On the 26th of january Epicenter hosted ‘Mastering the hybrid workplace’ – an event about the massive change in every aspect of our work-life and how we can face the future so our companies can keep up with the change.
We need to talk about how to optimize the hybrid workplace and strategy – Not about if we are going to work from home, because we talk a lot about that already.
“We need to talk about other aspects of hybrid everyday life. So what is really hybrid? It’s about companies reaching new goals and ambitions. It’s about our employees and colleagues mastering their new tasks and work situations. It’s also about our leaders, trying to motivate their team in other work situations than they are used to”, says Mathias Willumsen, Head of Community at Epicenter Oslo.
Everything is behaving differently. We are changing and our customers are changing. Therefore maybe our strategies and the way we are interacting with people also should be working differently.
Berit Boman is a partner at Ergo;Ego and is specialized in presentation technique and how to communicate with impact. Boman is working with TV-companies and production companies – behind and on stage. Boman shared some good advice on how we can meet some of the challenges we face, especially when it comes to online-meetings.
Boman points out that in some areas whether the meeting or presentation is online or physically present it’s the same, and in some areas it’s completely different. The main difference that we don’t get from online meetings is the small talk and the energy from the audience.
“If you are leading an online meeting or presentation you need to make people feel safe and make the people feel seen, so that they want to listen to you and this is very difficult online” – Boman says.
What can we do about this? Boman has three things in mind. If you are leading a meeting physically, do the small talks first. It’s important to make people feel seen. If the meeting is online you should be the first one present to welcome everyone who is entering in the meeting. Second, Boman underlines it’s important to keep it short, especially if the meeting is online.
“If it’s not a physical meeting, people tend to get so tired, and they don’t listen to you if it’s too long. So what’s at stake? Think about the main thing you need out of this meeting. It’s a good exercise if it’s not online as well. Don’t ever go over forty minutes” – Boman.
Third, it’s important to think about who is in this meeting. It’s about what the audience needs to know or gain from the speaker. Therefore it can be helpful to think of the audience as individuals, and not as a group.
Boman also shared two more pieces of good advice for us: Believe what you’re going to say in the meeting and think about what mood it has and what kind of atmosphere you need the participant to sit with when you’re finished. It also helps to be a good and kind participant in the meeting. We affect each other with our body language and our energy, and this applies during online meetings as well.
“This goes to the one on stage too. You need to be a little more eutustiatic, and present in order to get there. You can put your pase down, but be present, be kind and be happy. So good luck, and prepare in the shower, it’s the best way to prepare” – Boman says.
Watch the slides from Berit’s presentation here
