Earth Day 2022: 5 Ways for Your Hybrid Work Model to Be More Eco-Friendly
As spring has finally sprung and we can get back to enjoying nature that little bit more, our planet is at the forefront of our minds. The theme of Earth Day 2022 is “Invest in Our Planet” — a fitting frame of mind for approaching our business models this year and beyond. The threat of global warming to our planet’s wellbeing is becoming more and more apparent. According to the latest IPCC report on climate change, approximately 3.3 to 3.6 billion people live in environments that are highly vulnerable to climate change. We need to avoid the global temperature rising by 1.5 degrees Celsius, as this would cause “unavoidable increases in multiple climate hazards and present multiple risks to ecosystems and humans.” According to earthday.org, to avoid this rise in temperature, we need to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. We can all play our parts in this effort, and whether you’re an office manager, a team leader, or a CEO, there are plenty of ways to drive down your workplace’s carbon footprint. As more and more businesses move to a hybrid work model, we’ve gathered five ways to encourage your hybrid workforce to be more environmentally friendly. Encourage hybrid work While some of your teammates may be embracing the hybrid work model, many others may find it hard to break from their traditional schedules. The first step in making your hybrid workplace more eco-friendly is to encourage hybrid working in the first place, as it holds huge benefits for your carbon footprint. Less air and noise pollution from commuting cars, less single-use plastic from breakfasts and lunches, less energy waste from office buildings — the eco-benefits of working from home stack up quickly. While there can be some debate as to whether working from home really cuts carbon emissions with heating and energy costs, the consensus is that it is far preferable to commuting to work, with one study even finding that net carbon emission reductions of 77% can be achieved from working at home. Trial an equipment sharing model One of the benefits of a hybrid working model is that office equipment does not need to be supplied and replaced at such a high rate. Tech turnover can have massive eco-implications, from the mining for materials to the e-waste produced when a piece of equipment needs to be retired. Set up an equipment sharing model with your hybrid workplace, and see how much technology can be shared or saved by staying at home. For example, if a team member has their own computer suitable for work use, offer an incentive for them to use this, rather than request a new laptop. Avoid doling out new technology just for the sake of it. Many of your employees may not need a company phone to do their work, for example, while others may work fine without extras like headsets or external hard drives. If one or more of your employees work part-time or flexible hours, investigate whether they could share their equipment on a rotational basis, passing it between them on the days they need it. Measure office power usage When your teammates do work from the office, there is an opportunity to reduce the amount of power your building uses. Research when your office has the highest capacity, and see if you can reduce the power consumption in off-peak hours. For example, there should never be a need for your office to have full power on overnight. You can also invest in light sensors and LED bulbs, which are both great ways to reduce the need for constant power usage. Depending on the size of your organization, you may be able to switch to a greener energy source for the entire office, such as solar or wind power. Talk to your office manager or the leadership team and state your case for why this investment could be worthwhile. Set up a recycling drive Making an effort to be more environmentally friendly doesn’t have to be a chore. There are plenty of ways to turn your efforts into fun, team-building activities for your team. Why not organize a recycling drive or a local area clean-up for your employees to mingle and do some volunteer work? You could also organize a clothes swap or a furniture flipping competition to let your workers see how going green can be fun and fashionable. Getting everyone involved is key to ensuring your eco-efforts go the distance, and it’s a great excuse to get together outside of work. Offer green incentives If you currently operate a rewards system in your workplace, why not offer more green perks and incentives to your best-performing employees? There are plenty of eco-friendly swag items to choose from, like reusable coffee cups or water bottles, compostable phone cases, or clothing and tote bags made from recycled materials. Go the extra mile and offer these items at your next event or conference, and make your mark as an eco-conscious company. Find the right software for your team to stay connected While working from home, it’s crucial that your employees have the tools they need to collaborate and be productive so that we can all reap the benefits of less time commuting. A collaborative work management system like Wrike allows your team to work together from anywhere. With features like real-time proofing and approvals, over 400 app integrations, customizable workflows and views, and robust security features, it’ll be like you never left the office. Find out more with a free two-week trial.
