This is not a debate about whether to Zoom or not-to Zoom. Clearly the virtual, remote, and emerging hybrid business environments are surviving via Zoom, Teams, etc.

Whether we are having a meeting via Zoom or in person, there are still some polite manners that should be required. For example, if ½ the people shut off video and mute their mics, they are pretty much absent. Would we ever come into a meeting in a conference room and then just walk out?

If you never speak or appear on video and the participants see a photo of you, or worse, a black box, is that participation? Are these people listening? Are they participating, or even there? I had a meeting recently where I never saw or heard many of the participants. Out of eight people in the virtual meeting, only three of us spoke, presented, and interacted. Whether via Zoom or in person, it is a business meeting and there should be rules. We should all participate together. Here are just a handful of the reasons that people give, explaining why they cannot get on Zoom:

1. “I don’t have proper clothes on and I look horrible, so could not get on Zoom.” – Seriously, this means this meeting was not important for you to get ready.
2. “My dogs are in the room with me, so disruptive, I am going to go off of video and mute so you don’t hear my dogs.” – Wow. Again, this must not be important to you.
3. “I am eating crunchy cereal so don’t want to have you hear me chew or see me eat, so going off video and muting.” – Would you be chewing cereal in a conference room?
4. “I am waiting for a serviceman to come over, so I will go off of video and mute so I don’t disrupt the meeting.” – Insane. This means my serviceman is more important than this meeting.
5. “I am not going to be on video and muting my mic, but I am listening.” – But you won’t be saying anything! Why even attend this meeting?
6. “Our company likes to do Zoom but the engineers don’t like video so we will go off of video and audio, but we have to do Zoom.” – Clearly communication is an issue in this company.
7. With endless excuses, there are just too many to share here.

There is still a code of business conduct that binds us as a global community. Just because we are logged on, does not mean that we are participating, collaborating, involved, and valuable in the meeting. It just means we clicked on the link and then disconnected!

When we disconnect, not only are we not participating, but we are impacting others. And remember, if one’s boss’s boss goes off of video and is silent, that bad behavior carries down to all levels. My message to leaders, managers, and all in charge of managing groups of any size: Remember, your actions speak more than a million words and what you do sets the precedent.

Please Imagine. Not long ago we had superb meetings in person. Behavior as listed above would not be acceptable. Shouldn’t we think about the future if we continue these trends? Just because we CAN do something, does not make it RIGHT to do.

Imagine | Disrupt | Innovate | Lead