Just Talk: Creating Rewarding Videoconference Meetings

As many of us press on with remote work for the foreseeable future, videoconferencing is becoming ubiquitous. But a specter hangs over our Zoom sessions in the same way it presided over our in-person meetings of yore: dead air. We have all felt the discomfort of those long silences after someone asks a question and no one responds or when a discussion runs out of steam.

Nothing is inherently wrong with those moments, but I've always been curious about what causes them and what to do about it. In part, this curiosity comes from my days of writing articles for an arts and culture publication. Imagine what it's like to get a bored musician to cough up their deepest, darkest secrets during an interview. Similarly, most of us know how difficult it can be at times to get our coworkers talking.

Beyond that, we cannot ignore the prevalence of Zoom fatigue or even the general dread we may feel about videoconferencing. Jena Lee, a psychiatrist and assistant professor of psychiatry at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), discusses this in her article, "A Neuropsychological Exploration of Zoom Fatigue," published online in Psychiatric Times. Lee references a handful of causative factors for Zoom fatigue, ranging from audio latency to general anxiety regarding the outside world.^Footnote1

One of the points that Lee highlights is the rewards-costs tradeoff that people are always subconsciously engaging with. Even minor factors, such as maintaining eye contact and delays in audio transmission, have associated rewards or costs, and those minor items add up quickly during videoconferencing. "Simply put, videoconferences can be associated with low reward and high cost," says Lee.^Footnote2

Some of the factors associated with Zoom fatigue, including just about any nonverbal communication cues imaginable, won't be easy for most people to overcome. But there's hope. Lee states, "Activation of the dopaminergic pathways in brain structures associated with reward . . . increases subjective alertness, energy, and motivation." So, we can't fix videoconferencing, but can we make it more rewarding?^Footnote3

I'm sure you already have a thousand great ideas, but I'd like to suggest a simple one: just talk. If that sounds oversimplified, that's because it is. But there's a nuance to facilitating what I've come to call a JFT session (JFT stands for just frickin' talk). Facilitating a JFT session is like gently poking a bee's nest with a stick, but not so much that it falls and you get attacked by hundreds of angry bees.

The way to walk that walk goes back to Lee's quote about activating dopaminergic pathways in the brain. Getting folks talking comes down to getting them a bit fired up and activating the opinionated and passionate parts of their minds. Facilitating something like that can be achieved simply by introducing subject matter that is antithetical to the usual discussion, or just allowing the floor to be open and then prodding the conversation in a healthy and constructive direction.

This fits into the conclusion that Lee proposes in her article: "Exploring alternative and more explicit ways to improve perceived reward psychologically during virtual communication may be a therapeutic approach for not only Zoom fatigue, but the mental and physical toll that come with it."^Footnote4

During JFT sessions, I've found that when people start sharing their opinions within an open-ended discussion, their reward-cost tradeoff increases. After all, they're sharing a bit of themselves with the group in hopes of being heard and understood. Facilitating JFT sessions can require a bit of self-effacing on the part of the facilitator. I've hosted some great JFT sessions by starting off with a rousing story about the subject or situation at hand and then letting the group loose. As long as folks are being constructive and professional, the group is free to go where it chooses, and the facilitator can prod at different points to keep the conversation moving.

I'm a member of the leadership team in the department I work for, and we've integrated JFT sessions in many of our meetings and retreats. We may need to burrow into a hot-button issue, or we may just need some time to move away from a heavy subject and into some unstructured space. These sessions can be any length of time: ten minutes, an hour, or totally open-ended.

While an agenda may be appropriate for most meetings, the occasional "agenda-less" meeting is called for as well. My boss even coined the polite term, "joint functional team session," which is more palatable to our business office when submitting a reimbursement claim.

I'm also on the board of directors for a nonprofit in Tucson, Arizona, and I encouraged the organization's new interim executive director to try out JFT sessions at staff meetings. When she did, she told me that folks gradually started opening up—and not just about the work they were doing. She observed that as staff members began to understand and trust each other more and more, their communication extended outside of the regular staff meetings.

The outcomes of JFT can be varied and surprising, but the end goal is getting people engaged and interested in the conversation through galvanizing discussion and building trust. When Zoom meeting attendees know that their opinions are being heard and discussed, the reward they perceive for their presence may increase exponentially. This method will be just as applicable to in-person meetings when we return to them as it is to videoconferencing now. You never know. Your coworkers and peers may start looking forward to meetings more and more!

Notes

1. Jenna Lee,  "A Neuropsychological Exploration of Zoom Fatigue," Psychiatric Times, November 17, 2020. Jump back to footnote 1 in the text.↩
2. Ibid. Jump back to footnote 2 in the text.↩
3. Ibid. Jump back to footnote 3 in the text.↩
4. Ibid. Jump back to footnote 4 in the text.↩

Willie Cross is IT Manager, Student Admin Systems Group, at the University of Arizona.