Too Much Remote Communication Is Exhausting
Too Much Zoom?
A few weeks ago, when COVID-19 arrived and everyone was just starting to work from home, I wrote a post suggesting that the higher the consequence of being misunderstood, the more important it is to use an information rich media when you are communicating.
While I still think that this is best practice, I wonder if we are getting “Zoomed Out?”
Here’s what I mean:
It seems like everything has gone to Zoom (or Skype, Webex, Adobe Connect, etc.)
Companies are now scheduling daily Zoom meetings when they didn’t meet daily while they were still working in the office. This might be good thing, but can too much of a good thing become a bad thing?
On top of that, we now have online school and social events, plus business seminars and even multi-day conventions that have gone “virtual”, yoga classes, and anything and everything else we used to do in person.
Here’s my concern:
Using Zoom takes a lot of energy
It doesn’t happen naturally and unconsciously like in-person meetings and events.
You have to expend energy to focus and pay attention on purpose.
You have to make sure you are looking at the camera (and don’t think you look funny in some way), you have to pay conscious attention all of the time. And, of course you must to make sure you have a good background, no interruptions, etc.
And expending this energy can be physically and emotionally exhausting.
So, here’s my simple question to you: are you “zooming out?”
In what situations will a phone, conference call, email, or slack/teams conversation give the same or better results with less stress on the participants?
Do you really need to schedule that meeting?
Just something to think about!
I’m pretty sure that everyone will be grateful for one or two less Zoom meetings… and that you can get just as good or better results using a less information rich media.
Wishing you health and safety during this difficult time!
More COVID-19 Communication Resources
Now, more than ever, effective communication can impact relationships and outcomes in a positive way.
