Leaders are not always outspoken and online meetings can make it particularly difficult to get your point across.
The way Zoom and other platforms work means that the natural overlap of talking, instead of creating engagement and new ideas grinds the conversation to a halt with, ‘you go…’ ‘no you go, what were you going to say?’.
Even after 2 years of Zooming, some of us struggle with when and how to have our say.
It seems the Zoom format favours those who like to take the stage and disadvantages those who are either more timid or take time to think and pause before they speak.
Either way, if you’re running a meeting you will notice there are those who haven’t engaged, even when invited to do so via the chat.
If you’re a bit of a motor-mouth Zoom removes those subtle clues that it’s time to shut up and listen. If you’re more considered you can miss your cue to contribute and end up being passive.
So how do you ensure you are being influential and effective during the meeting – after all, you’ve probably been invited so you can share your opinion?
What top tips do you have?
Here are 4 of mine.
- Ensure you get the meeting agenda beforehand and as much information as possible
- Take time to prepare your thinking and contributions so you don’t have to do so much responding spontaneously if you’re not comfortable with it
- Ensure you make your contributions early on in the meeting so you are someone others look to for opinion – the more you contribute, the more you’ll be invited to contribute – and the less you contribute the more of a wallflower you become.
- Interruptions happen even more on Zoom and are more awkward because we don’t have the body language to be guided by – so if you know it’s your turn to speak, hold your ground with a confident but upbeat ‘if I may say something here….’
Virtual meetings can be tough, but your views are as important as ever – make sure you’re heard.