Why Great Culture is Essential for a Hybrid Workplace
The hybrid work model is here to stay, folks. The great work-from-home experiment of the past 18 months has been a success; companies realize that employees can be just as productive working from anywhere, and workers are embracing the flexibility of a remote or hybrid workplace. Some 83% of workers want their company to offer a hybrid work model post-pandemic, and 39% would like the option to work from home up to four days per week. Many hyper-growth companies are listening to employee preferences, with 63% implementing a “productivity anywhere” workforce model and introducing the possibility of a hybrid workplace for employees. It’s clear that hybrid work is becoming a permanent part of how we work, but what are the potential challenges facing such a model – especially for culture? The hybrid work model can lead to longer working hours, micromanagement, a dissolution of traditional company culture, and opportunities for miscommunication. Thankfully, there’s several ways to avoid these pitfalls and instead come out ahead by building a more productive, streamlined, and positive work culture. Building a positive hybrid workplace Along with the hybrid work model comes a noticeable change in company culture. Businesses are concerned with how they can preserve culture with a semi- or predominantly remote workforce. However, it’s important to keep in mind that culture is much more than just office perks and team-building events. Looking beyond perks Culture begins with a company’s unique approach to work. Consider the critical characteristics of your ideal culture and how they can be achieved in a hybrid workplace. For example, providing flexibility to employees and trusting them to complete their work from home will provide an excellent framework for creating a transparent, autonomous company culture. Free lunches and snacks won’t help employees too stressed or busy to eat it. Helping your employees feel more comfortable about the work they do and the way they do it contributes much more to building a healthy hybrid workplace culture. Setting employees up for success A positive culture starts with positive workers, so focus on ensuring employees have everything they need to be productive at work. This includes: Ensuring employees have the tools and equipment they need to work comfortably at home – including options if the internet or power goes out, as well as funding for new equipment Implementing new training opportunities to allow remote workers to gain the same level of onboarding and upskilling as in-office workers Making sure remote managers are trained in supervising, managing, and coaching from a distance, along with remote team-building skills Ensuring that your hybrid and work-from-home employees have ample opportunity to engage with management Employee involvement and work-life balance Changing to a hybrid work model is an excellent opportunity to reassess what constitutes great company culture. Recruitment company Morgan McKinley used surveys during the pandemic to discover what was most important to workers and, based on the results, built a culture that offered a better work-life balance. To do this, they implemented ideas such as a company-wide 3 p.m. finish on Friday afternoons, cutting hour-long meetings to 45 minutes, and encouraging employees to block out lunchtime each day on their calendar. You’ll notice that all of these new measures provide equal benefits for both in-office and remote employees. When building your culture, ask employees what’s most important to them and create a company culture that benefits all workers. Better tools improve hybrid workplace culture Perhaps the most critical aspect of hybrid work is creating a digital workspace that enables all employees to work together from anywhere. Collaboration is a key cornerstone of hybrid work culture, and it’s a great place to start. These tools will ensure you are supporting in-house and remote workers to collaborate. Your digital workspace is essential to making sure remote workers don’t feel isolated from their team or that office workers aren’t getting more opportunities. All of this equates to happier employees, less turnover, and more productivity — critical foundations for a solid workplace culture. Digital tools also support a flexible workplace by allowing employees to work to their own schedules. An emerging trend in hybrid work is asynchronous communication, which enables teams to communicate without the expectation of needing to respond immediately. Team members will have all the information they need to complete a task and complete it in their own time. Asynchronous communication negates the need to be ‘always on.’ Employees can send questions or provide status updates without everyone being connected 24/7. You can also encourage teams to send daily or weekly updates, so everyone can be transparent in what they’re working on day-to-day. So, what exactly are the essential tools employees need to foster a better collaborative culture in a hybrid environment? They include: A comprehensive digital workspace that captures all work so that projects, resources, communications, and status updates are accessible to remote, hybrid, and in-office workers Asynchronous communication tools to combat the ‘always on’ mentality and minimize excess meetings Security features to ensure the safety of company information and employee data Companies can also achieve a comprehensive digital workspace without bombarding teams with excess tools that can cause miscommunication and unnecessary complexity. Businesses should focus on two core tools to facilitate the hybrid model and enable a better culture of digital collaboration. IM communications tools An IM tool such as Slack or Microsoft Teams allows employees to engage with each other regularly. Channels can be set up for teams and employees with similar interests to ensure all employees feel included. IM tools allow employees to have instant and direct access to their colleagues no matter where they are working and help support relationship building in a hybrid