A few days after everyone started working from home, we planned a Skype for Business conference call with all the team leaders in the Human Resources Department. If you don’t cross paths in the hallway any more and can’t just pop into someone’s office, plans and appointments become all the more important.
Surprisingly, 8 a.m. turned out to be the least difficult time for colleagues who were combining work with looking after small children. The first time we organised a group call, we weren’t sure whether we’d use video or not. With or without video? The official reason, of course, was that video puts too much strain on the Wi-Fi. But the truth is that no one wanted to reveal who was still in their pyjamas.
Organise your meeting
Time turned out to be precious. Now, agenda items that are not important to everyone get moved to the end of the meeting – that way, we can go into detail about things in a smaller group. And if someone’s children suddenly demand attention, it’s no problem if they have to leave the meeting. If that person misses something important, we call them later to make sure they’re up to speed. And we still have someone taking the minutes, just like in traditional meetings.
Flexibility
So are mornings the ideal time for meetings? Not necessarily. It’s important to let the people with the most ‘limitations’ decide on the time of the meeting. We regularly check with each other if 8 a.m. is still the best time to meet. If not, we choose another time.