CHRISTINE LIU: Hybrid work.
It's a mix of remote and in-person working.
It's a reality for a lot of people right now,
and for the foreseeable future.
Actually, here at HBR, we just started--
Yeah, hybrid is happening, and I'm not prepared at all.
So look, last year, when we were all working remotely
and on video calls and stuff, we were kind of
made equal in a good way in terms of visibility.
But I'm worried with hybrid, it's
not going to stay that way.
So I have so many questions, but essentially,
if you're having a meeting, and you have people in the room,
and you have people dialing in, how do you make sure
that everyone feels heard, everyone feels included,
and no one feels like a second class is in this hybrid world?
If hybrid is happening to you, now
is the crucial time to start building those good habits
before old ones start creeping back in.
Let's do hybrid right.
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JURAJ HOLUB: I believe there's a general consensus
that the future of work will be hybrid.
But the funny thing is that no one
knows exactly how it will look.
CHRISTINE LIU: That's Juraj Holub.
He's the VP of brand and communications at Slido,
and he also holds the title of Chief Meeting Designer.
He thought a lot about meeting design, virtual events,
and remote work culture.
JURAJ HOLUB: I like to use this phrase that there will
be a Fifty Shades of Hybrid.
Meaning that there will be all sorts of scenarios,
like bringing people back for two days,
or just coming back to the office completely optionally,
and using the space as collaboration area.
But nonetheless, like, with any other work setup,
meetings will play a major role.
CHRISTINE LIU: Everyone is getting really anxious
about hybrid meetings, because the last thing they want to do
is accidentally exclude people who
are coming in remotely because they're not physically there.
But it's really easy to do, unfortunately.
So on top of the human problem, there's
also the technical stuff.
JURAJ HOLUB: You, as a meeting host, you are three in one.
You are a content creator, you are a facilitator,
and at the same time you are an AV technician.
And without getting the tech setup right,
the rest doesn't really matter.
CHRISTINE LIU: Running a hybrid meeting feels so overwhelming,
and I just want a short list of real things
I can do that will have a positive impact.
But please, just tell me what the biggest bang for my bucket
is for hybrid, Juraj, I need your help.
JURAJ HOLUB: I think it all starts
with a remote first mindset.
And let me give you actually, like,
five tips on how to actually pull this off.
CHRISTINE LIU: All right.
Putting on remote first mindset, let's go.
So this tip is a little awkward in-person, but basically
the people who are in the office log
in with their own laptop in the meeting room,
and then you have the meeting.
But it is with that remote first mindset,
really thinking about the people who
are logging in remotely, because they
can see everyone's face clearly, they can get visual cues.
JURAJ HOLUB: What it creates is this kind
of an equal experience for everyone.
[VIDEO PLAYBACK]
- And it feels like now, it's just like a remote meeting.
- Yeah, you're showing up.
OK.
[END PLAYBACK]
CHRISTINE LIU: Once you know what to do, it's not that bad.
It is, again, like, why am I staring at my screen again?
I could be looking in everyone's faces.
But honestly, just try it and ask your remote employees
what they think.
I mean, their feedback is what you need.
All right, I love this tip.
It's super easy, it's pretty fun,
and honestly, it's what we've been doing when
we were in lockdown anyway.
Basically greet the remote people first up and say, hey,
welcome to the party.
JURAJ HOLUB: Acknowledge that there
are people who are attending this meeting
outside of those few who are sitting actually in the room.
CHRISTINE LIU: This one is so great,
because it's tactical and super specific.
Basically, when you're holding the meeting,
look at the participants list, and just keep an eye out
for anyone who goes off mute.
Someone choosing to go off mute is a really good indicator
that they might have something to say.
So if you see that just be like, hey, I invite you to share.
You're going to miss some things if you're
leading the meeting, so ask other people to look out
for you.
And that way, hopefully, if someone goes off mute,
someone is there to see it.