environment. Streamlined IM communication and coordination can contribute immensely to building a healthier work culture and environment. CWM platform A collaborative work management platform is the core component of the complete digital workspace needed to facilitate hybrid work. Teams can track all projects and tasks in one place and gain full visibility over work across teams and departments. These platforms allow for asynchronous communication, enabling workers to be flexible with when and how they work. They also integrate with other tools, allowing all work data to be brought together and stored in one workspace, minimizing the need to be logged in to several platforms at once. CWM platforms also have built-in security features designed to support hybrid teams to work from anywhere. Security features It’s critical to ensure that work and information is protected regardless of where employees work. As businesses become increasingly digitized, bad actors will continue to devise new ways to access and potentially take advantage of your unsecured data. Provide your IT teams with the tools they need to rigidly safeguard your company’s work, perform structured audits on a regular basis, as well as ensure your employees are educated on proper security protocols and practices before they delve into the world of digital collaboration. It’s time to reimagine the way we work The way we work has changed for good, making it the perfect time to reevaluate your workforce based on the changing needs and behaviors of your business and employees. For your company to be resilient and provide the best possible workplace culture, you need to reevaluate work through a lens of flexibility. A collaborative, autonomous culture for workers provides considerably more benefits than the closed, siloed work culture of the past. A compassionate, flexible work environment will increase employee happiness and engagement, and it’s become more important than ever to break down silos in a hybrid workplace to ensure that employees are dedicated to teamwork and collaboration no matter where they are. For more resources on hybrid work culture, check out: Return to Work Management Guide: How to Manage a Hybrid Team Research Uncovers the Technology That Will Power Hybrid Work An Introduction to Hybrid Team Management A Guide to Hybrid Remote Working WFH or Hybrid Office? How to Know Which Works Best for You
How to Plan a Virtual Christmas Party for Remote Employees
As 2021 draws to a close, many employees are still working remotely across the world. With this in mind, businesses are looking at how they can involve everyone within their organizations in a fun and memorable virtual Christmas party. In this guide, we’ll provide practical insight into the planning and hosting of virtual Christmas parties. Keep reading to discover the tips, tricks, and tools you need to create a successful digital event your team will actually enjoy. How to get everyone involved in a virtual Christmas party Engaging an audience of remote workers seems challenging at first. They’re already used to virtual events but not necessarily the fun kind. In order to make your virtual Christmas party exciting, you’ll need to follow some best practices for planning virtual events. The three hallmarks of improving engagement at any virtual event are the inclusion of a physical component, an interactive process, and being able to see other attendees. A physical component of a virtual event can include something sent to an attendee’s address ahead of time that they can use on the day. For a virtual Christmas party, this may be a funny themed hat or a present. Most companies choose to do virtual gift cards as their Christmas party presents for employees. Instead, make the day more exciting by sending a physical gift to every attendee. Creating a gift box or basket that people can actually open will make your virtual Christmas party that much more memorable. An interactive process requires audience participation before, during, and after the event. For example, you can spark engagement from the moment you first invite guests by using a virtual registration process that gets them excited about the event. For large groups or events, registration should be done at least two weeks in advance. And just like at an in-person event, your virtual Christmas party team leads should interact with the confirmed attendees ahead of time through fun event reminders and announcements. Pro tip: Having a virtual event registration process helps differentiate your virtual Christmas party from other digital office gatherings. It shows that this is more than just a calendar invite for a training session or regular meeting. E-cards such as the festive holiday cocktail party ones from Paperless Post are great for this. Finally, host your virtual Christmas party on a video call platform and not just on a one-way livestream or audio-only app. Require cameras to be on throughout the event. Create opportunities for guests to use every feature of the event platform. For example, you can play part games and designate teams by having Team A use the raised hand emoji and Team B use the heart emoji on Zoom. You can also use breakout rooms to create smaller groups for team building activities and Christmas-themed challenges. Top tips for planning a virtual Christmas party Planning a virtual Christmas party can feel and look a lot like planning a virtual work meeting. Here are some ways to make these two events different yet well organized: Designate a charismatic host who can keep track of the event timeline and keep everyone engaged. Use a team collaboration software like Wrike to project manage your virtual Christmas party. Ask your team what they’d like to see happen at the virtual Christmas party so they can feel involved in the planning process too. Include team building activities and icebreaker games to kick off the social part of the evening. Double-check that your host WiFi is strong and guests can hear and see you clearly. Your party should be scheduled for a Friday night instead of a Saturday afternoon if you want to maximize attendance. If you