Can you hear me?

Setting the new normal norms right.

Is that not something you hear every day, at least quite a few times these days!

In the awake of global pandemic, where remote working has been established in each industry for every role.

Even if you deny or accept, This is the new normal. And this will be the future.So what exactly happens on our everyday calls and how can we make it better and interactive?

Let’s see some examples:

1. Joining in, let people know time and medium in advance, suppose I’m scheduling a meeting for Saturday. Send a calendar invite on Wednesday(give the other person a chance to inform you in advance if they can’t make it to that date), next send a reminder on Friday. People are living at work, but also have families to take of, there are many many things on everyone’s mind and they might genuinely miss out on this.

2. Background noises, we understand most of us don’t really live alone, but the noises that are insignificant to you can be a distraction or noise to others. Simple tip-Please keep yourself on mute, until asked for.

3. Give notes, agenda in advance, if you are discussing a report, or planning an evaluation of some data, keep the report handy, provide it to the participants well in advance. So they can plan what is about to being discussed, they can have their input/ questions ready. And everyone saves time and most importantly saves everyone from ambiguity.

4. When you hear ‘Can you hear me? Or can you see my screen?’ please take a second and respond. Listen and empathize, where the other person is looking at the camera or the thin film of transparent conductor material (i.e. screen) and speaking give them the assurance they are not alone, make them feel you are present and interested. Be responsive, be participate.

5. If you unable to hear ask someone else on the call via chat if they are facing a similar issue, or via a text message, it could be a simple case of internet issue. Don’t barge in an email saying, ‘Hey, I can’t hear you ‘ as much as genuinely interested you might be, it will break the flow of the conversation and the call ends up extending from 60 minutes to 90 minutes, and for once factor in the 30 minutes * no. of participants. I’m you will not be surprised.

Let me know about your thoughts on the same, next upcoming blog is about how to makes calls more interesting!

Until then stay tuned, have fun and out on a mask.