So much nuance and personal interaction lost in TEAMs meetings?

[mids2019]

So at work so many meetings are now done remotely a lot of the time for efficiency.

I find the lack of being physically present in a room with someone means communication loses a lot personally. I don't think you can pick up on body language or subtle verbal queues which to my mind are important for communication. I find contentious meetings can really be challenging if you have someone making a point and there is an in internet disruption and you can have a huge amount of anxiety dealing with connection issues when a meeting is important. The fact that meetings can easily be recorded makes many people guarded and light quips can call really flat. We then come to the etiquette of having a camera off and whether that is acceptable .

Remote meetings have vastly increased efficiency in the work place but at a cost of missing out of a lot of the nuance of humans meeting e.g. side conversations, ability to immediately address points personally after a meeting etc.

What do you think?

I love Teams but FFS can we please put cameras on.
Without it's like speaking to people through a toilet cubicle wall - just weird.
And if you end up the only one on camera - extra weird and awkward 😂

I disagree. I interact with colleagues all day on teams both in large and small groups and 121. In big teams fine, maybe but for one on one and small groups it works really well and I don't miss out on any of the usual interactions ( other than cuppas and the occasional hug). Jokes, laughs, debates, sharing documents, collaboration etc all possible online. You just need to bring your own biscuits.

Agree, it's also awful if you are hearing impaired.

Definitely yes to cameras on. In my work they're only off in meetings if there's a bandwidth issue with too many people on the call. Without cameras the interactions don't work.

We are always on camera, except when being there in a “listening only” capacity (some meetings i just need to see if i’m needed in the near future). But everyone who speaks/is potentially speaking is on camera.

I disagree. I find that in real life the people who complain about Teams and prefer face to face meetings are those who struggle to follow a proper business meeting etiquette. This includes proper chairing, following the agenda, letting everyone have a say, not interrupting, not hijacking conversations etc.
On Teams those rules are easier to follow and enforce and to some people this makes meetings feel less spontaneous, while in reality they are just run more professionally. You can’t easily talk over other people and dominate a discussion, as you have to wait your turn and raise your hand. Not everyone is happy to wait their turn- in face to face environment they just shout over others. I find that dominant personalities who normally take over in group discussions, struggle with this.
Recording of meetings on Teams also ensures people are forced to speak and act professionally and not everyone likes it. Again that’s just a standard etiquette but some are used to making stupid jokes, inappropriate comments or using meetings to complain about others etc. My boss has been caught slagging people off after several teams meetings when the recording was on and he didn’t realise.
I also don’t miss the nonsense small talk during face to face meetings, at least on teams it shows how cringe it actually is and people try to keep it to minimum. Time is not wasted listening to Claire and Lucy discussing their weekend plans.
In response to the comments about people having their camera off and sending emails during teams meetings, it is no different to people sitting in a boardroom with their laptop in front of them, typing while pretending to be actively engaged in a meeting. It is the meeting organiser’s responsibility to ensure only people who have something valuable to add are invited, yet we all see disengaged staff sat bored in meetings every day. It’s not different on Teams or face to face.

if you want to WFH then you’re going to have to suck up Teams meeting 🤷‍♀️

Contention should never be allowed in any group meeting. And the standard response when things do get heated is ‘take it offline’. That means taking it up with the person directly via audio or in person.

Teams only works when people switch their cameras on, prepare an agenda in advance for calls, and understand why they need a teams call over other types of meeting / an email. In far too many cases people book in Teams calls just for the sake of it.

Some meetings are about contentious issues

So will be contentious

Nah, (s)he likes starting these debate threads.

The only wonder is that his/her OPs don't end with "Discuss"

Oh interesting!

I'm 67 and retired from work before digital meetings were a thing. My youngest DC has only ever experienced Teams meetings and remote working. He only saw the benefits of WFH despite my concerns that working F2F with experienced people was beneficial from both a work / developmental pov and socially.

I recently started a voluntary role in a large organisation and had to get up to speed. 99% of meetings are on Teams and the odd one are hybrid. Hybrid being the worst of all worlds especially when you factor in hearing impairment.

I truly loathe the Teams meetings for so many reasons but I can see some positives.
Positives
It can be a good alternative to a phone call
If you are working with people you already know on a subject you are familiar with then I absolutely agree it can be a time saver.
It focusses discipline on a meeting.
Negatives
It's been a real struggle for me to get a feel for people.
Most of the time when you put your hand up, the discussion has moved on by the time it's your turn. Chat isn't always the best substitute for actually speaking. So much gets left unsaid and yet there are still some people that manage to ramble on at length dominate.
Most people have cameras on because of external participants but when cameras are off I just think it's rude and if they don't want to be there they should have declined.
I actually met some of the people F2F last week and it transforms the way you view and interact.

I think we're human and we react differently to people in the flesh compared to a pixelated image. It's hard to interject when necessary if muted (and yes it may be viewers as rude but sometimes you have to get your voice heard).

Also I think at least in my organisation TEAMs is a cost saver and people are reluctant to send people out physically to conferences and we lose out a lot on negwoekong. Sometimes those conversations in the pub do yield new ideas or at least allow relationships to be formed.

the last one i was on the notification about the text warning came through, which was interesting, to note if other people furtively looked at their phone, as i had

i find it very hard to smile on camera and i hate seeing my own face