decide to go all out, make sure to provide alcohol-free transportation or driver services. If you organize a virtual Christmas party during work hours, make certain that your team is prepared to handle the additional workload. Go all out with your background decorations to make the event feel truly special. This can be a physical background filled with a Christmas tree and gifts or a customized virtual background everyone can use that has a festive design. Virtual Christmas party ideas and games your team won't hate Host a sommelier-led wine or hot cocoa tasting complete with nuts, candies, and cheese. Participate in a remote escape room experience. The winning team gets a Secret Santa gift. Have a Christmas cookie decorating competition with management as the judges. This requires some prep ahead of time but will be a visual feast for all attendees. Dress to a theme and host a contest for the best ugly sweaters, Santas, and other Christmas character outfits. Bring in classic board games such as bingo, charades, and virtual Apples to Apples. Look for versions with a holiday or Christmas twist. Invite guest performers to do stand-up comedy, play live music, or even do magic while dressed as Santa. If children are in attendance, screen a Christmas movie like “A Muppet Christmas Carol”. If it’s adults only, watch something like “Die Hard”. Host a creative workshop such as cocktail making, scarf knitting, or ornament crafting. Invite a local school, church, or community group to sing Christmas carols during the event. Start a Christmas-themed trivia game for prizes. How do you make a virtual Christmas party inclusive? Although there are various holiday celebrations and festivities that happen throughout the year, they seldom get the same attention that they deserve. An inclusive approach encourages employees to recognize that they come from a variety of faiths, traditions, and cultures. To make your virtual Christmas party more inclusive, leaders should make their employees feel valued by turning it into a virtual office holiday party instead. Or, if hosting a true Christmas celebration is important to the majority of your team, make sure you’re upfront about it. Sometimes an employer will announce a regular holiday event that ends up feeling, looking, and sounding a lot like a Christmas party. But according to the experts at the Society for Human Resource Management, it’s much better to be upfront about which holiday or holidays will be represented at your party than mislabeling it for the sake of inclusion. If you do host a virtual Christmas party, make sure to also acknowledge and give the appropriate time off for other winter holiday celebrations for employees who celebrate those instead. How to plan a virtual Christmas party with Wrike Wrike is an online task management system that manages to-do lists and multi-department projects, including events like virtual Christmas parties. Its advanced features allow it to efficiently organize groups of people. To start, it's important that the virtual Christmas party planning team has a centralized folder for each major portion of the event running at the same time. This way, they can easily identify which parts of the plan are complete and which ones are still in progress. Next, each team has its own subfolders, which can be organized into areas of responsibility and major initiatives. This system also keeps all of the important details organized, allowing each team to set its own deadlines and work seamlessly with the other event crew. For virtual Christmas parties, this means keeping track of everything from mailing invitations and gifts to arranging live performers. After, Wrike users can add a registration folder to their virtual Christmas party project. The registration folder contains all the necessary information related to attendee registration. From there, tasks can be broken down into specific sub-tasks with more detail. For example, if your task is to host a cookie baking contest, your sub-task list may include the item “draft contest rules by December 15”. In addition to adding dates to tasks and sub-tasks, members of the event management team can add custom tags to each item. This will make tasks easier to find, sort, and assign to the appropriate team members. Each team can customize their tag options in Wrike to fit their own guidelines for breaking down tasks into action items. For example, teams can designate certain tasks as “Administrative” to automatically sort logistics-based tasks into one skimmable list. Once you've created a list of tasks, you can start scheduling them in Wrike. Doing so in the timeline view will help organize them nicely and ensure that your announcements, invitations, RSVPs, and party shopping all get done on time. There are lots of ways to view tasks once you have them created and assigned. Drag-and-drop tasks can be organized in a timeline view. You can also group them into predefined hierarchies. And if one task is dependent on another (such as waiting for RSVPs to come in before putting together the gift baskets), Wrike allows users to connect tasks and send automated notifications and reminders to the appropriate people when it’s time to move on to the next steps. Having task dependencies makes it easier to identify which tasks are dependent on which part of your virtual Christmas party plan. Also, it saves you time when you need to update the status of a specific task since Wrike will trigger these reminders for you. And after your virtual Christmas party is over, you can simply just drag and drop the entire folder into a "Past Events" folder for next year. Create a templated version of your planning process to streamline future event planning and organizing. Or simply keep a record of the fun everyone had and how you brought it to life. No matter how you use the information, it’s handy to have on file within your project management system for future reference. Ready to get your virtual Christmas party organized and on track to be a big hit? Get started today with Wrike’s two-week free trial to take advantage of our detailed task management capabilities.
