The digital age has seen videoconferencing become a staple of professional life and also the fact that people multitask during them. You could be at your home office or in a hybrid workplace, but chances are you have spent more hours than you would like to admit staring at those little boxes of faces on your screen. This is why; how many of these hours are actually productive? Have you ever tried answering emails, checking your twitter account or taking care of other jobs while the conference was running?
Managers across the board are grappling with this virtual meeting multitasking and not just as a trend on the rise. As a manager or team leader, it can be increasingly frustrating to find that no one seems to pay attention in meetings anymore. But before you start blaming anyone within your team it is time for you to look at them closer: Is it the meetings themselves?
Multitasking Reality: More Work-related Than You Think
When we think of multitasking during meetings, our first thought usually goes towards employees distracted by personal activities such as chatting with friends, shopping online or even watching videos. However, things are far more complicated than that. The most recent research shows that the vast majority of multitasking done during videoconference meetings is actually work-related. It means that employees check their e-mails, engage in slack chats, edit documents and do other work matters between breaks.
This begs the question “If it’s related to work then what’s wrong?” The catch lies not so much in multitasking per se as it does in what it reflects – inefficiencies inherent in meeting structure, agenda and broader organizational culture.
Why do we have Meetings the way we do?
Let us take some steps back and look at how virtual meetings typically go down. Meetings have become default communication practice in many organizations without much regard for their necessity or effectiveness. Many meetings are too long, have too many participants or happen too often. They lack clear and focused agendas meaning that some discussions during the meeting may be irrelevant to most participants. In such a setting, it is no wonder employees find themselves multitasking.
Multitasking during meetings is not only about diversion; it is a reaction to how the meetings are organized. With other work-related tasks that could pile up due to an increasing number of day-long meetings in mind, employees make use of their time wisely.
The implications of poorly designed meetings
Poorly structured meetings can have serious implications on productivity. Here are some common outcomes:
- Decreased Engagement: When the quality of discussions is poor or not pertinent to all attendees, it’s only natural for participation rates wane. Workers who do not participate in active discussion tend to turn their attention to different activities.
- Meeting Overload: Numerous businesses experience numerous conferences throughout the day than they can handle. Employees who spend much time at conferences each and every day lack enough time for deep work without distraction hence resorting into multitasking during these sessions just so as not to fall behind in other things they need to do.
- Additional Pressure and Exhaustion: When multitasking is continuous, there can be mounting stress and a feeling of being overwhelmed. Having the responsibility to complete several tasks at once without giving any a full attention may lead to lessened job productivity and satisfaction altogether.
- Reduced Work Quality: Sometimes multi-tasking during meetings makes both the meeting itself as well as the simultaneous tasks handled in that meeting of lower quality. Multitasking makes it hard for people to have whole discussions or produce good work because their attention is divided.
The Role of the Manager in Shaping Meeting Culture
As an organization’s head or supervisor, you are important in shaping its meeting culture. It is simple to blame multitasking on staff but actually most of what determines whether any structure has been created by meetings lies within your hands. Below are some ways through which you can create more productive and engaging meetings:
- Determine if Each Meeting Deserves Consideration: Ask yourself if it is really necessary before scheduling a meeting; could the same information be passed through an email or by updating each other on team platforms? If not an essential gathering, think about alternative ways of communication.
- Reduce Attendee Lists: Not all team members need to be present in every meeting, but only those who must attend should attend while others can get notes from the minutes or follow-up communications. Smaller groups with more focus encourage meaningful discussions unlike when there are many unrelated conversations going on simultaneously.
- Develop a Clear Focused Agenda: Every single meeting needs to have a specific goal and subject matter under discussion; share this beforehand with participants so they know what will happen during that time and also come prepared for such discussion points. A focused agenda helps keep things on track and ensures everyone’s time is put into use efficiently.
- Promote Active Involvement: Meetings cannot just be passive events where attendees listen silently and nod. Ask questions, solicit input and assign roles or tasks to encourage active participation. By letting people understand that their contribution is valuable and necessary, they are more likely to maintain attention.
- Respect Time and Keep Meetings Short: One of the biggest problems with meetings is that they take too long to end. As far as possible keep your meetings as short as you can so that you do not waste your team’s time. If a meeting was scheduled for one hour but could be finished within thirty minutes, do not pressure yourself to fill up the remaining half an hour. Close it early and give your team back this time.
Understanding the Roots of Multitasking
Even when meetings are well structured, it is important to understand why multitasking may still occur. At times this indicates other underlying problems within a team or organization:
- Role Ambiguity: Team members who feel disinterested in attending such non-relevant meetings may engage themselves into multitasking if they have confusion regarding their roles at work.
- Poor Time Management: When employees keep doing multitasking during meetings, it is indicative of poor time management. This may actually be because they feel overwhelmed with work and want to catch up on other tasks during the meeting.
- Cultural Mismatches: Sometimes, multi-tasking can be reflective of cultural mismatches within a team. However, if the meeting culture is hierarchical in nature, then some members may feel reticent to contribute fully by speaking out and this causes their disengagement.
Addressing the Deeper Issues
If you have implemented measures meant to improve your meetings’ structure and focus but still experience multitasking issues then it is high time you looked further. Below are some strategies that can help you tackle the root causes:
- Clarify Roles and Responsibilities: Ensure that everyone on your team understands their role and how it fits into the broader goals of the organization. Clear roles can create a better connection for employees between their specific duties and what they discuss at meetings.
- Provide Time Management Support: You could try providing training or resources to help your staff handle more efficiently large volumes of workload if you think they have trouble managing time effectively. Training might entail sessions on practices such as prioritizing duties while tools like priority lists or one-on-one coaching might also be used for this goal.
- Foster a Culture of Inclusion: Make sure that your meeting culture is inclusive and encourages participation from everyone. It might involve creating chances for more introverted members of a group to share something, ensuring all voices are heard as well as taking into account cultural discrepancies which can affect people’s engagement within such gatherings.
- Address Workload Concerns: If workers consistently engage in multitasking behaviors during meetings due to overburden with assigned tasks then perhaps task distribution amongst team should be reevaluated? Consequently, equitable allocation of workloads needs to be done without making employees feel compelled to multitask during meetings in order for them to have enough time to complete their tasks.
The Path Forward: Creating a More Engaging Meeting Culture
Ultimately, the goal is to create a meeting culture that is both productive and engaging. This requires shifting the way your organization thinks about and conducts meetings. Instead of seeing meetings as a necessary evil, view them as opportunities for collaboration, problem-solving, and innovation. In other words, by focusing on quality rather than quantity of meetings, you will be able to set up an atmosphere in which workers feel valued, engaged and enthusiastic.
It should be noted that multitasking in meetings is not just about individuals; it reflects wider issues within an organization. By dealing with these issues directly, you can create better working conditions for your employees. Ultimately, isn’t this what any manager wants?
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