3. Disruptive factor: Overwhelmed project managers
If you ask the employees themselves what they think is the cause of bad online meetings, the answers are relatively clear. In addition to technology, the project manager is often mentioned. He or she simply does not have the skills to conduct productive online meetings.
It is often assumed that a project manager is automatically able to hold good online meetings. However, many people are not aware that this requires special skills that go beyond moderating a face-to-face meeting.
What you can do about it
Online meetings now take up a large part of everyday working life. Web meetings are becoming more and more a part of daily routine, not only for internal exchanges, but also for coordination with customers and business partners. Make sure that you do this professionally and effectively! Bad meetings not only waste time, they also kill motivation and drain energy!
In principle, you only need to transfer the success factors for good face-to-face meetings to online meetings: make goals clear, invite only the right people to the meeting, have and work through a structured agenda, document results so that everyone can see them, and encourage participants to contribute.
In addition, there are a few special features of online meetings that you should get to grips with: the technology used, the functions of the online meeting room and the interaction options. It's not a lot and it's not time-consuming - you just need to set aside a few hours for it!
Look for ways to improve your moderation skills. Don't be discouraged if your HR or training iran telegram data department doesn't have a solution for you straight away. In the wake of the many "Digital Workplace" projects, awareness is only just developing of how HR interprets "New Work" as a pioneer for itself and for the company.
However, if you have a specific need in your team, you should take a closer look at the different options available in online meeting tools . A simple example: If you often want to vote on topics in your geographically distributed project team, then a voting function is of course very useful and helpful. However, not every online tool offers such an option.
Then you have two options: Either you use your existing online meeting technology and find a way to conduct your votes effectively there too. Or you talk to those responsible in IT to convince them of additional functions that make much more sense for the company as a whole.
In addition to the providers of these online meeting tools, there are a number of companies that specialize in helping companies further develop their collaboration in virtual space. For example, the consulting company virtuu places a special focus on the three key aspects of virtual collaboration: mindset, skillset and toolset - a promising triad for every project manager in virtual project teams.
About the author
Mario Neumann worked for 15 years as a project management expert in an international IT group. Since 2008, he has been working as an independent trainer and consultant and has developed his concept for "Situational Project Management", which he uses to prepare project managers for all phases of their projects.