Everything You Need To Know About Remote Meetings
Virtual meetings have become an integral part of the workflow in modern workplaces. And while these play an essential role in work continuity and communication, it is still quite challenging to maximize the productivity and effectiveness of a remote meeting. Naturally, the approach to remote meetings is quite different from the regular in-person meetings, so naturally, people respond and interact in unique ways. However, remote meetings aren't ideal for all situations, so it is vital to know when and how to leverage this technology. Let's learn all that you need to know to conduct effective virtual meetings. How do virtual meetings work? Virtual meetings utilize technology that allows individuals to connect and collaborate via video and audio, using an internet connection. It is a real-time interaction between remotely located workers to accomplish a shared goal or plan. Interestingly enough, virtual meetings are relatively easier to plan and conduct than regular in-person ones. For many, it’s as easy as firing up their laptops and setting up a remote meeting app where everyone else can also ‘tune in.’ You’ll need to turn the camera so others can see you and a mic that lets other participants hear you. Additionally, getting a pair of headphones or a headset is also a good idea, so you can listen to what others have to say without disturbing everyone else around you. What are the benefits of remote meetings? Virtual team meetings provide countless opportunities to small and big businesses alike. Whether it is about engagement, communication across locations and departments, or other potential interactions, remote meetings are scalable and a cost-effective option. Here are some in-depth insights into the most common benefits of remote meetings: Reduces costs Let's be honest — operational and travel costs can quickly add to a company's expenditures. Virtual meetings can significantly reduce a company's overhead costs. With a click of remote sessions, you can conveniently engage with your team and coworkers in no time. Furthermore, you can communicate both internally and externally and maintain healthy relationships without the hassle of a commute. The operational expenses such as office supplies, utilities, materials also fall steadily when you conduct online meetings, saving the businesses time and money. A remote meeting lets you meet anyone, anywhere, and offer details about the attendees, duration, the discussion, etc. at the click of a button. It also streamlines conferences with automatic annotations, transcriptions and translations if need be — with in-person meetings, you have to take notes to keep track of the key points. Improves internal and external communications Virtual team meetings encourage explicit communication and better interactions. When everyone’s a square on the screen, people quickly learn to communicate directly to the person they need to and whenever they need to without having to go to their office physically. Furthermore, it also promotes a healthy working environment in a virtual setting. Employees can better connect and get to know each other through chat and messenger options. Communication prospers with remote working as it stimulates collaboration. As long as the moderator remains in control and discourages disruption and keeps people from talking on top of each other, a lot can be achieved in one sitting. With remote meetings, distance is no more an obstacle, and you can reach out to your clientele in various locations and develop and maintain a healthy connection with them virtually. Saves time There is no denying that remote meetings substantially save time for employees and employers alike. Commute hassle, finding parking spaces, stopping by a fuel station is no longer necessary — virtual meetings negate the need to travel and save you plenty of time that can be utilized elsewhere more effectively. Boosts productivity Productivity is critical to the growth of a company. A quick virtual meeting in the comfort of your home can stimulate greater efficiency and output. As a result, you can be more productive, which can help businesses yield more profit. Likewise, instant online meetings can be substantially more effective than the regular in-person meetings where everyone trails to the conference room, takes their time to settle and prolongs the meeting by 10–15 minutes at least. All in all, people get their jobs done more quickly and efficiently. You set your plan, schedule, manage your time accordingly, and optimize it to enhance productivity. Also, you can curate your environment and remove the things that are a distraction. Enhances cross-team collaboration Consolidated remote meetings can improve cross-team and overall collaboration. Since you don't have to rely on someone else in the company to connect you to the person you need to talk to, it fosters effective collaboration. Furthermore, the teams are managed centrally where every member can access, share, view, and exchange files with the relevant person. It promotes transparent, secure, and fast communication. Online platforms have several features that facilitate successful virtual collaboration among cross-functional teams. A remote workforce prioritizes agility, mobility, and seamless methods of communication that lets them effortlessly collaborate in real-time while remote working. While it can't entirely replace the human connection, virtual meetings best practices can foster healthy and balanced communication and collaboration among employees. Global talent pool Remote meetings are an impactful way to build connections with people across the globe that would not be possible otherwise. It allows you to quickly find, connect, and develop relationships with other people who are geographically distant. Furthermore, businesses have a broader choice when it comes to recruiting human capital. The new hires don't necessarily have to be local. They can reside anywhere in the world and provide the company an opportunity to find and hire talented resources