New Practice November #1: Instead of taking a meeting from your normal desk, take it elsewhere!

[Lauren Allen]

I took a few meetings outside in my beautiful garden last week.  Spring has sprung and it was a perfect time to sit outside.  I was watching the fish swim in the pond while listening to the meetings and felt so much more calm and relaxed, but also more focused.  Normally I have 3 screens up and continue working while I am listening.  This time I was able to keep focus on the meeting at hand. Now that the weather has warmed up I will be doing that more often.  Thank you for the prompt! 

[Christine P. Dela Rosa]

@Lauren Allen I looooove that you have that garden with a pond. If you have it, it makes a lot of sense to me to be around it when you can! Thank you for sharing :)

[Andy Gladstone]

NYC has been graced by some unseasonably warmer weather over the past week and a half so I decided to put this into practice by combining my love of cycling with my passion for efficiency. During my 10 minute CitiBike commute from the train station to my office I scheduled a different catch up meeting with team members each morning last week - well, at least the 3 mornings that I was commenting by bike. Rather than the meeting being a boring status meeting staring at each other across a desk or on Zoom it took on a new meaning and by sharing ‘personal’ time with a team member they were more inclined to fill me in on details outside of their work lives and allow me to underage them better. 

[Christine P. Dela Rosa]

Rad, @Andy Gladstone. I like that you used outdoor time already on the calendar!

[Kevin Tuei]

Due to what I would call the overindulgence with online meetings and webinars, I would really shy away from any physical/outdoor gathering since I couldn't stand the thought of sitting somewhere at a table for several hours listening to someone and having to reintroduce myself everytime I meet someone 1:1.

I decided to take a leap of faith this week to take on this practice by doing something different from what I am fond of and registered for an in-person conference held at a different city from where I stay. 

To my surprise, it was so refreshing to meet people physically and network over coffee chats, health breaks and lunch breaks. Picking up body language, non-verbal cues as well as having an online meetup within that session by the swimming pool was a great experience because I was active and made significant contributions.

I would definitely carry that on by doing work away from my desk, taking up more in-person work events as my energy is up the roof after this.

 

[Christine P. Dela Rosa]

Great insight! I had a similar feeling when I had to pop into the office for a one-off big meeting. I appreciated the visual cues and now more regularly go in for some face-to-face interactions.

[Sedera Randria]

I no longer take all my meetings from my "normal office" 
Now, I spend more time with my children. Before/After school, I take calls in my car.
When I'm near the offices, I stop there. Or I go back to work from home.

What I tried this month: use a standing desk. Not bad :-)
Results: I think I will use this kind of desk more often when I go to the office

[Christine P. Dela Rosa]

Love it.

[Pramodh M]

@Christine P. Dela Rosa 

Been trying the casual method for almost a year now, where I take meetings on mobile by walking in the office lounge only if it is for 15 min.

I get phone calls that I need to take and drive initial conversations with the stakeholders on the product offerings and what the product does.

Most of the time the discussions with stakeholders will be held in conference rooms, where attendees in our company will gather and take the meeting virtually.

Since last week, I tried to take meetings at my own desk for product demos and discussions with customers, it was very interesting, the concentration, and focus we get is the same as the one we take in conference rooms, although sometimes there will be disturbances, it can be cured by having noise-canceling headphones :-)

It's always fun to try out alternative things once in a while.

Thanks,
Pramodh

[Christine P. Dela Rosa]

...although sometimes there will be disturbances, it can be cured by having noise-canceling headphones :-)

Love it.

[Pramodh M]

Sometime there are scenarios where I take meeting from home during off business hours and ususally on a standing desk, it fun to take a meeting while standing, it gives more energy to be in meetings!!

[Marta Woźniak-Semeniuk]

Working from home I already have this thing when at least once a week I have one of my less formal calls from my couch - with my cats showing up too :) It always makes whoever I speak to smile and I love it :) In the summer I sometimes also go to the balcony and show my city panorama behind me (I live quite high) :) 

[Christine P. Dela Rosa]

Honestly, I'd love to see that if I were in a meeting with you lol. Feel free to drop screen grabs ;)

[Fadoua]

Well believe me guys I tried couple times from other spots. Either while driving, walking, or a different room inside my place. It was a total failure. I am one of those people who go crazy if they miss something during an important meeting. While driving or walking many times I either lose the signal or I can not focus 100% as something else caught my attention. Trying a different spot in the house has been an option, however I still prefer the comfort of my desk. It is so frustrating to be presenting when one of my kids jump to ask a random question 😡. To them since mommy is not at her desk she must be having fun since she is sitting in a different room.

All the best,

Fadoua

[Christine P. Dela Rosa]

I really like that this post shows an attempt at different spots that didn't work out. Because experiments shouldn't work 100% of the time. 

And @Fadoua if you don't find a new spot to work, that's okay, too! This was more to see if a change of environment would be helpful from time to time. So if it's not, then you have your answer :)

...though continuing experimental spots is also welcome :)

[Opher Lichter]

Besides home and the office, I've taken meetings in the car (mostly out of convenience), at the local Starbucks, and occasionally in my backyard or even a local park - those last two made for a welcome change of scenery and helped me to better focus my thoughts before and after the call! 

[Christine P. Dela Rosa]

Yes! Double use of something already in your life and a change of environment for a change in mindset. Thanks for sharing :)

[Floris van Himbergen]

Due to the common work space at the office I often move to a different room for meetings. While this space does not have monitors I can plug my laptop into, it still feels nice to change things up and get myself into a "meeting mindset". As a bonus, I might encounter colleagues on the way there and exchange a smile, greeting or short conversation!

[Christine P. Dela Rosa]

Rad!

[Luis Machado]

I tend to take client calls in my office, there's something about standing and having enough monitors to see everything that gives me some confidence/calm. But I have totatlly been taking internal meetings/calls outside on the patio, especially when the weather's nice.

[Christine P. Dela Rosa]

There are backgrounds on your monitors/screens and then there are backgrounds in real life. Love that you have variety on both :)

[Ronald Hipol]

Since the work-from-home set up started, I have been watching Jira tutorial videos while doing the dishes. :-D

[Christine P. Dela Rosa]

Well that's safe multitasking I can get behind!

[Amélie Duplany]

So funny, I will try after Holidays with my colleagues 
Thank you for your idea !

[Graham Twine _Slm_]

This is worth trying. I am remote and always use the opportunity to walk around the garden. It also just gets me moving

[Tommy Augustine]

I am fortunate that my company has hammocks and treadmills to take my laptop to for meetings!

[Courtney - TechTime]

Our office is right by the beach so sometimes in catch up we walk by the water and it's so lovely! It's also so good to make sure you get time outside rather than always being glued to the screen. 

[Omar Mohamed Fathi]

looks fun

[Dan Breyen]

Any chance to break up the monotony of the meeting can be very productive.