Establishing a clear one-on-one meeting agenda, amidst your busy schedule, not only helps in organizing the discussion points but also ensures that both you and your employee stay on track and cover all necessary topics.

While this creates an extra step in the process, it also leads to more effective communication and higher-quality discussions with your employee. In this post, we’ll explore why agendas are so important, review the essential elements you need to include, and share our best practices. 

What is the purpose of a 1:1 meeting agenda?

Creating an agenda may seem like a lot of work. So you may be wondering why you can’t just go into your 1:1 meetings without one. Yes, it’s true that agendas take up a bit more time, but they serve an important purpose. Specifically, a 1:1 meeting agenda:  

• Outlines the objectives for the meeting.
• Prioritizes the topics that need to be discussed.
• Keeps the conversation structured on track.
• Allows both the manager and employee to better prepare for the meeting.
• Serves as a reminder and record for what was discussed.

Being prepared ahead of time with an agenda ensures that you maximize the time spent with your direct report. 

The elements of a strong 1:1 meeting agenda 

But what exactly do you need to include in your 1:1 meeting agenda? This is a great question. While we encourage you to find a format that works best for you and your direct report, here are four elements that you can start with when crafting an agenda for one-on-one meetings:

1. Personal check-in

1:1 meetings are about more than status updates. It’s a chance for you to check in on your employees and see how they’re feeling—both in and out of work. So dedicate at least a few minutes to ask your employee the following questions: 

• How are you feeling this week? 
• Is there anything at work or outside of work that’s causing you stress? 
• Do you have anything on your mind that you’d like to discuss? 
• What’s your biggest challenge this week? What are you most looking forward to? 

2. Overview of ongoing projects

Of course, one of the main objectives of 1:1 meetings is to check in with your employee about ongoing projects. This is a great opportunity to hear about progress and offer your support. Here are a few questions you can ask to drive the conversation: 

• How are you and the team progressing on the project? 
• Do you have any concerns about your workload? 
• Are they running into any issues or obstacles that I can help unblock?
• What are your plans and priorities for this week? 

3. Career growth conversation

We also recommend setting aside time for employees to discuss their career goals—whether that’s working towards the next promotion or acquiring new skills to help them in their current role. Use these questions to guide your conversation about professional development: 

• What progress have you made on your career goals this week?
• Do you have any new skills you’d like to learn on the job?
• What resources can I provide you with to support your career growth? 
• Are there any projects outside our team that you’re interested in working on? Or any people outside of our team that you’d like to learn from? 

4. Miscellaneous

Finally, leave a few minutes for miscellaneous items, which cover topics that don’t fall under the other categories, but the employee still wants to discuss. This may include approving upcoming vacation days, asking questions unrelated to ongoing projects, or providing company-related updates.

You can also use this time to open up the floor to your employees with more open-ended questions like: 

• Is there anything we didn’t cover that you’d like to discuss next time?
• Is there anything I can help you with between now and the next time we meet?
• Do you have any general feedback for me? 

We put together an example below to help you visualize what a 1:1 meeting agenda can look like. We also included recommended time allocations for each section, but you can adjust these numbers depending on your preference. Feel free to copy our template and make it your own!

[Example] 1:1 meeting agenda 

Personal check-in (5 minutes) 

• Check-in 

Ongoing projects (10 minutes) 

• Progress update on monthly marketing deck
• Overview of what’s going well and what’s not
• Discuss upcoming project

Career growth (10 minutes)

• Review ongoing career goals
• Identify new skills to develop in Q2
• Discuss progress with online course
• Reminder about mentorship program  

Miscellaneous (5 minutes) 

• Approve upcoming vacation days
• Provide hiring updates 

6 best practices for using your 1:1 meeting agenda

Now that you have a top-notch agenda, let’s discuss how to use it as effectively as possible. Keep these best practices in mind for your upcoming 1:1 meetings: 

1. Make sure your employee is involved in the process

Remember that these 1:1 meetings are for the benefit of your employees. This is one of the few times they get your undivided attention. Knowing this, it’s essential to make sure your direct report is involved in crafting the agenda as well. 

Establish a process for how you’ll both share ownership of the agenda. For instance, you can agree that your direct report will take the lead on putting the agenda together and send it to you for review. Or, you can also create the 1:1 meeting agenda and send it to your employee for input.

Either way, make sure your employee has the chance to contribute and add any topics they want to cover during your time together. 

2. Share the agenda 24 hours in advance

Make sure to share the agenda with your employee at least 24 hours before your meeting. This gives you both enough time to make changes, share feedback, and prepare for the conversation. 

For example, if you want your direct report to share metrics from the latest marketing campaign, you need to give them time to pull those numbers. Or if your employee wants to discuss a challenging problem they’re facing with a team member, you may want to spend a few hours preparing your thoughts or practicing what you want to say. 

Pro tip: when you do share the agenda, include it as a link directly in the calendar invitation so that it’s easy to locate and access!

