Do you struggle to keep up with the virtual experience of today’s world? If so, you’re not alone.
Virtual fatigue is a very real thing and affects many people. Since the start of the pandemic, it’s become not only necessary but crucial to use virtual tools to communicate with team members and accomplish tasks.
Virtual fatigue can leave you feeling exhausted, burnt out, and overwhelmed even with the simplest tasks. And as more companies have shifted to a remote setting, conducting virtual meetings is now the norm.
If you want to learn how to combat virtual fatigue for your company and its employees, here are X simple tips to help you get started.
Eliminate Unnecessary Meetings
If you find that your company conducts meetings that don’t solve problems or serve a purpose, then you’re better off without them. The point of meetings is to communicate important information with team members, work on issues, find solutions, discuss progress, and delegate tasks.
If you have several meetings spread out throughout the week, it’s a good idea to ask yourself if the number of calls is necessary. It’s normal to get off topic once in a while and discuss other matters like food or fashion, but if this happens a lot, you’re better off limiting them.
Follow a Structured Format
If you conduct every meeting without a clear purpose, you’ll leave without one as well. It’s crucial that your company meetings follow a certain format that everyone can follow and report on. Not only is it more organized this way, but it also helps you track everyone’s progress at a glance.
Some great advice for business owners is to create structure for your virtual meetings. You can do this by following a document that details the topics you’ll discuss and other information needed to conduct business. If you don’t have a clear reason or goal for a meeting, you’re better off eliminating it.
You can use an L10 structure for your meetings which allows employees to create a list of issues and items that leads can respond to. This is just one example of a meeting format you can follow to ensure organization in your virtual meetings.
Avoid Multitasking
It might be tempting to send emails, check Slack messages, and look at your content calendar while a meeting is taking place. But this only pulls your attention in several different directions and prevents you from focusing on the important points of the meeting.
While a meeting is happening, try your best to pay attention to it. Research shows that multitasking can diminish your memory and cause you not to perform well on tasks. It can negatively impact your work even after your meeting is finished.
Set a goal to concentrate on the meeting in front of you and tend to your immediate needs in that moment. It’s important to ask questions and inquire about issues during meetings as communication is a lot easier.
Invite The Right Team Members
Too often, companies require their entire team to attend meetings that don’t even pertain to their department. This is one of the easiest ways to cause virtual fatigue because it forces employees to engage in conversations that are irrelevant to them and the work they do.
Make sure that those who attend company meetings get something out of them or there’s a purpose for their presence. Otherwise, you’ll end up with a virtual room full of uninterested, unengaged participants with nothing to add to the conversation. You can easily prevent burnout for those who don’t need to attend by not making them attend meetings that have nothing to do with them.
Over to You
If you struggle with fatigue that comes from virtual meetings, you’re not the only one. Staying on top of meetings can be difficult when you’re always expected to be online and available while working remotely. Fortunately, there are things you can do to minimize the feeling of overwhelm and take control of your workday. How will you combat virtual fatigue?