Time Management To Eliminate Zoom Fatigue and Reduce Inefficient Meetings
Time Management is a continuous never-ending process that is never easy to master. Every time a new technology is introduced, new behavior emerges, or new events occur to disrupt our life, our time becomes consumed in a new way and often we realize we are losing efficiency but not doing anything. Without proper time management, you cannot accomplish any task during the day. Online meetings have significantly increased because of the COVID-19 pandemic imposed work-from-home novel workplaces. The focus of time management has been so far as to eliminate interruptions from activities and events that were contributing to inefficiency and wasted time like phone calls, perpetual cubicle chats, and the length of meetings (Bigelow, 2020). Group communication or collaboration through zoom at first looked very convenient and spontaneous but after a short period, they have started devastating time management as we know it. Communication and collaboration norms have changed and today’s meetings are frequently made after the 9 to 5 business hours, moreover, monthly meetings are shifting into weekly and sometimes daily meetings. An online zoom meeting can easily exceed three hours, for this reason, effective time management is required more than ever to succeed in group meetings. For group meetings to conserve a certain level of efficiency collective time management is required.
It is true that virtual meetings are easy and convenient however, we should not forget that they can easily become more frequent, lengthy, and unproductive. To avoid falling into the trap of inefficient meetings all meeting participants should adhere to certain agreed norms in a checklist of time management. Those norms in the checklist aim to accomplish fewer zoom meetings, more data-driven teams, a better agenda, and meeting setting and etiquette.
Here’s the checklist:
1- Fewer zoom meetings: streamline internal communication and condense necessary information to deliver exactly what needs to be delivered as well as increase the well-being of collaborators and increase trust among co-workers. Fewer people in meetings have enough time to engage with each other and have friendly chat.
2- Data-driven teams: By decreasing the number of zoom meetings, teams become more data-driven and shift from providing a subjective measurement of the progress of their employees to adopting more objective automated reporting systems that are widely available now with the advancement of the technology (Analytics platforms such as ActivTrak, Timely, and ZeroedIn integrate with a wide range of teams’ project management tools)
3- A better Agenda: Before starting to work on the meeting agenda ask the following questions (Bigelow, 2020):
What is the need for doing the meeting rather than who is available to conduct a meeting?
What is the reasonable time for the meeting to last?
Who must attend vs. who may want to be included?
Most importantly, how frequently will the meeting be repeated?
Plan accordingly and make sure everyone receives a briefing of the meeting.
4- Meeting setting and Etiquette:
Make sure that the technology you are using is working. Shut down and restart your device twenty minutes before the meeting.
When you start the meeting make sure your audio and video are working well. Require all participants to be on time and do the same the moment they log in;
Start by Introducing everyone in the meeting;
Don’t use distracting backgrounds, and always look in the center of the camera when speaking;
Stick with the time limit of the meeting. As you approach the end of the meeting and if you are sure that the meeting may exceed the time limit by less than ten minutes, announce that and continue by re-prioritizing the remaining topics but don’t schedule another meeting.
References:
“Meeting of Minds: Are Company Events ‘Virtually’ Never-ending? As communication shifts online, time management becomes a group effort.” Printed Circuit Design & Fab Circuits Assembly, vol. 37, no. 10, Oct. 2020, p. 15. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A639451461/ITOF?u=oran95108&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=907a0172. Accessed 5 Nov. 2021.