Program maker Frans Bromet researched the receptivity of cell phone use among the Dutch in 1998. The responses in his video did not suggest that less than a few years later we had our entire lives completely organized around this new way of communicating.
In the video, a lady rightly expresses her concern that you can receive phone calls while riding a bicycle. However, it took another 20 years after that before the authorities realized that danger as well and banned calling on bicycles.
Once again you see that the authorities, or in this case "employers," are lagging behind the risks posed by new technology. Working from home has made the already alarming amount meetings further t**ood**. The only question is whether that increase also contributes to employee productivity?
Employers often see video calling as an opportunity to monitor their employees at home. Digitization makes it easier to invite more people, which often results in less engagement and even lower productivity.
No one is the wiser for it and yet (too) many companies are guilty of it. The danger of Zoombies manifests itself in fatigue, forgetfulness and insomnia and eye doctors, too, are now striking alarm.
New technology actually allows us to work more efficiently and be more practical with our time. But then you have to use it on the right way deploy. Video calling, for example, offers employees the chance to precisely avoid having to be available at all times.
Online meetings can be recorded and watched back later. They can be equipped with subtitles and written out automatically. This makes note-taking unnecessary and retrieval easier.
But something else is happening. Meetings are automatically set to an hour, thanks in part to the default settings of our digital calendars. Seth Godin mentions in his podcast that length arose out of respect for those who had to travel to join to be. Digitally, you just don't have to travel a distance anymore. Plus, you can easily tailor the length of the meeting to the time you actually need.
How to do it better? Make sure you have forwarded the necessary documents in advance and that the agenda is clear. Then everyone knows what is expected of him or her and what time he or she must be there or can leave the meeting.
Anyway, stop the fixed, mass meetings where everyone gets to spout off for a while. If that is really necessary, let participants record and circulate their input themselves. Then you can see from the data who is being listened to at all.
If you do want to move out to larger-scale meetings, there are an increasing number of tools such as Squares. These make it possible to organize complete and interactive digital events. In an approachable and social way with break-outs, coffee corners and live debates.
During a first meeting, it's often helpful to at least see each other briefly, but if you already know each other and don't necessarily need to share anything, schedule NSMs (no screen meetings). Pick up the phone and head out.
Most importantly, go back to the essentials. Why do you schedule a meeting, and if you really need to, how can you use it most efficiently to achieve your goal? How can you make technology work for you in the process? Therefore, a Zoom usage training course will probably get you more than the average meeting.