3. Include thoughtful questions 

One of the main goals of 1:1 meetings is to actively listen to your employees’ challenges, feedback, and thoughts. But you may notice that your direct reports have a hard time opening up. 

In cases like this, it can be helpful to prepare a list of open-ended questions to drive the conversation forward. You can either write them down in a separate document or include them directly in the agenda—whichever method you prefer. We shared a few examples of questions in the previous section, but here are additional ones to consider, including: 

Check-in questions: 

• Last time we spoke, you mentioned that you were struggling with X. How is that going this week?
• Are there any accomplishments that happened in the last week that you’re particularly proud of? 
• How are you feeling about your current work-life balance? 

Project questions: 

• What part of this project is energizing you? 
• What part of this project is challenging you or not going as well as expected? 
• How do you feel about the direction of this project? 

Career growth questions: 

• What’s one new thing you learned this week?
• Do you feel that your current responsibilities and job align with your future career goals?
• Are there any upcoming events or conferences you’re interested in attending? 

Miscellaneous questions: 

• Do you have any questions about the recent announcement about X?
• Is there anything we discussed today that you want me to follow up on next week? 
• How can I best support you this week? 

Having these questions on hand can keep the conversation fluid and generate additional talking points. It also puts less pressure on you to think of thoughtful questions on the spot. 

4. Take notes

Designate a note-taker for your 1:1 meeting—whether that’s you or your employees. Recording what was discussed during your time together accomplishes a few things.

First, it ensures that you’re both on the same page. For instance, if you discuss a deadline and your employee writes down the wrong date, you can point it out and correct the mistake. You can also use the notes to refresh yourself on what was discussed in the previous week, rather than relying on memory alone. 

Furthermore, using an automatic note-taker AI tool can further streamline the process of capturing and organizing meeting notes, ensuring accuracy and easy access to the discussed points for both you and your teammates.

5. Identify action items

In addition to taking notes, write down action items in your agenda as well. Don’t forget to assign an owner for each one. This creates a clear takeaway for both you and your employee—and reminds you exactly what you need to do before the next meeting. Here are a few examples of what an action item can look like: 

• [Manager name] to approve vacation days by next week.
• [Employee name] to finish a draft of the whitepaper by [date].
• [Manager name] to find a resource to help [employee name] with their project. 

Moreover, leveraging a meeting minutes app can greatly assist in identifying and tracking action items arising from your 1:1 meetings. This app streamlines the process of organizing and assigning tasks to their respective owners, guaranteeing that no action item is overlooked and all tasks are effectively followed up on.

6. Review last week’s agenda

Before your next 1:1 meeting, review the notes and agenda from the previous week. This will help you improve the productivity of your meetings since you won’t need to waste time trying to remember what you discussed last week.  

Doing a review can also remind you to follow up on action items or close the loop on topics that were discussed last time. For instance, if your employee was dealing with a problem the previous week, you may want to check in to see if it’s been resolved or if they need additional support. 

Ready to have more productive 1:1 meetings? Start with an awesome agenda

Agendas are critical to having more productive, efficient, and impactful 1:1 meetings. Understanding the importance of a well-structured one-on-one meeting agenda can significantly enhance the clarity and focus of your discussions. Hopefully, the best practices that we shared in this article will help you make the most of your time with your employees. If you want to learn how to create top-notch agendas for remote team meetings, check out our article on how to create effective meeting agendas for online calls.

Consider Krisp’s meeting terms glossary which can serve as a valuable resource, providing clear definitions and explanations for the specialized terms and concepts commonly used in 1:1 meetings, ensuring that both managers and employees have a shared understanding of the meeting’s language and objectives.

Moreover, Krisp offers a valuable transcription feature. This feature allows users to understand how to transcribe one-on-one meetings efficiently capturing important discussions and action items with ease. With Krisp’s ai meeting assistant feature, you can review meeting details, refer back to important points, and ensure clarity on discussed topics.

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The post A Guide to Creating Great 1:1 Meeting Agendas appeared first on Krisp.

However, there are new downsides to be aware of as well. Specifically, privacy risks. When your workforce starts splitting its time between the office and their own homes, it introduces cybersecurity concerns that are important to start addressing immediately. 

If you’re not sure what this means and how to get started, don’t worry. In this blog post, we’ll explore what privacy in the world of hybrid work looks like and share tips to help you start protecting your organization. 

Why hybrid work creates more privacy risks 

What exactly is it about the nature of the hybrid work model that introduces new privacy risks, compared to a fully in-office setup? 

The short answer is that your organization no longer has full control over the working environment.

In the office, your IT team works hard to ensure all your networks are protected and your computers have the right software installed. Even just by nature of working in a secured building, you’re mitigating your cybersecurity risk. 

However, when people have the option to work from home, your company no longer has control over the workspace. Your employee may have family members, guests, and contractors coming in and out of their house all day. Or they may choose to work at a coffee shop, where strangers can easily see what’s on their laptops or where their device may be left unattended for short periods of time.

All of these factors lead to increased privacy risks. 

What are the top 4 security challenges of hybrid work? 