when a specific skill set is required. With virtual meetings, geographical barriers don't stop the companies from exploring the global talent pool and reach for the best resources to expand their business. Virtual meetings best practices Chances are that the idea of attending a virtual meeting is not foreign to you. You’ve attended plenty of online meetings and workshops to know what goes on. And it’s always the same. You find a room (ideally a quiet one) with decent internet connectivity, and fire up that virtual meeting software only to find out that not even half the attendees are online, the main speaker's mic is going in and out so you can’t understand a thing, and who’s making that annoying swishing sound? Let's face it: virtual meetings are rarely convenient. People are distracted, no one wants to turn on their video, and presentations are always longer than they need to be. According to our virtual meetings survey, only 30% of respondents say that most or all (80-100%) of their online meetings are productive. But virtual meetings aren't vanishing anytime soon. If you're suffering from this virtual collaboration slump, it's time for a refresher course on how to run an effective virtual meeting so your team will never check out when they dial in again. Virtual meetings vs. face-to-face There's no debate about which is more effective: face-to-face meetings are the clear winner, with 68% of survey takers saying they prefer in-person meetings over virtual. However, it's important to understand when it's appropriate to schedule virtual meetings vs. face-to-face ones. When meeting with someone face-to-face, you have their uninterrupted attention and can see their body language. Face-to-face interactions are best suited for meeting with potential or current clients and job interviews. However, when teams are remote, and there is no other option, virtual meetings are necessary for making big decisions and moving the business forward. Let's go over some tips for effective virtual meetings and hear from some of the pros on how they make their meetings more productive and engaging. Virtual meetings best practices Introduce yourself As obvious as this sounds, sometimes people need a reminder that not everyone may be acquainted with a virtual call. Especially with remote teams, it's good practice to kick a virtual meeting off by having everyone introduce themselves and share what they do (not what they're working on — save those for status updates). In addition to intros, spread positivity by having the attendees go around and share a victory or something positive that's happened since the last meeting. It can be anything from launching a big campaign, meeting with a potential client, or simply completing a task. You'll find that just one person doesn't do most accomplishments in an organization. Sharing these victories can help boost morale across the board — starting your meeting off on the right foot. Mind your manners When time differences are involved, there is always the possibility of having a virtual meeting scheduled in the wee hours of the morning or late at night. During this time, meeting etiquette and manners fall by the wayside, and all hope for a productive meeting goes out the window, and no amount of coffee can save it. Reminding yourself to practice proper meeting etiquette will keep you engaged and attentive, and it will show respect and consideration for those presenting. When doing this, you'll find that others will grant you the same respect when it's your turn to speak. Some meeting manners to keep in mind: Dress appropriately Arrive on time or early Close all irrelevant tabs or browsers Don't check your phone or email Mute your microphone while others are presenting Never carry on side conversations Save questions for the end of the presentation Thank everyone for their time Engage attendees It's so easy to log in, turn the video off, and mentally check out of a virtual meeting (in that order). However, turning off your video makes it easier to get distracted and leads to multitasking — which isn't doing you any favors. Even on the busiest days, multitasking during a virtual meeting doesn't benefit you in any way. Not only are you paying less attention to the meeting, but it takes you up to 40% longer to complete the same tasks while multitasking than if you were to tackle them separately. So no one wins. Turning your video on encourages attentiveness. Since everyone is looking at each other, it deters attendees from checking their phone or writing an email. Donna Dennis, president of Leadership Solutions Consulting, and creator and facilitator of the American Management Association's three-day seminar, "Leading Virtual and Remote Teams," recommends going around and having everyone share their role in the meeting before launching a discussion. She says, "Everything you can simulate from face to face encounters is good." Encourage problem-solving and opposing ideas. Listening to presentation after presentation can stunt outside thinking and idea-sharing and possibly lead to groupthink. Support sharing all questions and ideas (no matter how "out there" they are), and be willing to have an open discussion on big decisions; while leaving the judgments at the door. Maintain focus As the number of participants grows, the easier it is to jump off topic and derail the entire virtual meeting. This causes the meeting to drag on, participants to lose interest, and none of the meeting objectives get met. So how do we avoid jumping from topic to topic and stay on track? Roger Schwarz, author of "Smart Leaders, Smarter Teams: How You and Your Team Get Unstuck to Get Results," wrote a piece in Harvard Business Review that covers how you avoid meeting derailment: Agree on the track before going down it. Have everyone agree on the topic and goals of the meeting beforehand. Make sure you've covered everything before moving on. Instead of saying, "OK, let's move on," say something like, "I think we've covered everything for topic A. Is everyone ready to move on to topic B?" Test your