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居家期间那么多的视频会议,真的都有必要吗?

居家期间那么多的视频会议,真的都有必要吗?

Alex Circei 2021-02-19
数据能够做到人类所做不到的公正和准确,也可以提供人类所给不了的洞见(特别是在一天开完五场会之后)。

由于担心异地工作会影响团队之间的沟通效率,管理者们大有将“文山会海”进行到底之势。图片来源:COURTESY OF GETTY IMAGES

周一早上打开工作日历时,我们经常会产生非常真实的恐慌感,满屏五颜六色的方块意味着我们整日不得安宁,不由得边看边叹气,方块之间倒也不是没有间隔,不过都被切得支离破碎,很难真正完成什么工作。更加让人难受的是,很多会议其实完全没有举行的必要。

除了浪费钱,无用的会议还会降低团队的工作效率。研究表明,无论身处哪个行业,在受到严重干扰后,再想集中注意力回去做之前的工作都需要约25分钟的时间(进行调整)。此外,由于开会不仅会导致员工漏掉或重复重要工作,还会增加员工在完成任务的过程中出错的可能性。在一项调查中,65%的员工表示,开会导致他们无法完成自己的工作。

加上管理人员和普通员工在日程安排上存有差异,问题就变得更加复杂了。以工程为例,技术写手和开发者通常以半天为单位来安排自己的工作量,而管理人员则是以小时为单位来安排工作。如此一来,双方在会议安排上出现时间冲突在所难免。

由于担心异地工作会影响团队之间的沟通效率,管理者们大有将“文山会海”进行到底之势。与此同时,数以百万计需要照顾家人的员工也需要更加灵活地安排自己整天(及整夜)的时间,这就让开会成为了一项空前的负担。

既然已经不再需要每天担心新冠疫情的影响,我们不妨养成更多长期的远程工作习惯,趁此机会革去冗余的程序,让管理者不再“事必躬亲”,赋能员工,进而实现其自我管理。那么怎么才能够实现这一目标呢?方法就是少开会,多用数据。

数据能够做到人类所做不到的公正和准确,也可以提供人类所给不了的洞见(特别是在一天开完五场会之后),能够帮助管理者更好地评估团队的工作状态、项目进展状况甚至员工的感受,进而提升整体的信任度和工作质量。对许多公司而言,数据是最终摆脱无用会议的决定性因素。各家公司均应采用此种举措,原因如下:

数据驱动式分析可以提供更多洞见

会议在反映实际工作进展方面难免出现偏差或失准的状况。员工在评估自己的工作进度时只能够给出主观看法,并且经常会低估或高估自己的表现,毕竟大家都是凡人。此外,由于员工性格各不相同,管理者有时也会对员工的表现做出错误判断:有些员工可能看起来对工作不够投入或者缺乏热情,但实际上却是工作效率最高的员工之一。

如此一来,开会可能就会变成例行公事,成为了团队成员自动更新工作进度(并重复已经由项目管理工具完成的工作)的场所,或者干脆只是向管理层报告后者想听的内容。

随着技术的不断进步,数据已经成为包括非技术企业在内的各类企业的可选解决方案,可以更深刻地体现员工的工作效率,让管理者客观了解与员工的工作进度、工作质量和工作成果有关的大部分信息。

ActivTrak、Timely和ZeroedIn等分析平台集成了大量的团队项目管理工具、代码库等工具,能够实时记录员工表现,无需开会分享信息即可自动生成报告。借助各种反映优先指标(如预算内完成的票据或项目数量)的数据,管理人员可以在不打断员工工作的情况下审查团队或个人的工作效率。

借助这些数据,管理人员能够随时获取即时反馈,再也不必为了了解大家的进度而等着开沟通会。此外,由于数据更加标准化,而且在报告时更不容易出现人为错误,还可以在一定程度上确保远程协作团队之间实现步调一致。

简化沟通机制

假设公司内部的沟通机制能够推倒重建,那么大多数管理人员都会想实现一些相似的目标,比如互动内容应当新鲜、吸引人、简洁且简约,并且一定要给大家留出时间进行友好的私人对话。

