One way to make virtual meetings better

How to reframe what any given meeting is about

It seems crazy to think about, but a mere five years ago, few organizations made much use of virtual meetings. I had a Zoom Pro account, but if I suggested meeting with people that way, I was often explaining exactly how that would work. Things were generally phone calls or in person.

That all changed in March 2020. Five years after the pandemic began, a huge proportion of information workers still work remotely at least some of the time, and now work with more people based in different places. This means that virtual meetings are often the default. Yes, you and your two colleagues might both be in the New York office on Wednesday, but you work closely with Bill, who’s in Sacramento. So you’re all on Teams anyway.

In general, I’m a fan of virtual work. Much time and fossil fuels were burned needlessly as people commuted into an office just to email and call people in other places. That said, I do know that some people feel less connected to their colleagues than in the past. When I asked participants in my recent Better Workday Challenge to compare their relationships before and after the Covid-19 pandemic, 39 percent of people said their relationships were much or somewhat stronger before. Only about 25 percent said they were somewhat or much stronger after (36 percent said they were about the same). People are less likely to bump into each other in the hallway or while getting coffee. These repeated casual interactions strengthen relationships over time.

That said, there are ways that virtual workers can still connect. In my Better Workday Challenge, I came across an intriguing approach.