In the post-COVID era, many companies have remained virtual organizations, eschewing the traditional office-centric business model. Some companies have morphed to a hybrid model asking people to be in the office certain days, and some have completely reversed course and insisted on the power and benefit of being together in an office on a more permanent basis. Lately, I have become interested in the dynamic of routine meetings in our new reality, and how frequency, scale, and participation has shifted.
During COVID, we had little choice other than virtual video meetings. We found ways to stay connected, and we created meetings to just get people together for business and culture and fun. A lot of these meetings fell by the wayside as in-person became a thing again. The challenge is that during COVID we also learned that a virtual organization can recruit the best talent from wherever they happen to be in the world. We added key members of staff who cannot routinely be present in corporate offices. As some of the locals return to the offices, the remotes stay remote. The good news is we added great talent. The less good news is we lost the little daily random interactions that are a part of being in the same office space with each other.
The question is how this dynamic influences or changes the frequency of group meetings and the scope of attendance. What I found is that high-growth, fast-paced companies need to increase the number of large group meetings to ensure the dispersed teams remain on the same page. Instead of the sales team getting together to just talk about sales, it has become more efficient to open the meeting up so that it becomes a go-to-market meeting that includes marketing and customer success, and maybe even post-sale services and support people. The sales team may still need their own meeting to talk about forecasts and deals and how to sell, but the broader meeting brings the village together so everyone is hearing the same story and ‘rowing in the same direction.’ The same is true for product teams opening up their meetings, and services teams opening up their meetings, etc.
The advantage of virtual meeting technology is that we can invite more people to participate without all having to pile into a cavernous conference room. All-hands town-hall company meetings have become even more important to keep the culture alive and to build a shared understanding of progress and challenges. In the past, we may have done these quarterly or even less frequently, but in hybrid or remote environments, monthly virtual meetings are doable and valuable. Keeping the remote participants involved and visible is critical. Good etiquette says ‘camera’s on, distractions off.’ Engagement is critical.
I am an advocate for open, honest, transparent information sharing across as broad a spectrum of the team as possible. In any environment, nature abhors a vacuum, and an information vacuum in a corporate setting is typically filled with rumor-mill conspiracies (see my earlier post about the Ladder of Inference). With remote workers, the lack of casual office interactions exacerbates the vacuum. More frequent, more inclusive, and more comprehensive meetings can be an antidote to the rumor-mill. Sports teams huddle after every point for a reason. The individuals know their jobs, but the huddle ensures they are supporting each other and sticking with the same game plan. Businesses need a similar degree of over-communicating, and remote businesses need it even more than ever.
People frequently ask ‘are we meeting too much?’ Or ‘are there too many people in this meeting?’ Or ‘what is the point of these meetings?’ All good and valid questions that should have solid answers. Meetings need a stated purpose. Attendees need to know why they are in the room. Meetings need to have fresh content and serve a communication purpose. But, with all of these caveats, in my opinion it is better to meet and over-communicate than it is to try to be more ‘efficient’ and miss the opportunity to ensure everyone is on the same page and going in the same direction. Keep the meeting content tight, and time-boxed, and lively, and the questions will fade away.