You wouldn’t openly browse Twitter during a meeting, so don’t do it in a video call. And when you don’t know everyone in the meeting, you speak less frankly.” Practise good etiquette “When you’ve got a collection of 50 postage-stamp-sized faces on the screen, it’s impossible to feel connected. “Get as few people on the call as possible,” says Bruce Daisley, author of The Joy of Work. The average European office worker spends 13 days a year in meetings, many of them pointless.īe selective about who you invite. “Be deliberate about why you’re having the meeting,” says Petriglieri. To avoid technology-induced ennui, only hold video meetings when absolutely necessary. “You become a zoombie when your spirit is sapped from what you’re doing.” Petriglieri often teaches through video conferencing, and is aware of how the technology can cause people to disassociate from the content of the meeting. “I call them zoombies,” says Gianpiero Petriglieri, an associate professor of organisational behaviour at San Francisco business school INSEAD. Technology can dehumanise interpersonal interactions. Pointless video calls turn workers into zoombies “A neutral backdrop is good, so people don’t get distracted,’’ says Spicer. An overflowing laundry basket doesn’t give the best impression. However, the touch-up option only blurs and brightens your complexion: good if you’ve got a hangover, but not exactly a digitally rendered suit.īe mindful of what your colleagues can see behind you. Pyjamas aren’t an option!” Zoom gives you the option to digitally touch up your appearance, using technology not dissimilar to an Instagram filter. “I don’t expect my team to be perfect all the time,” says Bailey, “but make sure you’re dressed appropriately. Just because you are working from home, doesn’t mean you can dress like a slob – from the waist up, that is.

“At the beginning, say: ‘This is the purpose of the meeting, this is how long we’ve got, we’re going to spend this much time on each item.” Dress appropriately “Follow good chairing protocols,” suggests Spicer. The way to stop a mansplainer hijacking the call is for managers to be firm about who speaks, and for how long. “We know that males tend to dominate conversations, and with video calls this is often the case.” “It tends to enhance existing patterns of behaviour,” says Prof André Spicer, an expert in organisational behaviour at Cass Business School. Sometimes he steals his female co-workers’ ideas. He drones on in meetings while everyone else shifts in their seats.

Conference call video