A comprehensive guide for inclusive meetings
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Learn how to conduct better and more inclusive meetings to make the most of your (diverse) teams - including a free checklist with my best tips.
Virtual meetings have become the norm in many workplaces in 2020. For some companies and organizations, it was quite an interruption to their usual way of working; for others, it is just the continuation of a trend that has developed over several years already.
No matter in which group you are falling, you probably noticed that transferring physical meetings to the online world does not work without some alterations. Not that miscommunication and inefficiencies cannot also happen in other forms of meetings, but as a general rule you could say that the less you see each other in person, the less you can rely on all the nonverbal communication hues that tell us so much about our relationships and moods. Therefore, the more should you invest in preparing and designing a meeting that allows clear and transparent communication (which of course should be the case for all kinds of meetings).
Apart from the general tips on how to have effective and successful virtual meetings, I would like to put an emphasis on making them as inclusive as possible.
Being mindful about different backgrounds, living situations, personalities types and possible bias is key to bringing all perspectives to the table. And that is what you want to truly benefit from diverse teams.
In addition, giving people the impression and assurance that their opinion matters and their voice is being heard, still is one of the most important things for them to feel valued and respected at work.
The key to an effective team, is making it an inclusive one.
Due to the nature of meetings, some colleagues will melt into the background while others may take control over the majority of the conversation, and the decisions made. This can mean that not only do some team members feel unheard and undervalued, but strong ideas and different stances of opinion that could benefit the organisation are being lost. Enabling everyone to speak up and be heard is beneficial to all parties involved.
This is of course true for any team, but research shows that certain people or groups are less comfortable in speaking up, are interrupted or overheard more often.
Leaders are currently offered an opportunity to practice genuine empathy and make sure every individual team member feels included and supported, despite their individual challenges and circumstances.
At any times, different team members are facing different challenges. But this year’s crisis due to Covid-19 magnifies a lot of them.
Some team members are balancing the care of young children with their work responsibilities, while others are caring for elderly or immunocompromised family members. Some will see a worsening of their physical and/or mental health, while others suffer from financial setbacks due to a partner’s loss of income. Some are experiencing all of the above, all at once.
There are some concrete things you (as a leader and/or team member) can do to create more inclusive meetings.
You find all tips and hints in the checklist at the end of this article, but first let me give you some background information and an explanatory summary.
Keep in mind that not every tip might make sense for every kind of setting, depending on the purpose or also size of the meeting. Many tips are also applicable for physical or hybrid meetings (the latter means some participants join online while others meet in the same room).
My best tips for inclusive meetings
Find the free PDF download at the end of this article.
The framework (when, where, who, what, how)
In case, your team is not living in the same time zone, selecting an appropriate meeting time should be where you start your preparation. Depending on the importance, and size, try to take into account when important religious or national holidays take place.
One related topic that I often see neglected (and I have been guilty of this as well) is to be aware of availabilities of colleagues working in part-time. Therefore, rethink before scheduling the quarterly department meeting at 4pm which might exclude part-time workers.
Check the list of attendees: are people missing who represent diverse points of view that differ (from your, others)? You want many perspectives, but the bigger the group, the harder it is for everyone to contribute. How can you include colleagues that cannot join the meeting, maybe via collecting written input in advance or having a separate call with them?
Say in invite that people are welcome to speak or listen to set the right expectations. Set the agenda ahead of time to give people a chance to prepare and ask yourself:
Is the goal of the meeting clear to everyone beforehand?
Can information be shared before?
Should people prepare something in advance?
Is everyone familiar with the technology used? Consider having a pre-meeting to explain the tools you’d like to use and give everyone a chance to familiarise themselves with them.
Budget time for each agenda item. Keep in mind that virtual meetings shouldn’t be as long as physical ones. Alternate between input and active parts, schedule breaks during longer meetings.
Decide whether appointing a moderator or facilitator would be helpful - for having both an eye on the content and social part.
Beginning of the meeting
Depending on whether you discussed them already (then as a reminder) or to decide on them now as group: set meeting rules. Here are some suggestions:
Camera on or off? It can be a relief in bigger meetings to not be asked to have the camera turned on. However, in smaller meetings, depending on the topic, video usually helps to feel connected, and to pick up reactions.
In case, there are non-native speakers, agree on a language everyone feels comfortable with. Using live-transcription with subtitles, and the sign language feature make it easier for non-natives or people with hearing impairments to follow the meeting.
