First things first: Zoom calls are great — with amazing utility and usefulness.
As a means of bringing teams together virtually as COVID continues to hinder in-office meetings, Zoom is the most revolutionary technological tool to be developed and widely embraced through this pandemic period.
But the Zoom format is significantly over-utilized — and just one tool in the intra-team communications toolbox.
With “time” being the most precious resource of the business day, Zoom engagements have become cumbersome, excessively bureaucratic and just too long — often dragging on for an hour or more.
And some participants waste time dressing up, and perfecting their video backdrop. Why wouldn’t they? No one wants to convey that “just rolled out of bed” look and a lame-appearing, under-equipped home office environment.
In a majority of instances, a quick exchange of key real-time information and Q and A among the lead strategists, content creators and others essential to moving the ball down the field is all that’s required.
The solution: the good old-fashioned voice conference call — 15 efficiently-managed minutes where all that matters are thoughts and ideas, with no visual component to distract and delay meeting closure.
For any thirty day block of time involving fast-moving real-time projects, one or two Zoom calls interspersed with six to eight 15 minute voice calls is optimal to boosting efficiency.
The ‘old way’ isn’t always the wrong way — especially when time is at stake.