Let’s get more specific and explore the top five privacy challenges your hybrid workforce may be facing right now: 

1. Your employees aren’t aware of cybersecurity concerns

Most people aren’t aware of the privacy risks associated with working outside the office. This is a security challenge in itself. Why? If your employees aren’t aware of the potential dangers, they won’t behave in a way that keeps themselves protected. 

Let’s say, for instance, your employee is at a co-working space and needs to use the restroom. Someone who isn’t aware of the potential security risks may leave their laptop open and leave it unattended for several minutes. This may give a bad actor time to steal the computer or peek at sensitive information on the screen.

On the other hand, if your employee is aware of the security issues, they may choose to pack up their laptop and bring it with them to the restroom. This difference in mindset can make all the difference when it comes to privacy. 

2. Public spaces lack visual privacy

According to a recent study by the Ponemon Institute, an average of 40% of organizations’ hybrid and remote workers spend time in coffee shops and shared workspaces.

The problem with these public workspaces is that they lack visual privacy. In other words, it’s easy for people to see what your employees are working on—including sensitive company information, passwords, and more. This can then lead to potential breaches in security. 

3. Transporting devices creates risk

Another risk is the transportation of company phones and laptops. When your employees have to physically move their devices from one location to another, it increases the chance of these items getting lost or stolen. This, of course, has many negative implications from a privacy perspective.

4. Secure networks aren’t guaranteed

Another challenge you’re likely facing is the fact that you can’t control the networks your employees use.

This means that if they’re working on an unsecured WiFi network, for example, they may be vulnerable to attacks that allow the bad actor to gain access to sensitive information—including passwords, key identifiers (like social security numbers), and company data. 

How to address privacy risks created by hybrid work

Thankfully, there are steps your organization can take to mitigate the privacy risks introduced by hybrid work. Here are a few ways you can get started: 

1. Invest in educating your employees

The first step is to make your workforce aware of privacy issues. As we mentioned before, most people aren’t aware of the risks that come with working outside of the office. By simply raising visibility about the potential risks, your employees can adjust their behaviors accordingly. 

How exactly do you educate your employees about this topic? There are a variety of tactics you can turn to, such as:

• A mandatory in-person or virtual security training session.
• A question and answer session with the IT team. 
• Printed and digital materials that share guidelines on how employees can protect themselves from cyber attacks in public settings. 
• Email or Slack reminders that contain helpful tips on how to maintain privacy outside of the office.

2. Craft comprehensive (but realistic) policies

Education is a great start. But we encourage companies to take things one step further by crafting an actual policy around privacy.

The benefit of crafting a company policy is that it creates clear guidelines and expectations for your employees. This makes it much more likely that people will actually follow what you propose. Your policy should cover: 

• The company’s expectations for employees when doing work outside of the office.
• The technologies, software, or tools that everyone is expected to use or have downloaded on their devices. 
• Guidelines on how to take precautions in public workspaces.
• What to do if someone experiences a breach, attack, or leak. 
• Who to turn to with privacy-related questions, concerns, or incidences.

However, remember to keep your policies reasonable. It’s not realistic, for example, to ask employees to always keep their laptops with them while they’re at home. Or to demand that employees never work out of a coffee shop or co-working space. 

While these rules would certainly mitigate the risk of a cyberattack, they’re unrealistic and won’t be followed by the majority of your workforce. 

3. Provide all laptops with privacy filters

Even though you can’t control the environment your employees work in, you can still offer some forms of protection.

If you’re concerned about visual security, for instance, provide everyone with a privacy filter for their laptops. These filters blacken out the angled view of onlookers, while providing an undisturbed viewing experience for the person using the device.

Similarly, you can make sure that all company-provided laptops have the proper software pre-installed on them so you don’t have to put that burden on employees. 

These small investments can give you more peace of mind about potential security issues. 

4. Introduce the right technologies

According to the same Ponemon study, IT managers believe these five technologies are the most effective for protecting privacy and security in a remote or hybrid work environment: 

• Incident response platforms. This is software that guides, assists and automates incident response. So if there’s a security incident, this technology will help your IT team collect all the necessary information, identify trends, and find a solution to the problem. 
• Anti-virus/anti-malware software. This type of program helps prevent, detect, and protect IT systems and individual computers from malicious software, which is also referred to as malware. 
• Big data analytics for cybersecurity. This technology helps your IT team collect, visualize, and analyze data to predict and prepare for potential cyber attacks. 
• Identity management and authentication. This is a common tool  that’s used to authenticate the identity of a person so they can have access to your company’s applications, systems, and networks.
• Intrusion detection and prevention systems. This software monitors the events occurring in your network for signs of possible incidents, violations, or imminent threats to your security policies—and stops the detected incidents when they occur.

Tip: In addition to your tool stack, try Krisp noise cancelling app. It acts as an online meeting insurance, protecting you and your team from distracting background noise.

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Having these various technologies in place can help your company keep your network access secure, detect possible threats, and handle security incidents more smoothly. 

