We’ve replaced feedback-heavy meetings with online surveys instead. We can build them quickly in Google Forms and send them off to stakeholders to fill out. While we can’t eliminate every meeting, we use these forms to reduce the unnecessary ones and foster more effective meetings by planning with important data already in hand. In addition, since our team can answer when the time fits their schedule, forms have boosted our overall productivity and given shy participants a more comfortable channel to share their ideas and feedback.
Manager at Talentify
Answered 3 years ago
We have implemented a culture of asynchronicity once work flexibility is core to our team's development strategy. Since then, a virtual agent represents the most efficient and cost-effective way to cope with the new reality. This technology was developed to automate and integrate phone and chat services, notes, agendas, and boards. All this is possible thanks to the integration of Artificial Intelligence. Virtual agents can understand employees' needs and present a precise solutions.
Our use of voice notes has grown exponentially over the last year. We use voice notes as a way to discuss topics, provide feedback, and even debate ideas without the need for an in-person meeting. We have found it to be a great time saver and more efficient than traditional meetings. Voice notes are also more convenient, as they can be sent at any time and don't require anyone to block out their day for an in-person meeting. It's also a great way to maintain a clear paper trail for accountability purposes, as everything is recorded. We have also seen an increase in engagement from our employees as they feel like their voices are being heard (perhaps literally!), even when their physical presence isn't required for a traditional meeting. It can be quite a fun way to interact too, as we can hear each other's voices and emotions, rather than just reading text messages.
I replace typical meetings by having innovation sessions. We gather in a room, break into small groups, and each group comes up with one new idea that can help our team work more efficiently or improve our product. The best part is that everyone is encouraged to contribute, even if they don't have a lot of experience with innovation or creativity. And since there's no pressure to come up with the "right" answer, people are more likely to actually participate. Plus, the ideas generated during these sessions often lead to new discussions and projects, so they're a great way to jump-start productivity and creativity.
Over the last couple of years, our meeting style has evolved from lengthy in person sessions, to scheduled Zoom calls, to Slack huddles, to finally, Slack clips. At this point in time, we rely almost exclusively on asynchronous video clips over Slack as our primary means of communicating and syncing up as a team. For one, video has the advantage of being fast to create (as compared to lengthy emails with screengrabs), and is also more engaging to watch. I’m a more active participant with short video clips than lengthy calls or emails. Plus, the fact that Slack clips are asynchronous allows team members to watch on their time and not slow down workflows. Typically, I’ll kick off a subject with a quick clip, then others will jump in with their thoughts over video, which all circulate on a Slack thread. If there is a downside, it’s that sometimes our "clips meetings" can stretch over hours, though when compressed down, they take only a few minutes of my actual time.
We use Notion a ton to track our projects. We also build our product roadmaps using the platform. It’s user-friendly and it’s easy for us to remain engaged and up-to-date on how everyone is progressing on each task. We rely on Notion for tracking and progress updates and we use Slack for any sort of day-to-day communication. I should point out that we haven’t eliminated face-to-face meetings. We schedule quarterly team meetups because we feel it’s important to get some face-to-face engagements a few times per year. However, our digital tools have allowed us to remain in-the-know on everyone’s progress day after day – and it all starts with Notion.
As part of our initiative to replace typical meetings, we've started using Slack huddles. Slack's huddle feature allows channel participants to get together and problem-solve as a team without the pressures or conventions of a regular formal meeting. These meetings are audio-based by default, so there's no need to put your camera on. This means that participants can contribute without reading their peers' facial expressions or body language. These behaviors are mentally burdensome, and unconsciously or not, they contribute the most to "Zoom fatigue" and other instances of burnout. For us, huddles have been most effective when the agenda contains fewer items, or those that are less critical in nature. As participants can drop in and out at their own discretion, the meeting environment feels like more of a casual chat with colleagues. Without time constraints, participants can develop ideas and collaborate on strategies at their own pace, and do so in a seamless and intuitive manner.
Instead of PowerPoint presentations, we've resorted to creating one-page documents that are shared every time a status update is required. These documents are shared to the relevant parties beforehand and any questions are posted on the team's channel on our company's collaboration tool. This way, the audience gets to review and understand the material before the meeting and the project owners get to review and answer questions prior to the meeting. A poll is then conducted amongst the team members to determine if a meeting is necessary or not. We've cut the number of status meetings by an average of 60% across all our departments, and internal surveys indicate that our staff are saving up to four hours per individual every week as a result of having to sit through fewer status meetings.
We stopped having the first introduction meeting to a project in person. Instead, we use a shared document to start off all projects. The project manager will outline the project and put their initial ideas on an editable document. There is a bunch of services like google docs, Microsoft 365, and dropbox paper that all have this feature. Everyone on the project will update the document with their ideas or plan. This saves from 2-3 meetings and expedites the whole project and everything is down in writing on the shared document. It's easier on everyone's schedule because they don't all have to meet at one time and skips a bunch of meetings.
