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- ⛔ Politely Opt Out of Virtual Meetings
⛔ Politely Opt Out of Virtual Meetings
Gracefully Advocate for Async Work
🎒 Microlesson
🪞 Reflect
When was the last time you declined a virtual meeting?
💡 Concept
Opting out of virtual meetings can be challenging for remote employees for several reasons:
FOMO. There’s often a fear of missing out on crucial information or decisions that could impact their work or projects.
Visibility. Remote workers may feel pressure to participate in meetings as a means of staying visible and demonstrating their engagement, especially if their physical presence isn't readily observable to their managers or colleagues.
Organizational culture. There might be a cultural expectation within the organization that attending meetings is a sign of dedication and commitment, making it difficult for employees to decline without feeling judged or stigmatized.
Impression management. Remote employees may worry about appearing uncooperative or disinterested if they frequently opt out of meetings, potentially affecting their professional relationships and advancement opportunities.
Navigating the decision to opt out of virtual meetings as a remote worker involves balancing the need for productivity and autonomy with the expectations and dynamics of remote collaboration.
If you do decide to decline a virtual meeting, here are some ways to help you mitigate the possible risks:
Emphasize your focus on your priorities. If the meeting is not relevant to your position, politely explain your need to focus on your deadlines and commitments to the team.
Demonstrate your dedication by offering to contribute asynchronously.
Follow through on your async suggestions to build trust and show your commitment.
🎬 Take Action
If you’re overloaded with back-to-back virtual meetings, try the following approach to make sure you’re prioritizing those meetings that truly require your attendance.
Audit your calendar. Identify meetings that could be converted to async, as well as meetings whose outcomes won’t be affected by your absence.
Convert to async. Identify at least one opportunity to contribute via an asynchronous method instead of attending the meeting live. Examples of async participation: adding comments to a brainstorm document, watching a video recap of the decisions, or voting on the best option for a solution.
Communicate politely. Let the meeting organizer know that you won’t be attending and offer suggestions for how you could still contribute asynchronously. Try using one of these scripts for declining a virtual meeting.
Follow through. If you suggest any asynchronous methods for participating, make sure you actually follow through on your suggestions. Depending on what you offered to do: comment on the brainstorm document and review others' comments, review and vote on the proposed solutions, or watch the meeting recap, checking in with the meeting owner if requested.
✅ Check In
Were you able to apply this week's microlesson to your work? |
🧠 Keep Learning
Learn more about how to reduce virtual meetings and convert to async with Async at Work.
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