Mitigate your cybersecurity risk by introducing these changes today

You don’t have to sacrifice the benefits of hybrid work out of fear of cybersecurity issues. By taking a few steps in the right direction, you can significantly minimize the chances of any breaches, leaks, or attacks.

If you’re curious to learn more about other tools that can support your transition to hybrid work, check out our article about the must-have tools for hybrid teams. 

The post Privacy in the World of Hybrid Work. What Does it Mean? appeared first on Krisp.

What is Agile methodology?

Before we define the term Scrum, it’s important to understand what Agile methodology is first. 

Agile methodology is an approach to project management. You’ll also hear about it in the context of software development. With Agile, teams work in short cycles that are often referred to as sprints. The goal is to take an iterative, collaborative approach in order to deliver the most value to the customer in the shortest time possible. 

But you might be wondering how this is different from other methodologies. Doesn’t every team follow this approach? While Agile is very popular, it’s not the only option available to organizations. 

For instance, with the Waterfall Method, you create and follow a sequential plan that’s made up of multiple phases. For example, you may have analysis, research, design, and testing phases. Each phase must be completely wrapped up before moving on to the next one. 

Understanding the basics of Scrum

Now that we’ve established the differences between the methodologies, let’s define what Scrum is. Scrum is one of many types of agile methodology. Other examples include Kanban, Extreme Programming, and Crystal. According to The Scrum Guide: 

“Scrum is a lightweight framework that helps people, teams and organizations generate value through adaptive solutions for complex problems.”

It’s also important to understand the three pillars that Scrum operates on, which are: 

1. Transparency

With Scrum, transparency is vital. And it’s not just about having high visibility within the team—it’s about making the work visible to all stakeholders of the project. A lack of transparency may lead to poor decisions, diminished value, and increased risk. 

2. Inspection

Scrum also operates on frequent check-ins, or inspections. The purpose of this is to detect potential problems early on and give the team a chance to iterate as needed. That’s why Scrum has four meeting types, which are crucial to this project management approach. We’ll discuss these more later in the post. 

3. Adaptation

Finally, adaptation is key to any teams that use Scrum. Unlike other frameworks that commit you to a specific path from start to finish, Scrum is all about adjusting as you go. So if a process isn’t working or the resulting product fails to achieve its goal, the team has to make adjustments as needed. 

The pros and cons of Scrum

Like any other framework, Scrum has its strengths and weaknesses. If you’re trying to evaluate whether Scrum is the right approach for your team, check out this list of pros and cons first:

Pros

• Helps teams complete projects quickly and efficiently
• Creates more visibility for key stakeholders
• Saves time, money, and resources 
• Leads to a more collaborative, feedback-focused process 
• Great option for both in-person and remote teams 
• Can reduce the chances of significant mistakes

Cons

• Deadlines may be more uncertain 
• Disagreements among stakeholders can slow down the process
• More meetings 
• Challenging to implement with larger teams
• Highly dependent on the skill level and commitment of individual team members

Now that we understand the basics of Scrum, let’s explore one of the most critical aspects of this framework: the various meeting types. 

What are the 4 Scrum meeting types? 

Meetings are one of the most important features of Scrum. These checkpoints—which can be in-person or remote—are essential to the collaborative, iterative process that defines this Agile methodology. Here are the five types of meetings to be aware of: 

1. Sprint planning meeting

Time required: A maximum of eight hours for a one-month sprint, but less for shorter sprints

The Scrum framework uses sprints to define the start and end of its projects. These sprints can be anywhere from one to four weeks. The planning meeting kicks off the beginning of a sprint and lays out all the work needed for the project. During this meeting, the team should be able to answer the following questions: 

• Why is this sprint valuable?
• What can we accomplish during this sprint?
• What does success look like (for all stakeholders) at the end of this sprint? 
• How will we complete the work that needs to be done during this sprint?
• Who will be responsible for what during the sprint? 

2. Daily standups

Time required: A maximum of 15 minutes per day 

The purpose of daily standups is to check in on progress toward the goal. Daily Scrum meetings are valuable because they improve team communication, identify issues early on, promote quick decision-making, and potentially eliminate the need for other meetings. 

Typically, each team member shares a brief update of what they’re working on, how things are going, and the obstacles they’re facing. These standups also provide an excellent opportunity to problem-solve with the rest of the team. 

For instance, let’s say one of your team members is struggling with an obstacle and shares their dilemma during the meeting. You dealt with the exact same problem the week before and figured out a simple solution. So you offer to walk your colleague through the steps to unblock them. This saves your teammate a ton of time and keeps the project moving forward smoothly.

3. Sprint review meeting

Time required: A maximum of four hours for a one-month sprint, but less for shorter sprints

At the sprint review meeting, all the stakeholders get together to share the results of their work. Rather than presenting the outcomes, this type of Scrum meeting will benefit more as a working session or an open conversation. This creates the right environment to share feedback and discuss potential changes. Here are some phrases you can use during the sprint review to make suggestions to your teammates in a helpful way: 

• “What are your thoughts on approaching the problem this way?” 
• “Have you considered this particular edge case that could occur?” 
• “I really like how this turned out and think it could be improved even more with this addition. What do you think?” 