换句话说,大家都希望简化内部的沟通机制,过滤掉无用信息,将且仅将有用信息准确传递到需要这些信息的地方。

要想减少开会次数,首先要精简参会人员。开会时当然可以带上实习生,毕竟他们需要在工作中学习,你也能够尽可能多地召集可以为会议带来多样观点的人员,但也不要忘记斯坦福大学教授罗伯特·I·萨顿曾经说过,只有当参会人数为5到9人时,开会才能够获得较高的效率。此外需要注意的是,日常短会和一对一会议会很快对所有参会者造成干扰,在这些会议没有数据支撑时尤其如此。

开会时要“照章办事”,会前需要先将简明议程发送给与会各方,阐明会议中所需要讨论的主题,并尽可能地减少参会人数,非发言人的答复时间必须控制在2分钟以内。你还应当指定专人负责记录会议内容,或创建会议文档供与会人员协作使用。

除开会外,上述做法也可以用于其他沟通领域。假设你所在的公司使用了Slack,那么你能够减少沟通渠道的数量,或者借助时间参数规定各方发送信息的时间。你也可以考虑将部分个人反馈谈话改为线上调查或一分钟自拍视频的形式。相较于面对面沟通,此类方法能够让员工更自由地表达自己的想法。

建立起对同事的信任

员工希望自己在工作上拥有自主权,查岗过于频繁会让他们觉得自己处于监视之下。而拥有更多自主权的团队反过来也会减少对管理层的依赖,利用相应空间发展自己的创造力、韧性和解决问题的能力。

此处的关键在于,管理者需要大幅提升(自己对员工的)信心。请你扪心自问:当涉及到可交付成果问题时,你在哪些方面可以少些亲力亲为?哪些原因让你不放心给特定员工更大的自主性?通过回答这些问题,你可能会发现自己在与员工的关系中存在问题,或者会发现员工的工作并未达到应有水准。

与其冀望通过开会解决这些问题,不如思考是否应当借此让员工获得更多学习的机会。借助员工的表现数据,你能够轻松发现何人在哪些方面需要帮助,并为其提供相应的培训材料,员工将不再羞于要求获得额外支持,管理人员也可以与团队建立起更紧密的私人关系。

留出时间,提升员工的幸福感

据调查,41%的美国成年人表示自己因为新冠疫情而出现了心理健康问题。在此背景下,管理者需要在提升员工幸福感方面发挥更积极的作用,但如果在开会上花费太多时间,自然也就无法做到这一点。

简化沟通首先有助于减少与“文山会海”有关的焦虑或压力。其次,其让管理者有时间深入研究有关员工表现的数据,发现员工状态不佳、工作时间过长或难以维持工作效率的迹象,并据此制定严谨的行动计划,确定何时需要与员工进行面对面沟通。此外,对数据的掌握也让管理者能够在参加会议时对员工表现了然于心,清楚知晓各个员工的长处和不足,进而增进与员工之间的关系。

长期以来,会议一直被视为工作中的“必要之恶”。随着团队完全进入远程工作状态,用接连不断的大会小会弥补空间上的距离也成了一个诱人的选择。但从长期来看,选择数据驱动分析的企业将可以更好地应对未来出现的变化、优化业务流程。企业应当以此为契机,打破传统行为方式,增强员工的创造力并强化对员工的信任和支持。(财富中文网)

亚历克斯·瑟曦是工程师表现分析平台Waydev公司的联合创始人及首席执行官。

译者:梁宇

审校:夏林

周一早上打开工作日历时,我们经常会产生非常真实的恐慌感,满屏五颜六色的方块意味着我们整日不得安宁,不由得边看边叹气,方块之间倒也不是没有间隔,不过都被切得支离破碎,很难真正完成什么工作。更加让人难受的是,很多会议其实完全没有举行的必要。

除了浪费钱,无用的会议还会降低团队的工作效率。研究表明,无论身处哪个行业,在受到严重干扰后,再想集中注意力回去做之前的工作都需要约25分钟的时间(进行调整)。此外,由于开会不仅会导致员工漏掉或重复重要工作,还会增加员工在完成任务的过程中出错的可能性。在一项调查中,65%的员工表示,开会导致他们无法完成自己的工作。

