{"id":1236,"date":"2020-03-26T15:20:20","date_gmt":"2020-03-26T15:20:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.krubski.com\/?p=1236"},"modified":"2020-03-30T12:12:02","modified_gmt":"2020-03-30T12:12:02","slug":"virtual-meetings-can-be-more-intellectually-intimate-more-personally-connecting-and-more-actionably-productive-than-the-real-thing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.krubski.com\/2020\/03\/26\/virtual-meetings-can-be-more-intellectually-intimate-more-personally-connecting-and-more-actionably-productive-than-the-real-thing\/","title":{"rendered":"Virtual meetings can be more intellectually intimate, more personally connecting, and more actionably productive than the \u201creal\u201d thing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In our rush to replace same-space\nmeetings \u201ctemporarily\u201d with digital meetings, we may just be in danger of\nmissing out on the real opportunity of the moment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have spent more than 25 years\nhelping clients achieve moments of genius, repeatedly and on demand, in team\nmeetings. I have spent the last decade studying how people think together in\ngroups. For the past four years I have been deeply involved in \u201cdistance\nlearning,\u201d and I have come to understand that virtual connections, done right, offer\npossibilities we only hope for in same-space encounters. Who runs the meeting,\nand how, makes all the difference. Running effective meetings in the virtual\nworld is more demanding\u2026 and that\u2019s a good thing if we learn from it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Three things can make virtual meetings more conducive to extraordinary results.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. The safety of\ndigital solitude.<\/strong> It\u2019s what makes it possible for\nthe social media \u201cyou\u201d to be less inhibited than the \u201cin the flesh\u201d you. Even\nas you are \u201cout in the world\u201d digitally, you are still physically in your home\nsafe space.<\/li>
  2. Permission to\nthink out loud<\/strong>. In the physical presence of others,\nwe are less likely to express thoughts that are only partially formed. Exposing\nourselves and others to ideas as they develop in a virtual environment can\naccelerate and precipitate their perfection and benefit from evolving collaborative\ninput. <\/li>
  3. Access to\ncollective native intelligence<\/strong>. With our\ntraditional barriers lowered, we are open to including more of our total experience\nin the conversation. In same-space meetings we tend to offer more self-limited,\nuni-dimensional, participation, and constrain it by task, title, or job\nfunction.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n
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    Three things to avoid in digital conferences.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    1. Don\u2019t mistake virtual meetings for\nlesser versions of same-space meetings. The rules are different. The process is\ndifferent. The dynamic is different. The potential is greater.<\/li>
    2. Scrupulously avoid the one-to-all\nmodel of communication. That\u2019s what memos are for. Virtual meetings are multi-directional\nengagements of the group.<\/li>
    3. Avoid going over 30 minutes. Starting\na meeting with a count-down clock is simultaneously challenging and energizing.\nIt is better to have two or three productive short meetings than to have one\ndreadfully long one.  <\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n
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      Seven things you can do to achieve the full potential of the new-new normal in meetings.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      1. Enforce Collegiality<\/strong>.  Virtual meetings have\nhigh potential for expanded and elevated input opportunities. A collegial\natmosphere, where every attendee and every opinion is treated as equally\nvaluable, opens the door to more, and more meaningful, contributions.<\/li>
      2. Orchestrate Omnilogues.\n<\/strong>Work at ensuring that as many opinions as participants are voiced\nand heard.<\/li>
      3. Practice and Encourage\ncontributions in short bursts<\/strong>. Just like\nin basketball, the more hands touch the ball, the quicker it gets to the basket.\nThe briefer and more intuitive the thinking, the greater the clarity.<\/li>
      4. Summarize. <\/strong>Recognizing that most people are better editors than authors, someone\nneeds to take on the responsibility to describe \u201cwhat just happened here\u201d in\nsuccinct form.<\/li>
      5. Round-robin\nassent. <\/strong>Get a Yea\/Nay from each attendee.\nDon\u2019t assume everybody heard the same thing.<\/li>
      6. Articulate Closure.\n<\/strong>Restate the general understanding based on (5) above   <\/strong><\/li>
      7. Commitments. <\/strong>Ask for specific \u201cnext steps\u201d from each participant.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

        NOW you can close the meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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        A note about who should run virtual\nmeetings. Taking full advantage of the benefits of virtual meetings requires\ndifferent inclinations, skill sets, and empathies than leadership or management.\nThe person who runs your organization may not be the best person to run virtual\nmeetings \u2013 at least not initially and not until some learning or training can\ntake place. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

        So, to begin this process in your organization, seek out the individual with a \u201cnatural\u201d talent for understanding and appreciating the intricacies, peculiarities, and subtleties of collegial thinking in the real world and set them loose in the virtual world. Your organization will be the better for it in the moment and in the long run.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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        See the video below<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        <\/p>\n\n\n\n

        If you would like to \u2018hit the ground running\u2019 with the new-new thing in virtual meetings in as little as one session, and within the next few days, please contact us for an immediate response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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