Team meetings more interesting

[CatloverNY]

I lead a team of 15 staff.
I get on well with them however when I hold team meetings virtually they seem like zombies. Completely unengaging a like they don’t want to be there. It just ends up with me talking.
iI ask the volunteers to lead and do the ice breaker, no response.
ive tried everything. Ice breakers, asking them to give good news stories, videos, quizzes.
They are better face to face but then they work hybrid across 2 different locations so getting them all together isn’t easy. I do this once a quarter. These are generally good.
They are generally a happy team and don’t complain too often and just get on with they so are quite an apathetic bunch.
Any tips how I can get them to be more engaged ?

I think I'd go right the other way with it.

Stop with all the ice breakers and quizes. Instead some brief pleanstries and then get down to what needs to be talked about and keep it as short as possible. No one wants to be stuck in meetings just for the sake of it! If a bit of chit chat comes up naturally fair enough but don't try to force it

Or another option - can you split them into smaller teams with icebreakers (different 'rooms'). I think part of the problem is that IRL you never have a social conversation with 15 people - it always organically breaks into smaller groups, but you just can't do it on one Teams call.

Why are you having ice breakers all the time? Surely that is just for new meetings and even then they should be banned, nobody likes them. Just do the meeting and get on with it.

Do any others have things to present at the meeting? Otherwise it likely will be you talking. What is the purpose of the meeting?

So they're OK when the team meetings are in person, which is once a quarter, but not when the meetings are virtual?

How often are the virtual meetings, and what's the purpose of them? Why do you keep having ice-breakers if the meetings are so frequent? And what do you want to achieve from the meetings? Is it to get new information across to the staff (in which case just get on with it) or are you expecting them to 'bond'? If they seem disengaged then they're obviously not getting anything from the meeting, in which case what's the point and is there a better way to achieve your aim for the meeting.

No one wants any of “Ice breakers, asking them to give good news stories, videos, quizzes”. It’s boring and uncomfortable.

What is the point of the meetings? People just want to get the point snd get on with their work.

This. When my workplace stopped with all the fluff it made people more engaged as it didn’t drag on. People just got the points out and then it’s over.

When are the virtual meetings held?

Id try moving them to 10am, shortening them, getting rid of all of the ice breakers etc and focusing on the work.

You might also like to include more joint decision making, so that they are more invested in the meeting. And sometimes asking one of them to lead or present on something.

That sounds really tedious, my heart would sink at the mention of ice breakers, good news stories etc! I bet there is a lot of eye rolling off camera!

Our Teams meetings are a discussion of whatever issue the meeting relates toafter which my manager says something like "anyone upto anything nice at the weekend?" which leads to a few minutes chit chat / bonding. Job done.

Anything 'forced' like ice breakers is just an annoyance, many people switch off at the mere mention.

Regular team meetings should just be about sharing information/updates on work project.

I wish managers would stop treating staff like children and just get on with the useful stuff...

What's the purpose and goals of the meeting?

Send out a clear agenda ahead of the meeting. Avoid ice breakers and other time wasting crap.
does the meeting need to happen or could it all be covered in an email?
Ask the team for feedback.

Could the meetings be an email instead?

Agree with everyone re purposeful, focused meetings.

For the two site virtual meetings, it might be worth getting people in the same room at each site so you have two face-to-face meetings linked by teams etc. You could send refreshments to each room. People will chat over coffee before / after or connect because they are in the same space.

If the meetings are all about you giving information, think whether they should be meetings at all. Let people pitch / troubleshoot/ report by suggesting they take a slot to get feedback for things that are current concerns.

No gimmicks or ice breakers - established teams don't need them (if anyone does).

What others said - get rid of the ice breakers, shorten the meetings and make them brief and focused on things that can't be emails etc. They probably feel like you are wasting their time.

Is there a particular reason for the ice breakers and quizzes? Perhaps people just want to discuss work related issues and get back to work?

Our team meetings are: updates from the business and other announcements, upcoming training, internal jobs, then a round of what's been going on/what's planned for the next week, with an emphasis on anything that others need to know about or might have knowledge/experience they can contribute.

New people might get a couple of minutes to say hi, and a bit about their background, but otherwise, introductions are outside the meeting.

We did have quizzes back during lockdown, to allow some social contact, but they were entirely optional.

I agree. Ice breakers are for meetings where people don’t know each other and even then they’re cringeworthy. Your team members are silently telling you that they don’t like your meetings!
Keep it businesslike and brief. Have an agenda, get through it, then say thank you and goodbye. Make it clear in advance when you will be expecting specific people to contribute or give updates. Ask people to speak about aspects of their recent work. No forced chat about news stories. Your team are likely to respond much better.

rotating the chair always helped with my meetings as it meant I as head of dept could engage with junior staff to finalise the meetings and it makes staff know you’re listening to them and also helps their confidence with speaking up in meetings. I always covered the messaging coming from the top so no one was blindsided with what snr managements focus was. We also would cover a lessons learned in project teams. The Christmas we’d have a special holiday based team meeting celebrating achievements over the year and saved the quizzes and photos for that . Good luck!

We are going through a period of significant change.
i get it about the ice breakers but was trying to get them talking.
ive asked for feedback but they just say they are ok.
i hold meetings once a month.
ive moved to a weekly check in whilst we have this significant period of change.
Like I said they are an apathetic bunch they get on well and are lovely face to face
i will have a rethink and reproach for my next one.
Thanks all for the feedback. Maybe I’ve been trying too hard.

If the goal of the meetings is to check that individuals are coping with significant change then one-on-one chats would likely be much more revealing and honest than group meetings.

If it’s a check in, you could have it as a drop in session. Let the team know you’ll be there to talk to anyone that has anything to raise, but don’t require attendance.

if you find that people are separately raising the same thing, make a note then once a month have a required attendance call where you work through the list of common questions or send an FAQ email to the whole team

It sounds like a very disengaging meeting op. Ice breakers need to disappear. Anything else can be spoken about outside of the meeting and more relaxed. Concentrate on the work element and be done with it. I’m

15 is quite a large number to try and have an interactive conversation on a team call. To be honest, it's probably even a large number to have a conversation in a face to face meeting. People aren't likely to volunteer in such a large meeting, especially in a virtual meeting. This will be even worse if they don't all know each other personally.

Keep it brief and business like. If you do need a contribution from someone, ask someone directly by name.

Maybe it helps to change the communication format. I gave up on boring slides and started making interactive videos with Dadan (https://appsumo.com/products/m/dadan/). You can add questions or polls directly into the video and then discuss the results during the call. People join the meeting with a completely different energy.