加上管理人员和普通员工在日程安排上存有差异,问题就变得更加复杂了。以工程为例,技术写手和开发者通常以半天为单位来安排自己的工作量,而管理人员则是以小时为单位来安排工作。如此一来,双方在会议安排上出现时间冲突在所难免。

由于担心异地工作会影响团队之间的沟通效率,管理者们大有将“文山会海”进行到底之势。与此同时,数以百万计需要照顾家人的员工也需要更加灵活地安排自己整天(及整夜)的时间,这就让开会成为了一项空前的负担。

既然已经不再需要每天担心新冠疫情的影响,我们不妨养成更多长期的远程工作习惯,趁此机会革去冗余的程序,让管理者不再“事必躬亲”,赋能员工,进而实现其自我管理。那么怎么才能够实现这一目标呢?方法就是少开会,多用数据。

数据能够做到人类所做不到的公正和准确,也可以提供人类所给不了的洞见(特别是在一天开完五场会之后),能够帮助管理者更好地评估团队的工作状态、项目进展状况甚至员工的感受,进而提升整体的信任度和工作质量。对许多公司而言,数据是最终摆脱无用会议的决定性因素。各家公司均应采用此种举措,原因如下:

数据驱动式分析可以提供更多洞见

会议在反映实际工作进展方面难免出现偏差或失准的状况。员工在评估自己的工作进度时只能够给出主观看法,并且经常会低估或高估自己的表现,毕竟大家都是凡人。此外,由于员工性格各不相同,管理者有时也会对员工的表现做出错误判断:有些员工可能看起来对工作不够投入或者缺乏热情,但实际上却是工作效率最高的员工之一。

如此一来,开会可能就会变成例行公事,成为了团队成员自动更新工作进度(并重复已经由项目管理工具完成的工作)的场所,或者干脆只是向管理层报告后者想听的内容。

随着技术的不断进步,数据已经成为包括非技术企业在内的各类企业的可选解决方案,可以更深刻地体现员工的工作效率,让管理者客观了解与员工的工作进度、工作质量和工作成果有关的大部分信息。

ActivTrak、Timely和ZeroedIn等分析平台集成了大量的团队项目管理工具、代码库等工具,能够实时记录员工表现,无需开会分享信息即可自动生成报告。借助各种反映优先指标(如预算内完成的票据或项目数量)的数据,管理人员可以在不打断员工工作的情况下审查团队或个人的工作效率。

借助这些数据,管理人员能够随时获取即时反馈,再也不必为了了解大家的进度而等着开沟通会。此外,由于数据更加标准化,而且在报告时更不容易出现人为错误,还可以在一定程度上确保远程协作团队之间实现步调一致。

简化沟通机制

假设公司内部的沟通机制能够推倒重建,那么大多数管理人员都会想实现一些相似的目标,比如互动内容应当新鲜、吸引人、简洁且简约,并且一定要给大家留出时间进行友好的私人对话。

换句话说,大家都希望简化内部的沟通机制,过滤掉无用信息,将且仅将有用信息准确传递到需要这些信息的地方。

要想减少开会次数,首先要精简参会人员。开会时当然可以带上实习生,毕竟他们需要在工作中学习,你也能够尽可能多地召集可以为会议带来多样观点的人员,但也不要忘记斯坦福大学教授罗伯特·I·萨顿曾经说过,只有当参会人数为5到9人时,开会才能够获得较高的效率。此外需要注意的是,日常短会和一对一会议会很快对所有参会者造成干扰,在这些会议没有数据支撑时尤其如此。

开会时要“照章办事”,会前需要先将简明议程发送给与会各方,阐明会议中所需要讨论的主题,并尽可能地减少参会人数,非发言人的答复时间必须控制在2分钟以内。你还应当指定专人负责记录会议内容,或创建会议文档供与会人员协作使用。

除开会外,上述做法也可以用于其他沟通领域。假设你所在的公司使用了Slack,那么你能够减少沟通渠道的数量,或者借助时间参数规定各方发送信息的时间。你也可以考虑将部分个人反馈谈话改为线上调查或一分钟自拍视频的形式。相较于面对面沟通,此类方法能够让员工更自由地表达自己的想法。

