Prepare for inclusive hybrid team meetings

- When my team first went remote, we, like many of you, scrambled those first few weeks, but we eventually figured out remote meetings. Then some people, but not all, started working in the office. And we didn't give our first hybrid meeting all that much thought. That was a big mistake. It was a train wreck that harmed our team's trust. Avoid our mistakes by preparing thoughtfully for your hybrid meetings. If you are an attendee, ask the planner if you can help with any of these actions. Include the physical meeting room location and the virtual link in the invitation. Send the agenda in advance of the meeting and in your agenda, include a reminder of your inclusive meeting practices. For example, you might remind people to balance talk time by using a "three, then me" guideline. Encourage people to wait for three different people to speak before they talk again. Or use the agenda to assign a gatekeeper, someone who will notice imbalances in turn taking and say things like, "Hey, Brenda, "could you hold that thought for just a second? "I'm curious to see if Tito has something to add." Another great practice that you could include in the agenda is keeping cameras on whenever possible so that teammates can attune to how others feel based on their nonverbal cues. Your attendees can now find the meeting and know what to expect. Let's make sure they have a great experience when they arrive. Test run the technology set up with someone in the room and someone online. People who are remote should be able to see all the same things as those in the room, faces, projected decks, handouts, flip charts. We also want to consider what people on site can see. Project the images of the remote attendees onto large screens. Consultants Bob Frisch and Cary Greene found that large images help the in-person attendees remember to include the remote colleagues. Remote participants need to not only see everything, they need to be able to participate. Engage remote teammates in all of the same activities as those on site. Consider using phone-based survey tools to collect opinions in real time. If you use whiteboards, be sure remote attendees can see what people write before adding their own thoughts to an electronic whiteboard. If food is provided for the people on site, offer to have lunches delivered to the offsite attendees, as well. One thing I missed most about onsite meetings is being able to lean over and quietly ask someone next to me a question, but you can replicate even that experience by having each remote participant choose an in-room avatar, someone on site who through text or instant message is constantly available to the remote attendee. Finally, to make our hybrid meetings inclusive, avoid comments that could be seen as judgemental of the remote workers. For example, instead of focusing on what is missing, something like, "Ah, we'd love to see you more "around the office," focus on the interaction that you do have. "Thanks for hopping on that call with me last week." Think equity at every turn and your hybrid team can be trusting and amazing.