Zoom, Teams, and other video meeting platforms have become mainstays in most workplaces. They can be a convenient and efficient way to connect team members working remotely. A new study suggests that online meetings are crucial for leaders, but they also create challenges.
In the study, published in Information Technology & People, researchers interviewed 33 managers and found that video meetings serve two important roles: first, as informative tools for sharing information (such as staff briefings or prerecorded messages), and second, as interactive tools for discussion.
Online meetings offer flexibility to managers and their employees and bring remote and hybrid teams together, but there are trade-offs. Separate research found that most employees say they have too many meetings and often feel drained on meeting-heavy days.
The Information Technology study identified five online meeting-related tensions that affect managers’ daily work and offered strategies to manage each stressor.
Flexibility and inflexibility
Video meetings improved time management for leaders by allowing them to efficiently plan meetings, tasks, and responsibilities in advance and work across different locations and time zones.
However, many managers reported that they didn’t have full control over their schedules or “work rhythm,” especially when meetings ran over the allotted time, the study says. They also said full calendars made it difficult to schedule meetings with their teams.
To address these challenges, the researchers suggested setting firm meeting boundaries, scheduling meetings with breaks, and using scheduling tools to prioritize central participants.
Social connection and social disconnectedness
Online meetings enabled colleagues to network and socialize, helping to build a sense of community and belonging and fostering trust. However, in some instances, video meetings had the opposite effect. Some managers said that online meetings limit spontaneous interaction and the way individuals express emotion.
The study’s authors recommended that managers focus on building positive virtual cultures to ensure social connection. These efforts can include creating virtual social spaces for casual conversations and leading by example.
The Information Technology study identified five online meeting-related tensions that affect managers’ daily work and offered strategies to manage each stressor.
Engagement and disengagement
Managers said that video meeting technology created opportunities to engage their employees. But many also reported struggling to encourage participation when some employees preferred to keep their cameras off, avoid talking, or multitask during the meeting.
Creating video meeting guidelines, negotiating the participation methods (such as keeping the camera on), and using collaboration tools, like reaction buttons or chat features, to enable online interaction can help boost employee engagement, the authors noted.
Sharing formal and informal information
The managers interviewed for the study said that video meetings helped them distribute formal information relevant to employees’ work and well-being, as well as the company’s policies and goals, much more efficiently. But employees often received only information intentionally communicated to them, while informal communication, such as spontaneous or casual conversations, became more difficult.
The study’s authors recommend that establishing guidelines for information- and knowledge-sharing is essential. Managers should use technology to create small groups where employees can share information informally.
Equality and inequality
Online meetings offer equal access to employees across different locations and time zones, which managers said increased inclusiveness. However, it created inequalities in other ways, such as highlighting different communication and work styles.
Managers should ensure employees feel secure in voicing their opinions, encourage participation in decision-making, and make sure work tasks are distributed equally, the authors wrote.
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