建立起对同事的信任

员工希望自己在工作上拥有自主权,查岗过于频繁会让他们觉得自己处于监视之下。而拥有更多自主权的团队反过来也会减少对管理层的依赖,利用相应空间发展自己的创造力、韧性和解决问题的能力。

此处的关键在于,管理者需要大幅提升(自己对员工的)信心。请你扪心自问:当涉及到可交付成果问题时,你在哪些方面可以少些亲力亲为?哪些原因让你不放心给特定员工更大的自主性?通过回答这些问题,你可能会发现自己在与员工的关系中存在问题,或者会发现员工的工作并未达到应有水准。

与其冀望通过开会解决这些问题,不如思考是否应当借此让员工获得更多学习的机会。借助员工的表现数据,你能够轻松发现何人在哪些方面需要帮助,并为其提供相应的培训材料,员工将不再羞于要求获得额外支持,管理人员也可以与团队建立起更紧密的私人关系。

留出时间,提升员工的幸福感

据调查,41%的美国成年人表示自己因为新冠疫情而出现了心理健康问题。在此背景下,管理者需要在提升员工幸福感方面发挥更积极的作用,但如果在开会上花费太多时间,自然也就无法做到这一点。

简化沟通首先有助于减少与“文山会海”有关的焦虑或压力。其次,其让管理者有时间深入研究有关员工表现的数据,发现员工状态不佳、工作时间过长或难以维持工作效率的迹象,并据此制定严谨的行动计划,确定何时需要与员工进行面对面沟通。此外,对数据的掌握也让管理者能够在参加会议时对员工表现了然于心,清楚知晓各个员工的长处和不足,进而增进与员工之间的关系。

长期以来,会议一直被视为工作中的“必要之恶”。随着团队完全进入远程工作状态,用接连不断的大会小会弥补空间上的距离也成了一个诱人的选择。但从长期来看,选择数据驱动分析的企业将可以更好地应对未来出现的变化、优化业务流程。企业应当以此为契机,打破传统行为方式,增强员工的创造力并强化对员工的信任和支持。(财富中文网)

亚历克斯·瑟曦是工程师表现分析平台Waydev公司的联合创始人及首席执行官。

译者:梁宇

审校:夏林

Opening your work calendar on a Monday morning often comes with a very real sense of dread. You stare and sigh at the colorful squares blocking off hours of your time throughout the day, and the awkward intervals in between the squares confirm that it’ll be a struggle to get any real work done. The most frustrating thing? Most of these meetings aren’t necessary.

More than being expensive, useless meetings are a quick way to stunt team productivity. Across industries, research shows that it takes 25 minutes to return your concentration back to an original task after a significant interruption. Meetings also increase the likelihood of people committing errors during a task, because they miss or repeat important components. And in one survey, 65% of workers said that meetings keep them from completing their own work.

Complicating the issue is the fact that managers and employees don’t tend to operate on the same schedules. In engineering, for example, writers and developers typically plan their workloads in units of half a day, whereas managers work in hours—so there’s an inherent misalignment when it comes to meetings.

With the current need to bridge the physical distance between teams, managers are at risk of using excessive meetings to ease insecurities they have around communication. Yet at the same time, meetings have become more cumbersome than ever, as millions of employees with caregiving responsibilities need flexible schedules throughout the day (and night).

Now that our heads have just about stopped spinning from the impact of the COVID pandemic, and we can ease into more permanent remote habits, we should seize this as a chance to cut the fat, stop managers from micromanaging, and empower employees to self-regulate. How? By relying less on meetings and more on data.

Data is unbiased, accurate, and insightful in a way that humans can’t be (especially after the fifth meeting of the day). It can help managers better understand how teams are working, how projects are progressing, and even how employees are feeling—boosting overall trust and work quality. For many companies, data is the deciding factor in finally getting rid of useless meetings. Here’s why it’s time to follow suit in your workplace:

Data-driven analytics offer greater insight

Meetings aren’t always an accurate or even truthful reflection of the work that’s being done. Employees can only provide a subjective measurement of their progress—and they typically under- or overestimate their performance. We’re only human. Different personality types can also send misleading messages: Someone who appears unengaged or uninterested may actually be one of your most productive employees.

