Do Your Remote Employees Feel Included in Meetings?

In today’s article, let’s talk about the HBR article entitled, “Do Your Remote Employees Feel Included in Meetings?”

Don't have time to read watch full video.

Eliciting contributions from “out-of-office” team members first, not last.

Try kick-starting a meeting with incoming questions via a virtual chat tool, like Workplace Chat, or welcome commentary from remote attendees as a virtual icebreaker. Leading the meeting this way can help empower remote workers as they feel like a key component of the business and the conversation, not an after-thought.

Understand and value introverts and extroverts.

Do you notice the same voices monopolizing the conversation? If you answered ‘yes’ - the loss of input from a team member can be detrimental to your organization, especially when it comes to creating a more inclusive, innovative culture. An intuitive leader recognizes and adapts to the varying communication styles of team members so that everyone feels seen. Try creating post-meeting questions in a 1:1 Workplace chat or launch a Workplace survey to elicit more feedback and participation from introverts. HBR recommends asking, “What might we have missed in our last discussion?”

Get creative at regular team meetings.

Try rotating meeting hosts and notice the difference in individual approaches. One team member at LineZero kicked off the meeting with a discussion around weekend activities, while another pulled quotes from a team—shared book to reflect on lessons learned. HBR also recommends personalized “check-in” exercises to bridge the gap between widely dispersed teams. At LineZero, we created Groups on Workplace for casual interaction and catching up, such as the “Foodies” group.

For more inspiration or ideas around meeting inclusivity, reach out to engage@linezero.com to supercharge your remote team meetings or fill out the contact us form.