After a week of ‘Leading Hybrid Teams’ workshops, we wanted to share some great tips that we discussed of how leaders can run successful hybrid meetings and make sure remote attendees feel heard.
The biggest theme to come out of running a hybrid meeting is that a lot of the best practice is actually the same as if you were running a face to face meeting – it’s just most of us have not been told/trained how to run a good meeting.
So some tips and themes that surfaced that you might find useful:-
Tip 1: Clear purpose and agenda
This might sound obvious but how many meetings (whether face to face, virtual or hybrid) have you sat in when you aren’t really sure why you are there or what is going to be discussed. Basic stuff, but make sure the purpose and agenda is clear for everyone and circulated in time so people can prepare properly.
Tip 2: Roles and responsibilities
Give people clear roles and responsibilities in the meeting. You could have a revolving chair for example, or chunk up the meeting into topics/sections and let different individuals run that section. This helps to keep everyone involved, wherever they are, and mixes things up enough to keep engagement high.
Tip 3: Facilitate the conversation
For a truly collaborative meeting where everyone feels heard, you have to have good facilitation skills. If someone hasn’t spoken in a while – invite them to contribute directly. Go around the virtual table and get everyone’s perspective, one at a time. This takes effort and requires you to be observant but will have huge payback in making everyone, even remote attendees, feel heard.
Tip 4: Use the tech
Use technology to your advantage. Encourage (or even mandate) videos on. Experiment with the functionality of the platform you are using to keep people involved and engaged – break out rooms, polling etc. Stick to one meeting platform for team meetings so everyone becomes really familiar with it. Finally share videos, presentations, visuals and use complimentary tools such as Miro for brainstorming.
Tip 5: Remote first
If your ambition is inclusivity for all, then a remote or virtual first meeting should be your go to. Whether you are office or remote based, if the meeting is held virtually and everyone dealing in individually then everyone is on a level playing field with no risk of exclusion. Five of you in a meeting room and five dialling in individually can create a sense of ‘them and us’.
And remember, it’s a time for experimentation and learning from mistakes, so focus on making progress and don’t stress if it doesn’t run quite to plan the first time.