1. Telemarche

Personally, at the beginning of the lockdown, at the end of a day of teleworking in front of my computer screen, I would end up with heavy eyes and a brain like mush… So I started doing most of my team meetings on the phone while walking outside. Result: I felt more creative and it was night and day in terms of my energy level at the end of the day. I don't even use a microphone or headset, my phone is enough for me. Dare to try it! It's particularly pleasant for follow-up and feedback meetings (see part 1 of the column). Obviously, avoid driving on streets where there is traffic and pay close attention to intersections!

2. Interactive whiteboard

Before the pandemic, our team used to always gather around a large whiteboard to visualize our conversations. At the beginning of the lockdown, several of my teammates dreamed of being able to meet again around a board to fill out… It was thanks to their comments that I was encouraged to discover applications that allow you to make interactive boards online (like www.miro.com or www.mural.co ). At first, my teammates were a little reluctant, but over time, we all got used to it and the murals help us to be more creative and organized, especially in the context of decision-making or ideation meetings .

3. Chat rooms

If you are meeting in large groups and your communication platform allows it, I strongly encourage you to form virtual discussion rooms ( breakout rooms ). This option allows you to separate participants into smaller discussion groups so that all voices are heard… Personally, I particularly like to launch a big question and then let people think in pairs and come back to the large group to gather all the ideas. In a group of two or three people, participants are often more open to sharing. Very useful for ideation meetings, team building activities or feedback .

4. Speaking turns

Without body language, it’s often hard to tell who wants to speak… As a result, it’s often the same people who are speaking. To make sure everyone can share their ideas, it can be helpful to have a round robin to let everyone speak. Sometimes, I’ll throw out a big question to my team, then give them two minutes to think about it, before starting the round robin. I usually designate the order of sharing, but when possible, I’ll invite the last speaker to nominate the next person who will speak.

5. Intention

In order to determine the optimal type of meeting for you and what tools can help you, it is important to take some time to plan the meeting in advance. To do this, you need to ask yourself the right questions:

❖ Why are we having this meeting?❖ Who will be at the meeting and why?❖ What do we want to accomplish together?❖ How would we like to come out of the meeting?❖ How will we conclude the meeting in order to clarify the next actions to take?

Now it’s your turn! The more you intentionally try different things, the better you’ll become at facilitating productive meetings. Share this article with your colleagues to help foster a culture of productive meetings in your organization!