Discuss how you want to deal with interruptions and encourage everyone to notice them as well. You can step in by saying things like “hang on, I want to understand what xxx is saying”. (As a leader: Shift people that are known interruptors into listening mode by having them make notes - also works virtually.)
On the other hand, you also want to be mindful about everyone’s talking time. This is where moderators and time-keepers come in useful.
Greet each participant by name (much depending on the group size), and make everyone feel welcome. Learn how to say all names. You are less likely to avoid interacting with someone and this is the opposite of inclusive when you have the confidence how to say their name correctly.
A note on pronouns: In German, unlike other languages, such as the Swedish "hen", there is still no (uniformly used) pronoun for people who cannot or do not want to identify as either female or male. In English, "they" has become the accepted singular pronoun for non-binary people. Asking for the preferred pronoun at the beginning of a meeting or when getting to know someone should become as common as asking for their name. First hints can be found more often now in email signatures or in names used on social media (e.g. Larissa Leienbach (she/her).
Use ice-breakers or at least a quick and effective check-in question such as “one word on how you are today”. It offers everyone the chance to speak up, right at the beginning of the meeting, putting each participant on an exactly equal footing. Introverts are encouraged to find their voices early on, while extroverts are challenged to limit themselves to a single word.
If allowed, you could record the meeting after informing everyone. You are on the safer side with notes being distributed afterwards.
During the meeting
There so many great tools out there that make meetings much more fun and interactive. Make use of voting polls, whiteboards, the virtual “hand raise” in discussions, and the chat function. Ensure that everyone knows how to use these tools.
Depending on the culture(s) the team members represent, it can be beneficial for the leader or manager to talk last to avoid people agree for hierarchical reasons. There is no one-fits-all approach here, as this rule can be helpful in one culture, but creates the opposite effect in others. For more information on this, I highly recommend “The Culture Map”* by Erin Meyer who developed a model that decodes and compares cultural differences in certain key aspects such as hierarchy, communication, understanding of time etc.
To avoid group building, be aware when there are people in a majority, of having allies, and sub-groups formed by age, gender, job seniority etc. These so-called “in-crowds” tend to take up space, and support similar ideas, which can discourage others to voice their (potentially different) opinion.
At the same time, notice your unconscious bias. We all tend to sympathize with people that voice opinions similar to ours, we also often unconsciously look and ask for information and views that support our opinion, but ignore non-supportive information (called “confirmation bias”). This can lead to overlooking important aspects, risks, and also opportunities. Don’t be afraid of opposing and critical views, otherwise you might miss something valuable.
Be respectful of everyone’s time by starting and ending in time. You never know what kind of responsibilities other people might have to attend to after the meeting, and you don’t want to cause inconveniences for them by overrunning. Especially with the calendars now often full with back-to-back online meetings, everyone appreciates a small break inbetween. (Some softwares allow changing the default length of meetings to conclude some minutes before the end of the hour or half hour.)
After the meeting
Follow up after meeting by sending the meeting notes and use this opportunity to ask for ideas again. You might receive some additional remarks that people weren’t thinking of before or that they didn’t want to voice earlier.
Reflect on how the meeting went, how much every participant spoke, how well the tools were received, and what you would like to change for the next meeting (and ask your team and colleagues about this, too!).
One additional note: What’s in your background could elicit bias.
The reality of the situation is that many people for different reasons must call into online meetings from places like their bedrooms, kitchens and other non-office living spaces. When in the workplace, it’s easier to uphold a level of privacy. While working from home, colleagues will now be able to see parts of your home that they have never seen before and which provide a deeper glimpse into your identity, interests and other seemingly benign characteristics. Two recommendations: As a manager, be mindful of your background and put some thought into the best place for a video meeting. Also, you can point towards virtual backgrounds (even provide some corporate-branded ones), and encourage employees to follow suit. This allows a person to choose a background that they see fit and can mitigate some of the background bias that can take place on video calls.
As you might have deducted already from the different lengths of the previous paragraphs, the preparational work can and should be quite extensive. The better prepared you are, the more likely your meeting is running smoothly, and the more you can concentrate on the desired outcome.
Instead of making you read this blog article again ahead of your next (online) meeting, I summarized all tips in this checklist. Just click on the button below and you will receive my best tips immediately.
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Are you wondering what else you could do to create a more inclusive culture in your team?
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An inclusive corporate culture is a more successful one.
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