Alternatives to Online Meetings That Could Work During the Pandemic

People thought that the work from home setup would be more convenient. It allows everyone to have a more flexible schedule. Unfortunately, it’s not necessarily the case. Zoom meetings became a part of the new normal. Although it’s a good thing that teams can continue working, the problem is that online meetings became too consuming. If you’re a team manager, you should find a way to keep things going without overwhelming your employees with online meetings. These are the best alternatives to online meetings.

Send an email

If you can send your employees an email providing all the details, it would be great. There’s no need to call them for an online meeting if the email is clear enough. If you want to assign tasks, you can send an email. You can also use it to follow up pending tasks. Make it a policy to acknowledge emails so that everyone will be on the same page. Through this method, you save a lot of time and effort.

Call specific individuals

There are instances when you call for a meeting involving the entire team, but you only need a couple of people to be there. If it involves more than three employees, you can ask them to join the meeting and spare the rest. If you only need one person, a call would be enough. You don’t have to bother everyone if the conversation only involves specific members of the team. 

Send a message

Sometimes, a short personal message would suffice. It might be a reminder or a follow up instruction. Your employees already know what to do. If they forget a few things, a short reminder is enough. You can’t spoil then by following up all the time or by giving instructions repeatedly. On the flip side, it might tell them that you don’t trust your employees enlighten that you have to call for a meeting all the time. The only down side of a private message is that it’s quite informal, and it lacks professionalism. 

Create a group chat 

You can inform everyone at once through a group chat. Let them know the details. Mention specific people who have tasks to accomplish so they will focus on their part. You can also create different group chats if the team is too big. In all these alternatives, the only problem is that you might have more work to do. However, you reduce the chances of doing meetings all the time. Everyone would appreciate your hard work. 

You might think that Zoom is a gift from the heavens that allows you to communicate amid this pandemic. The problem is that no one really likes doing these meetings. Instead of motivating your team, they end up getting lazy and disinterested. You can still have meetings, but there’s no need to do them all the time. 

Photo Attribution:

1^st and featured image from https://unsplash.com/photos/bXqOMf5tvDk

2^nd image from https://www.truvida.com/aa-and-zoom-meetings-how-virtual-12-step-meetings-are-keeping-people-sober-during-the-pandemic/