assumption that the meeting is getting derailed. If someone is choosing to bring up an outside topic, question the relationship between the two issues by saying something like, "Mike, I'm not sure how your point about X is related to topic B. Can you explain how the two are related?" Once you've covered all your meeting objectives, end the meeting! Don't feel like you need to take up the entire hour you blocked off on the calendar. Celebrate a job well done by completing your meeting early so everyone can get a few minutes back to grab a coffee or catch up on some tasks. Review next steps It's important to remember that in a virtual meeting, you must chart a course for the future. A productive meeting spends time focusing on moving forward rather than looking back. When in-person, you can end a meeting with a powerful, motivational speaker and grab everyone's attention for the remaining minutes. However, it's harder to convey the same message online. By the time a meeting is over, most attendees have their fingers on the "end meeting" button. Instead of a moving speech or asking the ambiguous "Anything else we should cover?", end the meeting by reviewing what you've accomplished and what will happen next. Sum up big decisions and call out individuals who are tasked with action items to make sure it's top of mind. Agree on due dates and lock them in by creating and assigning tasks in your work management tool. Save the speeches for in-person. When you end a virtual meeting with everyone in agreement on what happens next, you'll start to see your meetings become more productive and effective. It's your turn! Time to put your learnings to practice. Although in-person meetings are ideal, there are ways to upgrade your virtual meetings, so they're just as productive. Some key points to remember: Always introduce yourself and share big wins Dress appropriately and be respectful of speakers Ask engaging questions and avoid multitasking Stay on track and refocus Always go over action items How to make virtual meetings fun Whether it's a quick call, collaboration session, client-related meeting, or for some other reason, all discussions have the intended purpose of serving crucial organizational needs. However, virtual meetings can sometimes get boring because the human connection can go missing — it can be quite overwhelming to sit through one, especially for new hires. At times, shyness takes away the opportunity from employees to bond with the other team members. This, in turn, hinders effective collaboration and decision making. It's about time we consider some unique approaches that let the remote team get along well with each other. It only takes a bit of extra effort to develop a foundation of trust and belonging. Apart from the standard practices, it is imperative to engage and include everybody in remote meetings to energize the participants and keep them engaged. Here are a few ways to improve virtual meetings and make them more productive and inclusive: One of the most useful ways to make your meetings more interactive and engaging is to start it off with an icebreaker session or an activity. It will make everyone feel inclusive, and once they get involved; they'll remain engaged throughout the conference. You can incorporate simple games that have closed-ended questions or have a limited number of options to choose from. The “two truths and a lie” game can also liven up the meeting environment gearing up the team to participate. Test the intellectual understanding of your team with “word association.” It’s a great way to get people into thinking out-of-the-box and keeps going until the players can't add any more words to the chain. Pets always brighten up the day. Bring along your pets to the meetings and introduce your fur babies to your coworkers. Let everybody's pet share the screen for the first five minutes in the next meeting. Display your artistic side and upload a visually appealing background on your next remote meeting Arrange a virtual happy hour. It's a beautiful way to connect the employees and gives them a break from stressful work hours. What information do you put in a virtual meeting invite? Hosting a meeting requires proper etiquette in order to send business meeting invites to your intended participants. For starters, make sure your meeting invitations look formal and professional. Virtual meetings have a different invite as compared to the regular ones. When you send out a meeting invitation, it's enticing to mail the invites quickly to ensure the guests don't schedule or accept another meeting's invitation at the decided time. If you think of what meeting invitations should look like, this comprehensive guide will tell you everything you need to know about meeting invites. Concise subject line Start off the invitation with a subject line and make sure to keep it short, simple, and easy to understand. Also, it should have the date, meeting name, and a clue about the type of invite you are sending. That way, people know at what time you are scheduling the meeting and get an idea about what the meeting agenda will revolve around without reading the entire email. Personal introduction (optional) If you have a meeting with a different group of people than the usual, a brief personal note should be added at the top of the invitation email to let them know about who is requesting a meeting. For instance, a quick note like "Hi everybody, I look forward to seeing you all at the project initiation!" or "Here's an invitation email for our upcoming presentation." These can help people recall from whom they are receiving the email and for what intended purpose. Preparation requirements (optional) If you need the participants to come prepared with some report, review design in advance, or gather information regarding some topic beforehand, make sure you provide clear instructions on precisely what you expect so it doesn't get missed. Meeting date and time (required) It's imperative to mention the date and time in the email content of your meeting invite. It is preferable to spell out