4. Sprint retrospective meeting

Time required: A maximum of three hours for a one-month sprint, but less for shorter sprints

The last type of Scrum meeting is the sprint retrospective. Think of this as a postmortem. The goal is to inspect the project outcomes and discuss what can improve for future sprints—whether in terms of individual work, processes, tools, or even communication. During this Scrum meeting, everyone should: 

• Review what went well and what didn’t 
• Share feedback about their overall experience with the sprint
• Identify potential solutions to the problems that were identified
• Discuss ways to incorporate changes to the next sprint 

The retrospective is critical because it helps you continually improve their project management approach—allowing teams to become more efficient, collaborative, and in tune with one another moving forward. 

5 tips to have more productive Scrum meetings

Regardless of the type of Scrum meeting, there are best practices you can follow to get the most out of your time with your teammates. Here are five of our best tips to improve productivity during your meetings: 

1. Respect the time allocation

Scrum is about efficiency. Even though there are frequent meetings, the goal isn’t to drag them out for as long as possible—it’s about using the time wisely for their intended purpose. So if your standup meetings are limited to 15 minutes, respect that timeframe. It’ll keep everything running smoothly and minimize frustration from team members. 

2. Have an agenda

On a similar note, it may help to go into some of your Scrum meetings with an agenda, which outlines the goal, topics of discussion, and action items. This will help keep the conversation on track and serve as a North Star to refocus the meeting. If people raise topics that don’t align with the agenda, they can find additional time outside of the meeting to discuss them with the appropriate stakeholders. 

3. Be open minded

Since Scrum is all about taking an iterative approach to project management, all the meeting types leave room for feedback. Knowing this, it’s essential to go into these conversations with an open mind. Try not to take it personally when someone suggests improvements to your ideas. And be receptive to learning new ways to approach a problem.

If you find yourself getting frustrated or offended during a meeting, take a deep breath and shift your mindset to one of curiosity rather than judgment. Remember: the goal is to choose the process, tools, and approach that will lead to the best outcomes. 

4. Use the right tools

When you’re trying to maximize efficiency as a remote team, the last thing you want is to run into technological issues. That’s why it’s critical to choose the right tools, depending on the type of Scrum meeting you’re having.

For instance, if you’re looking for a daily standup tool, consider a noise-cancelling software like Krisp. By using artificial intelligence, our product removes unwanted sounds from both sides of a call, creating a smoother meeting experience. You can also use tools like Slack to share virtual updates if there are days when everyone is heads down or pressed for time.

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5. Change it up

Some Scrum meeting types, such as the daily standup, can get old after a while and cause people to lose interest. So don’t be afraid to change things up occasionally! Change up the order of who speaks, start with a quick virtual icebreaker, or even have everyone physically stand up when sharing their updates. These small changes can help your teammates feel more engaged and attentive during the meetings. 

Incorporate the Scrum meeting types into your next project

Now that you’re familiar with Scrum and the different meeting types, you’re ready to start implementing the framework with your own team!

While there are tons of different ways to approach project management, there’s a reason why Scrum is one of the most popular methods out there. Use this agile methodology to get your project deliverables done more efficiently and with better outcomes—for both the team and your customers. 

If you want to enhance the quality of your virtual Scrum meetings, request a demo of Krisp. We’d love to hear from you. 

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The post What are the 4 Scrum Meeting Types? Explained for Remote Teams appeared first on Krisp.

What are virtual teams? 

Hybrid. Remote. In-office. As we transitioned to different models of work during the pandemic, we’ve seen many new terms emerge. But these words can be confusing—and the definitions tend to vary from company to company. 

So before we get started, we want to clearly define what we mean by virtual teams. 

Virtual teams are typically made up of individuals who either work remotely or in different geographical locations. The most defining characteristic of virtual teams is that they work entirely through online platforms—whether that’s Zoom, Slack, or Asana (or all of the above!)

So while remote teams can also be virtual teams, both terms are different from hybrid teams, which refers to a model where some employees work in the office. 

The challenges that come with leading virtual teams

Of course, there are difficulties that come with any leadership position. But virtual teams present unique challenges—and being aware of them can help you better understand how to overcome them. 

Less visibility

One of the biggest challenges with virtual teams is the lack of visibility. When you work in an office, you have the advantage of seeing your team members on a day-to-day basis. This means you can drop by their desk to see what they’re working on. Or notice when they’re stressed out. But in a virtual setting, these signals become harder to see. 

Fewer opportunities for connection

When working together in person, there are more organic opportunities to connect. Whether it’s eating lunch together or catching up while grabbing a snack from the kitchen, it’s much easier to build relationships with your colleagues when you’re physically together. But in a virtual setting, building connection needs to be approached more intentionally. 

Different time zones

If your team is geographically dispersed, you may run into logistical challenges. How do you find a meeting time that works for everyone? What are the rules for communicating when some team members are working, while others are offline? These are the types of questions you need to think about as the leader of a virtual team. 