This one is a little touchy on the subject of cameras,
but basically you just want to invite everyone
to turn on their cameras, even just briefly,
at the start of the meeting.
I mean, it's great to see everyone,
and you put a face to a name.
And it just sort of humanizes the whole experience.
If people are uncomfortable, that's fine, don't push it.
It's just this invitation.
JURAJ HOLUB: I would make this optional.
Like, don't push people too hard, as I said.
Like, there are definitely reasons why the person didn't
turn on the camera.
So you can say something like that.
All right folks, thanks, everybody for joining.
If possible, let's just turn on the camera
for a moment at the start to see each other,
to greet each other, and then turn them off.
It would be just a nice gesture to see everyone.
CHRISTINE LIU: This really helps humanize the experience,
and puts a face to the name, and everyone can just sort of
greet each other.
After that, what you do is your business.
This is all about collecting feedback in real time.
So whatever platform you use, there's
definitely, like, a polling function, or a chat, or emojis,
or whatever.
Bottom line is, you've got to use these and integrate them
into your meeting.
And then once you get the results,
it helps drive the discussion.
You act on that feedback.
JURAJ HOLUB: Can we move on?
Like, give me a virtual thumb up.
And if you see all those thumbs up flying from whatever
direction, you can see that, OK, all clear, I got your feedback.
We can move on.
But then there might be a more elaborate situation where
you need a deeper feedback.
And I would say, like, go with the live polls.
They are really an amazing way how to, again, equalize
the experience for everyone.
CHRISTINE LIU: Here's a message from our sponsor, Confluence.
JASON PHAN: Hi, I'm Jason Fan from Confluence with five tips
to make your hybrid meetings more effective.
First, ask yourself, do we really need to meet?
Meeting fatigue is real, but the right team collaboration tool
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to all team members.
You can keep your teams in sync and cut down on meetings.
Second, use a hybrid meeting tool
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roadblocks, and to encourage more team involvement, more
knowledge sharing, and more meaningful collaboration.
Next, set an agenda with contributions from the team.
The best hybrid meetings are collaborative.
Use status updates, to do lists, decision making frameworks,
and other templates so that everyone can weigh in.
You'll be surprised at how much shorter your meetings will
be when issues are dispatched in advance.
Fourth, invite only key people.
Inviting too many people can make decision making harder,
and can suppress participation.
For a productive conversation, try
to keep your team meetings to 10 essential stakeholders
or fewer.
Last, after the meeting, share your notes.
Hybrid meetings stay useful when you
post meeting notes, especially decisions and action items,
and make them readily available to team members.
Organize them with labels or in shared folders and spaces
so that your team can easily delve into the information
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CHRISTINE LIU: I almost feel like the typical office
meeting, we could get away with being lazy and bad at meetings
because at least we were entertained by looking
at each other or something.
This just sounds like we need to all step up
our game to do something we should have been
good at in the first place.
JURAJ HOLUB: We are not taught how to lead a conversation,
how to facilitate.
We are taught how to present information in a clear way.
But that's a completely different skill.
To facilitate, to lead the conversation,
means that you think consciously and strategically about
bringing people in, and giving a voice to silent members,
and moving the conversation forward.
CHRISTINE LIU: I love these tips,
because five is a very manageable number.
But I think the most important thing is just
to keep that remote first mindset.
That's really the guiding principle.
So basically, put yourself in the shoes of someone logging
into that meeting.
We all know what that feels like,
because we all have been there.
And even thinking about that and considering that
is more than half the battle.
JURAJ HOLUB: I like to lean towards more positive side
of things, that we're going to create really in an environment
where people will be able to thrive no matter where they are
joining from, and we're going to combine
the best of both worlds.
CHRISTINE LIU: If you're still watching, one, thank you.
But two, I'm really curious, like,
what do you want me to explore?
Like, what problems do you have at work?
I love to solve them.
Please leave a comment.
I'd love to hear your thoughts.
And if you have any other ideas, throw them my way.
All right, peace out.