The need for “zorms”
Kommunikations-experte KEN TAYLOR wirft einen Blick auf die Fähigkeiten und Sprachkenntnisse, die in der modernen Arbeitswelt unabdingbar sind.
Meetings on Zoom and other online tools have become commonplace during the pandemic. But it’s not always easy to hear and understand what everyone is saying if our colleagues, clients and business partners have different accents and styles of speaking. The technology doesn’t always work perfectly and there can be background interference or sound distortion. What can make things worse is if people talk over each other or don’t speak clearly. What we need to deal with these difficulties are “zorms” — simple Zoom-meeting norms.
Look at the conversation below to familiarize yourself with the kind of language you might hear when talking about problems in remote meetings. We’ve highlighted the relevant words and phrases for you.
John and Lena are colleagues. They are discussing the problems they had during their latest remote meeting.
John: Hi, Lena. I’m calling to follow up on the meeting we had with the team yesterday.
Lena: It was quite a marathon session, wasn’t it?
John: Yes, it was far too long! I can’t concentrate for very long during remote meetings.
Lena: And I find Geraldo and Danielle difficult to understand.
It’s easier when I see them face to face.
John: Geraldo does speak very quickly, doesn’t he? And when Danielle’s online, she seems to have a more pronounced accent.
Lena: And then there was that annoying buzz in the background. Perhaps we should mention this to Jackie when she sets up the next meeting.
John: Let’s ask her to keep the meetings snappier.
Lena: And suggest a few ways to improve communication.
John: Do you have any ideas off the top of your head?
Lena: I think she should briefly summarize what’s been said. It
might help to keep us all on the same page.
John: And she could ask people to speak more clearly and to
slow down a bit.
Lena: Yes, definitely. It seems so impolite to keep asking people
to repeat what they’ve just said.
John: Perhaps we should talk about how to improve things in our
next meeting.
REMEMBER!
Here are some ideas for simple “zorms” that will help to prevent misunderstandings and enable participants to make the most of their remote meetings:
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Have a timed agenda and keep meetings short. This stops concentration levels ⋅ from dropping.
Ask participants to be brief in their inputs and to be prepared to be interrupted ⋅ if they speak for too long.
Ask people to have their video turned on but to be on mute when not speaking. This reduces ⋅ background noise.
Ask everyone to use the “raise hand” feature when they want to ask a question or make a comment. This prevents people from ⋅ talking over each other.
Tell participants to say their names before speaking and to look directly into the camera. This allows the other participants to concentrate on the speaker’s face and body language, which will make it easier for them to understand what is being ⋅ said.
The facilitator should keep participants engaged by inviting them to speak at regular intervals — and interrupt them if they are not speaking slowly and ⋅ clearly enough.
The facilitator should also frequently summarize what has been said to ensure that everyone keeps up with the other participants’ inputs and comments.