12 tips to improve the way you lead virtual teams

1. Clarify expectations around communication

When teams aren’t physically together, clarity becomes even more essential—especially when it comes to communication.

Your employees don’t have the benefit of clearing up misunderstandings face-to-face or reading each other’s body language, so you need to establish clear expectations when it comes to communication. We encourage virtual teams to create a document that answers questions, such as: 

• When is the ideal time to schedule team meetings?
• What is the purpose of each communication channel (Slack, email, etc.), and when should each one be used?
• What are the etiquette guidelines for communicating with team members in different time zones? 

2. Check in frequently

As we mentioned before, visibility is much lower on virtual teams. That’s why it’s critical that you, as the team leader, find time to check in with each of your team members regularly. The purpose of these check-ins is to understand how your employees are doing—both professionally and personally. 

So try to go beyond the transactional status update. Check in on how your direct reports are feeling about their workload. Ask questions about their hobbies. Invite them to an open conversation about their mental, emotional, and physical health.

3. Invest in the right tools

Using the right technology is vital when it comes to leading virtual teams. While every team’s needs will look different, we encourage most organizations to invest in leadership tools, online meeting apps, and noise cancelling software like Krisp. These technologies can improve processes that your virtual team relies on every day—whether that’s daily standups or performance reviews. 

4. Sync with company leadership 

Part of your job as a team leader is to bridge the gap between your employees and the leadership team. This means that you need to find time to sync with the company executives to see if any significant announcements are coming down the pipeline. 

By communicating these high-level updates with your team, you ensure that your employees feel connected to the rest of the organization. It’s also a great way to build trust and show your team members that you’re committed to being transparent with them. 

5. Plan virtual activities 

Connection is hard when you’re not physically together. But thanks to advances in technology, there are tons of ways to bond with your teammates virtually. If you’re not sure where to start, here are a few ideas: 

• Try virtual icebreakers before the start of team meetings to help everyone relax.
• Use an app like Donut to schedule virtual coffee dates with team members. 
• Schedule virtual watercooler activities, such as trivia nights and escape rooms.

6. Host “office hours” 

Another way to make yourself more visible and accessible to your team is to host office hours. This is a time that you block off your schedule to make yourself available to your employees—whether that’s to talk through problems, answer questions, or simply check in. 

To get started, find a time in your schedule when most of your employees are available and mark it on your calendar as “office hours.” Let your team members know that this slot is available and encourage them to reach out. 

7. Give your team members autonomy

When you lead a virtual team, you have to accept that you won’t see, hear, and know about everything going on with your employees. And that’s OK.

Instead of trying to control every moving piece, give your employees autonomy. Trust them to make the right decisions and meet their deadlines. Not only will this make your life easier, but research also shows that autonomy drives motivation, performance, and well-being. 

8. Track progress 

Even though we encourage you to give your team members autonomy, you can still find ways to promote accountability. One of the best ways to do this is to track progress on different projects in a shared platform or document. 

With this approach, you can ask your employees to regularly post updates on their progress—allowing everyone else on the team to see what they’re working on and how the project is going. Creating this type of visibility will improve productivity and collaboration on virtual teams. 

9. Encourage feedback 

No leader is perfect. And it’s totally normal to make mistakes—especially if you’re leading a virtual team for the first time. But the good news is that these mistakes present fantastic opportunities to receive feedback on what you can do better. Here are a few ways to elicit constructive feedback from your virtual team: 

• Ask during your one-on-one conversations. During your next check-in, ask your direct reports to share feedback on how you’re doing as a team leader. What would they want you to change? How do they feel about your communication style? Are there any processes that aren’t working? These questions may be challenging for employees to answer on the spot, so give them time to process and share when they’re ready. 
• Send out an anonymous survey. Many of your team members may feel uncomfortable sharing constructive criticism with you directly. In this case, send out a survey that allows everyone to answer questions anonymously. This relieves any stress for your employees and ensures you receive honest responses. 
• Use 360 reviews. Another option is to request a 360 performance review. With this approach, your boss collects feedback from your colleagues and your direct reports so you fully understand your performance. 

10. Create opportunities for in-person interactions

Even virtual teams need opportunities for in-person interactions. When it’s safe to do so, consider planning a team retreat to give everyone the chance to meet each other.

During these gatherings, you can schedule fun activities—whether that’s playing mini-golf or enjoying a nice dinner together—and also block off time for brainstorming, planning, and coworking. You’ll be surprised to see how much a few days of in-person time can strengthen your team’s relationships!

11. Recognize your top performers 

Another critical aspect of leading virtual teams is recognition. You want your high-performing employees to know that you see and value the work they’re doing every day. And the best way to accomplish this is through recognition. 

