I was reading an article the other day whose author argued that it’s good to keep the camera closed in online meetings, that everyone is tired of so many zoom meetings.
I had the opportunity to be in meetings where people from different countries kept their cameras closed. I was in a demo a few months ago, and I want to say that I had a very strange feeling when I was talking to a virtual wall.
Someone from Italy, who I worked with this year, was telling me that for her, an online meeting is similar to a face-to-face one. Preparing for the meeting, dressing appropriately, looking at the interlocutor, are signs of respect, courtesy, good manners. She argued that we actually hide other problems behind this zoom fatigue.
When we communicate, physically or virtually, we need to see the person in front of us, to adjust our communication according to the interlocutor. Otherwise, we are in a different kind of scenario, that of people giving news, information, one-way.
With business meetings, we should rather see each other to exchange ideas, opinions. If we just want to pass on a piece of information, then we could email / WhatsApp / Slack / Telegram / Signal or whatever.
Maybe, in fact, this fatigue comes from the lack of meaning in the work we do, accumulated discontent, boredom, the feeling of drift we have been in for almost two years. Maybe the reason for this fatigue is the lack of relevance of many meetings on Zoom / Teams or other platforms, to which we are invited, but we have nothing to say, we have no space to talk, we are just there to be the net with people. Another cause could be not following some ‘hygiene’ rules, such as leaving 10 minutes between meetings, not being in such ‘calls’ from morning to evening, and then getting down to emails and other activities we have to do.
Here are some questions/suggestions I recommend before setting up meetings on Zoom/Teams or other platforms:
Is it relevant to have the meeting or can the information be conveyed differently?
Who absolutely needs to be in the meeting?
Who can be informed by email?
How many meetings can we attend each day so that we can collaborate, generate ideas, inform ourselves, but also have time to think, solve other things, and be able to shut down the computer at a decent hour?
Would it be worth having a rule that meetings always need 10-15 minute breaks in between?
How long does the online meeting last?
Be careful with overrunning the time, we need to be concise, to the point.
Managers should trust that people are working, they don’t have to be online all the time. And if they don’t see them online, they don’t need to call them, text them on other apps to check where they are. After all, everyone has something to do, they have deadlines.
Of course, I assume that each person does their job, has a good level of accountability, integrity, is there because they want to be. But maybe I’m becoming slightly utopian, because of course the reality is much more nuanced.