There's nothing worse that being fully in the zone only to get a 'meeting in 15 mins' notification, destroying focus and resulting in time sucking task switching. To help solve the 'too many meetings' issue we've switched to using Async video wherever possible. This allows us to catch up on what's happening throughout the company in a non-disruptive way, at a time that makes sense for each persons individual workflow. What typically used to involve juggling multiple peoples calendars to land on a convenient meeting time now becomes a process of creating a quick, to-the-point video using Loom, that is shared to relevant team members, no more waiting through irrelevant discussions until your section of the meeting, or being dragged away from important focused work. If we ever need clarification or to chime in with opinions we can create a response video or engage in a quick huddle on a tool like Slack.
Seeing as how our entire business revolves around podcasting, creating a virtual library of podcasts only made sense. From talking about the latest company updates, tracking our team's progress on every project, and giving our employees shoutouts for a job well done — company podcasts have seamlessly replaced virtual meetings and all the technical difficulties that come with them. Moreover, they give our workforce the time to really absorb the information and revisit it at a later time too.
The big advantage is that everyone can answer whenever they want, when their full attention is available. This includes sharing asynchronous video, audio, and screenshots, in order, for example, to organize a team brainstorming session that starts at 9 a.m. in Paris and ends at 5 p.m. in San Francisco. Asynchronous communication can help employees process information, come up with ideas, draw conclusions, and make decisions without rushing. And it can be an effective way for managers to align all members of a distributed team.
I've used Loom to replace many types of meetings. Using Loom, I can take a video and audio recording of myself and easily share it with multiple people across the company. This format is particularly helpful if I'm giving short feedback on a project, or even just updating others on a recent development.
Our communication policy is to stick to emails and only have meetings in instances where emails prove insufficient. Emails are proving to be a much more effective communication tool as we restructure our business into a hybrid workplace. This is thanks to its asynchronous nature as well as how it can be targeted towards only the most relevant parties. An internal survey we conducted showed that 85% our staff perceived that it's much easier to absorb information and key takeaways from an email than from a meeting. In line with this, we have also implemented email policy guidelines that help our team craft actionable, respectful and relevant emails so that communication is seamless between the sender and recipients.
Founder at Elite HRT
Answered 3 years ago
If the meeting is not serving you and you are also not directly contributing, you have permission to leave. This was something I heard first from Elon Musk talking about the way he treats meetings across his companies and the simplicity of it resonated with me. It's important to keep in mind that everyone's time is valuable and should be respected accordingly, and even though people don't like to admit the truth, it's clear to everyone that most meetings are in fact a waste of time.
During the pandemic I have had to get creative with how I meet with small groups of people. Instead of the traditional meeting space, which often requires a commute and often has cramped chairs, my group chose a more enjoyable option. We all connected over an online game that allowed us to still collaborate and brainstorm in an interesting new way. It was also very helpful as it kept our energy up - something that can easily wane when you’re stuck in the same location for hours. Everyone enjoyed this novel approach and I’ve made it a part of our regular meetings going forward!
We're a full remote company so we employ a variety of alternative methods to in-person meetings, but one approach we take is to utilize Slack's awesome features. Slack allows you to eliminate non-essential meetings with quick, easy, and effective communication. While weekly video meetings keep everyone on track, many times we can communicate directly in a designated Slack channel. You can use department channels, company-wide channels, or simply message someone directly. Another option is to start a quick "huddle." Slack's huddle feature is great for those topics that need audio in real-time. You have a variety of options at your fingertips.
Like many entrepreneurs, I am constantly traveling on business and find it best to replace typical meetings with video conferencing. Zoom continues to be our go-to video conferencing method for diving into deeper business discussions, while project management software like Notion is perfect for keeping track of daily workflows without the need for in-person status updates. Replacing typical meetings with digital alternatives is a great way to streamline your daily priorities as a business leader and ensure everything is running smoothly.
Having an all-hands meeting for the sake of having one every week doesn't demonstrate respect for your employees' time. This is especially true for remote teams combatting Zoom fatigue. For this reason, we're communicating more through Slack channels specific to each department. We then drill conversations down into threads around specific topics. This way, we can collect input from relevant stakeholders without cluttering the channel or losing vital information.
My name is Brenton Thomas, Founder of Twibi. I am an experienced digital marketing leader who specializes in paid search, paid social, and SEO for various B2C and B2B products and services. I focus on collaboration between customer and company, with cross-functional partners to deliver successful results: We've replaced them with a weekly quick call on Google Meet, to get everything in order and updating projects' statuses. Apart from that, we use Slack to keep in touch. Please find my details below for credit as required and thank you for your time. Name: Brenton Thomas Title: Founder & Marketing Manager Company: Twibi Website: https://www.twibiagency.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brentonthomas/ Headshot https://media-exp2.licdn.com/dms/image/C5603AQFxKqyZElOPSg/profile-displayphoto-shrink_400_400/0/1617395313164?e=1662595200&v=beta&t=sn3yw-FTU9LBrE4gh6jjeO_1OAnciyYqMXoH8WgmY0Y