No one enjoys a meandering conference call or a disorganized video meeting. As the facilitator, it’s your job to keep things focused and moving forward. If the group is silent, you don’t know whether they’re listening intently or confused, so pause and ask a question: “Are you all with me so far?” If someone on the call goes off on a tangent, you can recapture everyone’s attention by noting the digression and getting back to your agenda: “Let’s table this point for a moment. I want to return to the comment earlier about the methodological problems we’re facing. Anyone have a response to that?” When one person gets hung up and keeps reiterating a point, acknowledge their feelings, but challenge them to come up with a resolution: “You seem concerned about this decision. What do you think we haven’t addressed?” And when you catch someone multitasking, refocus their attention by calling on them directly: “Sayid, can you chime in here?”
Adapted from Running Virtual Meetings (HBR 20-Minute Manager Series)