Recognition comes in many forms. It can be verbal, experiential, or monetary. Casual or formal. Big or small. Regardless of the type of recognition you share, make sure it follows the following criteria: 

• Timely. When an employee does fantastic work, they should receive praise immediately. If you wait too long, the impact of the recognition fades away. And your direct report may become resentful because their contributions aren’t recognized in a timely manner. 
• Personalized. You also want to recognize your employees in a way that’s meaningful to them. For instance, if you have a team member who cherishes one-on-one time, take them out to a nice lunch with just you. Or if you know they want to spend more time with their family, give them an all-expenses-paid getaway for the weekend. 
• Aligns with the contribution. Finally, the type of recognition you give should align with the level of contribution. When an employee does a great job on a project, it’s definitely worth giving a shoutout and possibly a gift card to their favorite coffee shop. But an employee who takes on extra work and goes above-and-beyond expectations may deserve a more substantial reward.

12. Set a good example 

Finally, one of your most important roles as a team leader is making sure your virtual team is taking care of their well-being. Burnout is incredibly common for people who work from home. When the lines between work and home are so blurred, it can be challenging to know when and how to unplug. 

For this reason, leaders of virtual teams need to set an example. Instead of sending emails late at night, log off at 5 pm and encourage your employees to do the same. Block off an hour on your calendar every day to work out or cook yourself a nice lunch. And, after an intensive project, give your team a collective day off to recharge. 

It’s time to take your virtual team to the next level 

It’s no easy task to lead a virtual team. Between the logistical challenges and the absence of in-person interactions, it takes a lot of work to ensure your team is productive, collaborative, and well-run. But by using the recommendations we outlined in this post, you can take your leadership to the next level and help your virtual team members maximize their potential. 

If you’re curious to learn more ways to increase collaboration among your employees, check out our article on how to improve team communication.

The post Leading a Virtual Team for the First Time? Here are 12 Tips to Help appeared first on Krisp.

Navigating communication in this type of environment is tricky but, with the right approach, totally doable. In this blog post, we’ll explore recommendations to help your employees communicate more effectively in the workplace. 

What does effective communication look like in the workplace? 

Before we dive in, let’s define exactly what effective communication is. 

Effective communication is the process of conveying information from one party to another in an efficient way—and it’s something that should happen across all job levels, roles, and teams. To illustrate what effective communication looks like in the workplace, let’s look at a few examples. 

Example 1: Ineffective communication 

Imagine you’re on a team working toward a major product launch. Unfortunately, the process has been chaotic.

You’re not sure what other people are working on, which has led to duplicate efforts and wasted resources. New team members feel lost because there’s no formal documentation process for the project. And the project lead keeps scheduling long meetings to discuss updates, which eats into your work time. 

Ultimately, the deadline ends up being pushed back multiple times. These are all symptoms of poor, ineffective communication. 

Example 2: Effective communication

Now let’s imagine you’re on a different team working on a product launch.

Everyone shares quick, daily updates on Slack, so you know what people are working on. There’s also a shared document where people write detailed notes, making it easy to onboard new team members. And communication is divided between emails, messages, and meetings—depending on which format makes sense.

This is a team with effective communication. 

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The benefits of effective communication in the workplace

Improving the way people communicate in the workplace helps everyone—regardless of whether you’re a CEO or an entry-level employee. Here are a few of the benefits of effective communication: 

Better collaboration

When everyone’s communication is aligned, you’ll see better teamwork and collaboration across the company. This, in turn, will lead to improved individual, team, and organizational performance. How? Effective communication helps employees manage conflicts and creates an environment that’s more conducive to innovation. 

Cost savings

Effective communication also leads to saved time, money, and resources. Ineffective communication, on the other hand, will cost you. Author and communications consultant David Grossman found that communication barriers in the workplace cost companies $62.4 million per year.

Stronger company culture

Communication builds trust within organizations. When employees feel that open, two-way conversations are happening—whether it’s between colleagues or with the leadership team—relationships get stronger. This creates a positive company culture that people want to be part of. 

10 helpful tips for communicating more effectively in the workplace

You might be wondering: isn’t communication a natural byproduct of working at an organization? Why do I need to change what I’m doing right now?

While communication does happen organically in the workplace, it can improve with a bit of effort—just like any other skill. Here are 10 tips to help everyone at your company communicate more effectively, regardless of whether your teams are remote, hybrid, or in-person.  

1. Diversify your channels

Don’t put all your eggs in one basket when it comes to communication. In other words, diversify the channels you communicate through. The reason is that some formats work better for certain types of messages.

For instance, Slack tends to be the most effective platform for asking quick questions or sharing information with a large group. But an in-person meeting or video conferencing call may make more sense for topics that require a lengthy discussion. 

Taking a more varied approach also ensures that your communication reaches all your employees—including those who work from home or live in different time zones. 

2. Establish communication guidelines 

It can be overwhelming for employees to navigate how to communicate with the people they work with—especially when they first join your organization. To help, create communication guidelines for your team that outline basic communication etiquette. This guide can answer questions like: 

• Does the team have regular syncs? If so, what is the purpose of each one? 
• How frequently do managers and direct reports have one-on-one conversations? 
• Which Slack channels should team members be part of, and what is the purpose of each one? 
• What’s the best way to share minor project updates? How about major announcements?  

