A recent study by a life insurer warns of the mental health tsunami we face, partly thanks to work-from-home virtual meetings. In this week’s #SliceofGasant, Gasant Abarder asks whether virtual meetings really equal productivity for those who work from home?
Abarder, who recently launched his book, Hack with a Grenade, is among the country’s most influential media voices. Catch his weekly column here, exclusive to Cape {town} Etc.
Here, in good, old South Africa, we do like a meeting, don’t we? I’ve racked up hours of Zoom and Google meetings. It’s fair to say I’m all Zoomed out! But even pre-pandemic we loved nothing more than sitting around a table “unpacking” things for an hour or two when it required just a 15-minute conversation.
There’ve been new phrases created over the last 18 months. “You’re on mute!” or “Please turn off our cameras so it doesn’t affect the bandwith”, are now part of the national discourse.
Many managers and supervisors believe a meeting equals production. I mean, how else are we going to measure productivity while folks work from home? But I firmly believe in many cases meetings are the enemy of productivity. (This occurred to me while sitting in a six- and-a-half-hour marathon Zoom session. I kid you not!)
Why the focus on virtual meetings this week, dear reader? For one, a study commissioned by a life insurer released last week found that we’re going to have a tsunami of mental health challenges once we finally get to grips with this pandemic – partly thanks to virtual meetings.
Then there’s the hamster running in my head that won’t allow me to have an inbox with unread messages. I’m that inbox zero type. So, while virtually meeting I’m unable to stay in the moment because I’m trying to keep the mailbox tidy.
And then the inevitable: “Gasant, what’s your take?”. Then I busk through an answer or pretend there was a glitch and politely ask for the question to be repeated.
Don’t get me wrong. Meetings are important. Spending two decades in mainstream media I have spent thousands of hours in meetings plotting story ideas or newspaper pages. But most of the time was spent outside my office as a newspaper editor because it was the easiest way to keep tabs on the production of the paper. I’d plant myself in the newsroom so I was privy to the entire process without calling a meeting.
This doesn’t mean you’re micro-managing. It simply ensures you don’t have to intervene further down the line. A very wise CEO of a magazine company went further and taught me more about publishing in five months than in my entire career. One of them was having quick meetings on the fly in an open plan office. This ensures everyone is on the same page. We were both executives but declined taking offices so we could work the floor.
Which reminds me of another pet peeve: never ask your staff to do anything you won’t. Know enough to give direction and be prepared to roll up your sleeves. But not to the extent where you’re doing the work for them. Trust them to do the job they’re hired to do by taking them on a journey and teaching them to fish.
It’s called servant leadership and it works because you’re empowering someone with skills they can use when they move on.
When I first arrived at my current job there was a special office built for me as the manager of a media unit for an institution. It was beautiful but I privately sighed. It was the opposite of what I wanted but I didn’t have the heart to say so. I wanted to have it thrown down to create a dynamic, co-creative space that mimics a newsroom.
Then, fortuitously (I promise), an office flood created an opportunity. The entire space had to be refurbished and guess what was the first to go? Now I had just a desk. It didn’t mean I didn’t have authority. It’s a false construct that leadership means siting in an office.
Now, we never have meetings yet produce incredible fit-for-purpose media, marketing and communication campaigns and assets because everyone knows what the other is doing. We’ve even created hubs of expertise especially designed around the workflow.
It’s worked to such an extent that when lockdown began there was no break in transmission and no reason to adjust your set. We carried on seamlessly, using WhatsApp now for on-the-fly chats. A few weeks ago, no less than three of our team received awards for excellent service to the institution during lockdown.
So, in this crazy time, it’s important we become servant leaders. Don’t be threatened by the smart kid you hired; they’re going to make you shine. Don’t watch the clock because if the job gets done where is the problem?
Remember loved ones and friends are dying. Don’t bury your feelings. Try to follow the same schedule you would at work. Take a lunch break. And when the work day is done, close your laptop, don’t check emails during weekends and family time and if that virtual meeting is not going to add value then decline it.
But mostly, be a kind boss. I promise you: if you treat your team with dignity, compassion and respect they will run through brick walls for you – with your and their sanity intact.
Read also:
Picture: Unsplash