One magical word can save your body and soul in Zoom meetings
Stop worrying too much about productivity in online meetings and take the time to connect with each other. You will feel much less Zoom burnout and increase productivity if you do.
Recent studies show that 45% of people new to working remotely are feeling isolated and depressed — lacking in a sense of belonging. The research, of course, was done by a company that sells software facilitating collaboration. Now I don’t know about you but learning another software is not what I want to be doing right now.
My field of expertise is embodiment — your own brain-body-software, which is vastly underutilized. This results in all kinds of health issues, and no software can solve the problem. Isolation and depression are no fun, and I am sure they contribute to the decrease in productivity as well. So how do you use your brain-body-software to work on productivity in this new environment?
Let’s change the verb first. Change it from “working on” to “working WITH.”
WITH is a lovely, common word which has saved my body and spirit online. It’s a handy word to have about the house during a national political and health crisis because it prevents you from trying to fix or change something that is too big for one person to change alone. Physical isolation is real, and its effects on your body are real. Reality is so much easier to deal with if you accept it.
WITH is the opposite of dissociation, disconnection and disembodiment. This pandemic has revealed the depth of our connections to one another more than any other event in my lifetime. The illusion that our individual behavior doesn’t affect other people is gone gone gone. Being together is too risky, but being apart goes against our profoundly social nature. Being depressed and unproductive is a normal response! So what can we do about it? What about some low cost, low tech conversation?
I’ve noticed that on Zoom people do want to get down to business, just get it over with so that they can get off Zoom! Yet even the most brief check-in provides the emotional energy needed to move through your meetings or classes at a more lively tempo. It might seem counterintuitive because it slows you down at first, but as an embodiment expert I suggest that you start meetings with a few questions like:
- What are you reading right now for fun?
- What’s the best bad television you’ve been watching to relax?
- Do you have a favorite body stretch? Show and tell!
- Has anybody heard a good joke lately?
Questions like this get people connected to real life, they require improvisation, spontaneity, body awareness, and listening to others — all things that will up the creative thinking potential of your crew! Just allow the first 5 minutes of your meeting to be about this kind of exchange and I think you will see results.
Spontaneous, unpredictable conversation can actually make doing business easier and more efficient in the long run. You’ll be able to read the actual mood and tempo of your people, and I think you will lead in a more efficient way if you learn to ride the energy that is present in others instead of trying to whip it all up by yourself.
All you need to get some good vibes and connectivity going is curiosity about your fellow human beings and a little chutzpah. And if you need some help in getting in touch with your own body and energy in the online space, an embodiment expert like an Alexander Technique teacher can really help! You can book a free 15 minute consult right here if you are looking for some Zoom burnout solutions that don’t require you to become a yogi or go on a virtual meditation retreat :-).
Clare Maxwell, Mobilignment™ for Online Embodiment