in the meeting and introduce their roles (obviously if there is an extensive list of attendees this might not be possible). If someone feels like their role in the meeting is less important, they are less likely to engage with the group. So make sure to keep everyone involved and engaged.
Give people jobs to do
Split the roles between employees: facilitator, timekeeper, and scribe to write down action points and decisions made. This will help to involve all participants in the meeting and for recurring meetings you could swap their roles around. Ice breakers and mini games are also a great way to get everyone involved and engaged. Avoid side conversations make sure to keep the conversation flowing and stick to the agenda.
Remember to always send a follow up, it is a great way to remind those who participated the main points of the meeting and what actions need to be taken. This will increase the effectiveness of the meetings and will help reinforce the importance of a virtual meeting. Your biggest challenge is always going to be, how do we keep people engaged? You can overcome this challenge by following these tips and thinking outside the box. Good practise and patience will go a long way. Here at Team Tactics we have plenty of virtual and live team building activities to help keep your team engaged and motivated. They create the perfect platform to get your teams working together and communicating in ways they haven’t done before.
