Tips for Virtual Meeting Engagement: An OD Coaching Strategy

ABSTRACT

The authors present this article as a blend of facts and the authors' experiences since little is currently known about interactions within the virtual world. Employees are finding that virtual meetings occur too often. In most cases, they are uninteresting and lack engagement for the participants. These combined factors lead to virtual meeting burnout and participants' multitasking instead of involvement. Continuous virtual meetings cause stress and, subsequently, other health issues;this article is a call to OD practitioners to help develop techniques to alleviate these issues. Engagement may be the solution to lessening these virtual meeting problems. The first part of the article describes what we know about virtual meetings. The last part of the article gives specific coaching directions for your clients in ways that they can increase engagement in a variety of meetings. Virtual meetings will remain in our lives and may be one of the major ways people communicate with each other. Organization development professionals in the past were the ones that increased the effectiveness and human potential of in-person meetings through the development of techniques and research. Because virtual meetings happen daily, there is a belief that we know a great deal about this form of interaction, but there is little research confirming this belief. We provide some next steps for organization development consultants and scholar-practitioners to start thinking creatively about this media, research, write, and develop innovative technology. Virtual meetings need engagement, and we are the ones with the skills to make a difference.