This clarifies how, when, and why the team communicates in certain ways. Taking this extra step ensures that everyone is on the same page.

3. Document, document, document

Nobody has a perfect memory. We all occasionally forget about a task we’ve been assigned or misremember things we’ve discussed. That’s why it’s critical to create as much documentation as possible. If you’re not sure when or how to do this, here are a few ideas: 

• Meetings. A lot happens during meetings. So make sure someone is taking notes, and have the point person circulate them to the rest of the afterward. This is a helpful practice that lets everyone review the highlights from the meeting. 
• Projects. Keep detailed records for every project—whether that’s through your team collaboration software or in a shared document. With this approach, everyone knows how the project progresses and can refer to these notes when needed. 
• One-on-one conversations. Having an agenda can keep your conversation on track and also documents the talking points from the meeting. This allows both the manager and the direct report to review what they talked about during their last check-in.  

4. Learn your colleagues’ preferences 

You can significantly improve team communication by learning the different preferences of your colleagues. Some people may be more responsive to a Slack message, while others prefer a quick call. Understanding the different communication styles of your teammates can make the process of exchanging information much more effective. 

The best way to find out the preferences of your colleagues is to ask. Let them know you want to find the most effective way to communicate with them. Or, if you prefer, observe and take note of which channels people tend to be the most active in. 

5. Build your listening skills 

There’s a huge difference between hearing and listening. The former is a passive process, while the latter is active. When you don’t practice active listening, it’s easy for messages to get lost in translation or misunderstood.

To avoid this, invest in building your listening skills. You can receive leadership coaching, read relevant books, or even take courses to help you develop this ability. And don’t be afraid to ask your teammates for feedback—they may be able to share insights that help you become a better listener. 

6. Create a culture of feedback 

It’s challenging for two people to align perfectly with their communication styles—let alone an entire team or organization. That’s why feedback is an essential part of improving effective communication in the workplace. 

If your manager leads a meeting that feels inefficient, gently let them know and make suggestions for improvement. Similarly, be open to receiving feedback from others as well. By doing this, you can create a culture of feedback on your team or at your company, allowing you to improve communication across the board. 

7. Cultivate trust  

As we mentioned before, communication builds trust. But it goes the other way too. To communicate effectively with others, you have to trust the people you work with. Trust allows you to speak openly and honestly with each other, while making it more comfortable to share feedback when it’s necessary. 

Of course, building trust isn’t an overnight endeavor. But there are small things you can do to strengthen your relationships with your coworkers: 

• Get to know your colleagues better. Take the time to get to know your colleagues beyond the work setting. What are their hobbies? How do they like to spend their time? Who are the most important people in their lives? Getting to a more personal level with your teammates—whether that’s through virtual water cooler activities or in-person coffee dates—can deepen your relationship and cultivate more trust. 
• Keep your promises. When your team knows they can rely on you, they’re more likely to trust you. So always meet your deadlines, let people know what you’re working on, and be transparent. 
• Be helpful. Another great way to build trust with your teammates is to find ways to support them. For instance, if you know a colleague is struggling to meet a deadline, offer to take something off their plate. This demonstrates that you have their back and want to see them succeed in their role. 

8. Use the right tools  

In today’s world of work, tools are critical to facilitating communication. In fact, the McKinsey Global Institute found that using social tools can enhance communications, knowledge sharing, and collaboration. Specifically, they estimate that these technologies can raise the productivity of workers by as much as 25%. 

But what types of tools should you invest in? The good news is that there are tons to choose from! For instance, you can consider a noise-cancelling software like Krisp, which uses artificial intelligence to remove unwanted sounds from both sides of a conference call. This is a small but impactful way to make your meetings more productive.

9. Have frequent touchpoints

An essential part of communicating effectively in the workplace is having regular touchpoints. These can take the form of weekly team meetings, monthly one-on-ones, and daily standups. Having these built-in opportunities to check in with your team makes it easier to keep each other updated and creates two-way communication loops. 

10. Ask questions 

If you don’t understand something during a meeting or conversation, ask clarifying questions. By doing this, you can confirm that you’re on the same page as your teammates. It also saves time down the road since you won’t have to ask for another call or meeting. Here are some ways to phrase your follow-up questions:  

• “Can I say that back to you, just to make sure I understood you correctly?”
• “I didn’t understand this part of the project. Would you mind explaining it to me again?”
• “Could we compare notes after the meeting to make sure we’re aligned?” 

Use these tips today to see more effective communication in the workplace

Effective communication is a must when it comes to the workplace. While it takes a bit of effort to improve the way your employees communicate with each other, the benefits are well worth it. Not only will you experience improved collaboration, performance, and cost savings—but you’ll also cultivate a strong company culture that your employees will want to be part of for a long time. 

If you want to take the first step toward improving communication efforts at your organization, try Krisp. It’s free and can help you have more efficient, engaging meetings with your teammates. 

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The post 10 Tips for Effective Communication in the Workplace appeared first on Krisp.