months while writing dates to make it convenient for people in different locations to understand the simple date format. Also, include the time zone and figure out the correct timings for invitees. Location/medium: in-person or online (required) If it's a physical meeting, you need to mention the physical place where the meeting will take place, for example, a conference room. In virtual meetings, the link to join the remote discussion will be the location field, audio guidelines, or any specific system requirements. Also, add a phone number for virtual meetings as it makes it easier for people who'll join on the go from their mobile phones. Meeting objective (required) The reason for scheduling the meeting, what it aims to achieve. You can include the purpose of the meeting in a brief line in the email invitation. The outcomes or targets meeting will accomplish. Agenda (optional) The meeting agenda needs to be included to let the participants know the topics for discussion in the meeting or any instructions related to it that they need to prepare for. Furthermore, if your meeting will revolve around reviewing documents, reports, proposals, or some research findings, it is good to attach the documents in the same invite email prior. Also, attach a link to these documents in case the participants are unable to access and review them through email. Invitee list (optional) Finally, include the names of all participants who will attend the meeting at the end of your email invite, so everybody knows who they have their discussion with. How to make the best meeting notes (that people will actually use) The whole point of meetings is to gather the key takeaways that you can share with others and refer to in the future. If you don't take notes during a virtual meeting, you will not deduce the outcomes. The initial step to taking good notes is to realize that meetings are crucial, and it helps you gain valuable insights for the way ahead. Here are a few tips that can help you take great meeting minutes. Start with the basics It's essential to start with the necessary information, so at the top, do mention the location, time, and date. You also need to note down the purpose of the meeting and the matters of discussion. Although this information is quite apparent, it is vital to document everything in writing to be clear when the meeting took place. Verbatim transcript One of the most useful techniques is to transcribe the exact words and record the speaker's name to their statements. However, for that kind of precision, you need to be an active listener to write what you hear. Document the insights that can help you in the future. Furthermore, if it's a high priority meeting, you need to ensure that you pay more attention to the details, so you don't miss out on important stuff. Filter down to key points Think about future readers or the non-attendees who want to grasp the crucial details of the meeting. Make sure you narrow down the notes and make a key takeaways section to help absentees understand the meeting minutes. Honestly, a long transcript that lacks a direction will not entice the readers. Ensure that your notes are easily readable, and people can comprehend it so that they know about the main topics discussed in the meeting and the subsequent course of action. Need a little help making your meeting notes? Our actionable meeting notes template has you covered. Online meeting tools you can't go without Naturally, you can't run successful virtual meetings without using the essential tools. The online meeting tools allow you to set up a virtual appointment and seamlessly connect with people over the internet in no time. That said, it is imperative to choose the right tools that fit your unique business needs and can help you effortlessly engage with your team virtually. To help you get started, here are some of the useful online meeting tools that can optimize your remote meetings. Zoom Zoom is one of the platforms that facilitate video conferencing. It offers tons of features and is scalable to specific business requirements. Also, it's a user-friendly tool that supports small and large enterprises alike. Furthermore, it works on multiple devices, from your desktop computer to your smartphones. It delivers quality service and is a highly reliable platform to utilize. GoToMeeting GoToMeeting is a convenient online meeting tool that allows users to conduct video sessions and offers plenty of features. It lets you change the video and audio, share your screen, create a personal virtual meeting room link with an easy-to-use interface. Furthermore, you can easily send out the meeting invite link to the participants, and they can simply join the meeting with the URL without having the need to have an ID and password. Google Meet Google Meet is yet another tool for online meetings. As a host, you need a personal G Suite account to schedule an appointment on Google Meet, but the participants don't need one. Furthermore, Google Meet is a user-friendly platform offering various features and usability options to its users. Go Agile with Wrike Without a doubt, remote meetings are critical for businesses to succeed. However, these meetings can't be productive if your employees are not aligned with other team members. In order to get your team on the same page, it's imperative to deploy a work management software like Wrike that lets your team collaborate and interact from anywhere, at any time. Create your virtual workplace, customize your workflows, access reports, real-time updates, and gain valuable insights — Wrike lets you do it all. Explore the future of remote working with Wrike's work management software. Try out our remote working template here!
Remote Work Survey Index Results: The Future of Remote Work
Wrike wanted to know how workers felt about their organizations’ support to help make remote work productive and sustainable. We surveyed over 1,000 full-time workers employed by organizations that gave their employees the choice to work from home. Read on to learn more about our survey results.
