Hi there,
We’ve all been on that call.
The video call where a colleague is sharing important updates from their team… and they keep sharing… and sharing… and sharing.
All of a sudden you realize it’s been 12 minutes.
And they’re still going!
And you have so many questions. 🤯
You already forgot half of them…
⚡ Supercharge of the Week
Remote Octopus recommends intentionally pausing for questions during cross-functional video calls — no matter the size of the conversation. Pausing for questions is equally important in a 1:1 or with 100 people in the virtual room.
Why?
Creating pauses for questions will transform our video calls into meaningful conversations and foster a collaborative environment that benefits everyone involved. Questions keep everyone on the call engaged, and they pave the way for a more interactive discussion.
💰 Plus this strategy can save the company a lot of money. Cross-functional video calls are best leveraged for collaborative discussions. Those 12-minute updates taking over your meetings? They should be shared in advance through email or Slack with the meeting time focused on interactive team discussion and engagement.
Back of Envelope Math: A video call takes 1 hour. 8 people attend. The entire hour is 4 people giving 15 minute updates each with no pause for questions. If each of those 8 people have an average salary of $150k annually, and they work full-time averaging 2,080 hours per year – then an hour of their time is roughly $72 each. So for all 8 people to attend, that meeting will cost almost $600… and everyone will walk away confused with lingering questions that take up additional staff time in Slack.
It helps to consider, why do our colleagues ramble?
Lots of reasons. But an underestimated cause is the anxiety that comes from public speaking – yes, speaking on Zoom counts. Fear of public speaking impacts an estimated 75% of adults. Sometimes, we’re so nervous that we don’t realize we’ve been rambling for 12 minutes!
Let’s bring awareness to how we’re asking and answering questions with our colleagues. A small step forward in the complex world of public speaking.
FIRST
Identify an upcoming cross-functional conversation that might benefit from testing & modeling this question strategy. It’s likely a conversation where you have a lengthy update on a key project. You might be leading this call or not, but you are a speaker. Now consider how you will approach questions during your section. A few common strategies are:
Multiple Pauses: You might pause every few minutes to check in if anyone has questions.
Middle & End Pause: You might pause in the middle of your update and again at the end if anyone has any questions.
Hand Raise or Chat: You might leverage the hand raise or chat feature for a colleague to raise their hand when they have a question, even if you’re still talking.
NEXT
Consider your update… What could be shared in advance with the team via Slack or email? Drop anything you identify in Slack or email at least 24 hours in advance of the conversation.
This will ensure your update is shorter with more time to focus on collaborative questions and dialogue.
THEN
It’s call time!
⚡️ Four key actions:
At the start of your update, share with the team how you will approach your question strategy.
While you’re speaking, practice clock awareness. Keep an eye on how long you’ve been speaking and try to pause every few minutes for questions – or however best aligns with your identified question strategy.
When you pause for questions the first time, remind the team of how to engage such as taking themselves off mute, leveraging the chat, or using the hand raise feature. Consider that some colleagues might have accessibility accommodations in place for video calls.
After you ask for questions, allow wait time. Pause 3-5 seconds before moving on. 3-5 seconds of silence. This might feel long – but it’s key in fostering a collaborative environment.
Example in Action
Hi everyone! Excited to share updates today on Project X. I dropped key data in Slack this past Monday for the team to review, and on today’s call I’ll add in additional context. There’s about 5 minutes of updates. I’ll pause for questions in the middle and at the end again.
[sharing updates here then noticing it’s been about about 3 minutes]
Let’s take a pause for questions. Anyone wondering anything? Feel free to take yourself off mute and ask or drop it in the chat if easier.
[3-5 seconds wait time]
No questions yet? Awesome, I’ll check in again at the end in a few minutes. Picking up where we left off…
FINALLY
Answer your colleagues’ questions!
If questions are running long, you might share:
It’s exciting to hear all of these questions about our strategy for this year! In the interest of time, I’m going to keep us moving forward in our agenda, but we can continue this discussion during next week’s call. In the meantime, feel free to Slack me with questions.
If you test out this question strategy and notice improved collaboration and engagement on cross-functional calls, drop a note to your team in Slack or chat about its impact on your next team call. The more colleagues modeling this strategy the better.
As you continue to model pausing to ask questions during cross-functional video calls, you’ll be surprised at how many colleagues start to pause for questions as well… and hopefully none of us will get stuck on that call again.
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