We have been working “from home” for at least two months. And even once unconfined, many of us continue to tele-work.
Our pre-Covid wisdom told us that working from home is guaranteed to be hyper-efficient because no one is bothering us.
So we expected to have calm and productive days, away from colleagues knocking on the office door, away from coffee breaks, away from rumors, hallway noise and other gossip. And yet, how many of us have found ourselves in an endless loop of Zoom-meetings, Zoom-calls and other Zoom-conferences?
When we are all telecommuting, the hallway, the coffee machine, the chatty colleague, all find themselves channeled onto the only available network: The Zoom-call!
Is it because it's so easy to click "add attendee" that we think the accounting colleague might be interested in our export product launch meeting? Or was it that we were afraid he would feel alone?
Are our managers, coordinators and planners afraid that we will be bored? That we get lost in nature without knowing what to do? So they would have organized our lives through an endless series of meetings, because while we're in a meeting, at least we're there, and they roughly know what we're doing.
Because we have to admit it, to really talk to each other and get things done, we have had to be cunning and get involved in the Zoom-call and then communicate privately with our interlocutor via ... the Zoom-chat!
Some tips to prevent Zoom-Fail
Define the content and objectives of the zoom-call clearly in advance
Arrive on time
Arrive prepared (having reviewed the appropriate documents, having gathered your ideas, having reviewed the previous action plan ...)
Involve only the necessary people
Make sure all participants have the opportunity to speak
Conclude with the action plan and the date of the next meeting
Smile, you're being filmed :)
Happy Zoom everyone!