Right now, many of our clients are facing tremendous challenges and uncertainty related to Covid-19. Most of you are relying on virtual meetings of Board and staff to make critical decisions about how you will respond. The stakes are high. And to make the best possible decisions you need gatherings that foster connection and allow for robust discussion and careful listening. But without clear practices and protocols in place, virtual meetings can be frustrating and unproductive.

At Wellspring, we regularly run high-stakes meetings on a virtual platform. We want to share a few simple practices and guidelines that can make your virtual meetings productive and relational.

1. Use video, if you can - At Wellspring, our norm is to meet via video - even for short conversations. We also strongly encourage our clients to join us on video for virtual meetings. It can take time to adjust to seeing yourself and others on video, but it vastly improves the sense of connection.
2. Use signals to facilitate discussion - Video and conference calls can be filled with awkward pauses or overlapping speakers because cues to signal an intent to say something are reduced. For small meetings, we minimize these challenges by asking people to physically raise their hand on video when they would like to speak. For meetings with ten or more participants, we ask people to raise their hand virtually by using the "raise hand" function on Zoom. The facilitator must be attentive to people joining via phone as well as video to ensure everyone has a chance to speak. We find this helps conversations flow more smoothly.
3. Make use of the chat function - Many video platforms have a chat function where participants can send messages to the whole group or a specific participant. We encourage the use of the chat function in virtual meetings to add small points to the discussion or to signal something minor (e.g., "I'll be back in 5 minutes"). The chat function helps minimize disjunction in the flow of the discussion.
4. Consider using GoogleDocs to collaborate in real time - particularly for smaller meetings, using a GoogleDoc that everyone can co-create in real time can facilitate a kind of collaboration that would be impossible with an in-person meeting. Just make sure to share the document you expect to work on together with all participants, with the ability to edit, prior to the meeting.
5. Share meeting guidelines in advance - We share the following with meeting participants prior to the meeting: a) Each participant should join with their own computer b) For audio, do not join by both computer and phone - pick one (If you hear loud feedback, you have likely joined audio by both phone and computer. If that happens, just mute your computer) c) If possible, use a head-set instead of the computer audio d) Join on the computer with the link even if you can't join by video. That way, you can see others and use the hands/chat functions e) Move the video images of other people close to your camera; this helps to create the experience of eye contact. f) If you are unfamiliar with the video platform, join the meeting up to ten minutes in advance
6. Set ground rules at the start of the meeting - We share the following ground rules: a) Mute your phone or computer when you are not speaking b) Jump in, but also give others a chance to speak up, c) Use the "raise hands" and chat functions on Zoom, d) Plan not to work on other tasks (like checking email) during the meeting, e) If possible, stay on video for the whole meeting - not just when you are speaking

We wish you all the best in navigating this challenging time.

Wellspring Consulting www.wellspringconsulting.net