Then there’s the risk of meetings being merely transactional, where team members autopilot their updates (and repeat the work that’s already being done by project management tools), or simply tell managers what they want to hear.

We’ve reached a level of technological progress in which data is the solution for any business—whether they’re a tech company or not. Data gives a more in-depth look at employees’ productivity, objectively telling you most of what you need to know about their progress, quality, and output.

Analytics platforms such as ActivTrak, Timely, and ZeroedIn integrate with a wide range of teams’ project management tools, codebase, and more to document employee performance in real time, and to automate reporting rather than relying on information shared in meetings. Managers can turn to data around priority metrics (e.g., the number of completed tickets or projects finished within budget) to review team or individual productivity without interrupting employees’ workflow.

This data generates more immediate feedback, at any point in the day, without managers having to wait for catch-up meetings to know where everyone is at. It also ensures a level of consistency across remote teams because the data is more standardized and there is less chance of human error when reporting.

Streamlining communication

Imagine you had a clean slate to reinvent how you communicate within your company. Most managers would have similar desires: Interactions should always be fresh and engaging, succinct and minimalistic, and there must be time for people to have informal, friendly chats.

In other words, you want to streamline internal communication, which means condensing necessary information and delivering it exactly where it needs to be, no more, no less.

Reducing the number of meetings starts with being economical about the people you include in your processes. It’s fine to have trainees join meetings as they learn on the job, and for each of your brain trusts to be as diverse as possible. But keep in mind that Stanford professor Robert I. Sutton says meetings are more productive when only seven people (plus or minus two) are in attendance. Also be wary that daily stand-ups and one-to-ones can quickly become disruptive for everyone involved, especially if the narrative for these meetings isn’t based on data.

Be disciplined with the meetings you keep. Send out a concise agenda in advance, stating the topics to be covered. Strip down the attendee list to the bare minimum. Limit people who aren’t presenting to two-minute responses. Appoint someone as the scribe to take notes or create an in-meeting document for people to collaborate on.

Outside of meetings, these practices can be applied to other areas of communication. If your company uses Slack, for example, the number of channels could be reduced, or time parameters could be introduced for when people can send messages. Why not replace some of your individual feedback sessions with online surveys, or one-minute self-recorded videos? This might even allow employees to express their sentiment more freely than they would in person.

Building trust with coworkers

People want to feel that they have autonomy on the job, and excessive check-ins may give them the impression they’re under surveillance. But teams that are given more freedom will in turn be less dependent on their leadership, giving them space to develop their own creativity, resilience, and problem-solving skills.

The point here is that managers need to take a leap of faith. Ask yourself honestly: Where could you be less hands-on when it comes to deliverables? If you’re struggling to give certain employees more independence, why is that? It might be a red flag that something is wrong in your relationship with your staff, or that their work isn’t up to scratch.

Rather than fall back on meetings, see if this is actually a chance to give your employees more educational opportunities. Using performance data, you can easily identify who needs assistance in what areas and offer them corresponding training materials. With such data, employees don’t have to feel shy about asking for extra support, and managers can foster a closer informal relationship with the team.

Making time for employees’ well-being

With 41% of American adults saying they’ve struggled with mental health due to COVID-19, managers need to take a more active role in employee well-being. Yet they can’t do so when spending a disproportionate amount of time in meetings.

Streamlined communication helps in the first place by reducing anxiety or stress relating to too many meetings. Second, it gives managers the time to delve into data around employee performance and flag any signs that an employee is unwell, stacking up too many hours, or is struggling to maintain their productivity levels. In response, managers can put together a mindful action plan and determine when a personal check-in is needed. It also means they can arrive at a meeting with the full picture of the employee’s performance—where they’re strongest, where they’re lagging—which is a solid springboard to really connect with people.

Meetings have long been seen as a necessary evil at work. As teams go fully remote, it’s tempting to overcompensate for the distance with more meetings. But businesses that opt for data-driven analytics instead will be better prepared to deal with change and to optimize processes for the long term. Take this as an opportunity to disrupt your traditional way of doing things, and to enhance creativity, trust, and support among your workforce.

Alex Circei is the CEO and cofounder of Waydev, an analytics platform that measures engineers’ performance.

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