It’s 1876, and a cash-strapped Alexander Graham Bell offers to sell you the patent to his telephone for $100,000. What do you do? 

If you’re Western Union, then the answer is this:

You decline.

Whoops. With hindsight, we know this was a terrible decision. 

$100,000 was a bargain for the technology that would go on to connect the world for decades to come. That’s the equivalent of $2.5 to $255 million (depending on how you measure the relative value over time).

But the executives at Western Union failed to get their heads around the potential of the telephone.

Virtual meetings are this generation's telephone moment

Just like the Western Union executives in 1876, many people today are struggling to comprehend the rise of digital collaboration.

In time, we’ll come to look back at this revolution just like previous generations look back at the telephone revolution.

In the rear-view mirror, it looks like a no-brainer.

But in the middle of the revolution, the benefits and the urgent need to change is a little more murky.

Old habits die hard

Of course, virtual meetings are here to stay.

All sorts of factors are combining to secure the case for digital collaboration. Climate change. Financial pressures. Traffic congestion. House prices.

Yet we've noticed that many organisations are slipping back into old habits. 

People are gathering around old conference call boxes. Teams are meeting in-person with one or two lonely souls tuning in from outside the office.

Part of the problem is that many people's experiences with virtual meetings are sub-par, to put it politely. They are boring, long, talk-fests dominated by a few voices.

But it doesn't need to be that way.

It is possible to facilitate engaging and interactive virtual meetings that create change outside the meeting room.

Five simple things your organisation can do to enable good virtual meetings

1. Provide the hardware

We run a lot of training workshops on digital collaboration. Organisations invest thousands of dollars to build their staff's skills.

But we get frustrated when organisations fail to provide them the basic equipment to allow them to succeed.

We're not talking about anything fancy here. 

Just things like:

• a webcam - you know, the thing that allows people to see you on a video call. 

• Headphones - so you can block out the noise of your colleagues. 

• Meeting spaces or cubicles - so you can have confidential meetings in peace.

If you fail to provide this basic hardware, no amount of training is going to result in effective virtual collaboration.

It would be like the All Blacks management denying players access to the gym. Refusing to pay for their boots. Or requiring them to purchase their balls for training. The management team would be replaced within hours.

2. Encourage the Law of One Device

Imagine you and six colleagues arrive at a swanky conference venue together. 

Before getting out of the car, you handcuff yourselves to each other. And then you pop paper bags over 2 people's heads.

You register at the front desk under one name - "Conference Room 3.4".

Then you awkwardly crowd around one spare seat at a table.

This would be absurd, right? Yet this is what happens every time you crowd around a single device for a video meeting.

Enter the Law of One Device per person. The rule is simply:

“Where possible, every participant in a virtual meeting should use a separate device.”

This simple protocol ensures everyone has the same virtual presence. Without it, you will never realise the potential of virtual collaboration. 

It ensures that each participant has the same opportunity to understand the emotional responses and body language of others. It means a CEO has the same screen real estate as the intern.

And it’s essential if you are to build effective working relationships through virtual meetings.

We’ve put together a free e-book that elaborates on the different ways you can make your virtual meetings more effective. Learn more in the Virtually Productive e-book.

3. Flexibility of work place and hours

One of our clients lamented in a workshop that "This is all good stuff but how can we implement the Law of One Device and do all this interactive stuff when we're all required to come into the office every day?"

The short answer is: you can't.

If your team is in the office and you want to meet with another team in another office, the best thing to do is for you all to go home.

Because if you have two teams in two rooms, you will struggle to follow the Law of One Device. You'll have one team crowded around one video camera, and another team crowded around another camera. Half of each team will be out of shot or out of the mic's range.

The better answer is to embrace a world of flexible working environments and hours.

Another of our clients has done this by suggesting that Mondays and Thursdays are 'working from home' days. And those are the days when they schedule their nationwide team meetings. 

This means almost everybody is at home, in front of a separate device, rather than a dozen people crowding around a screen in the office's one meeting room.

4. Subsidise 'working from home' costs

As soon as you start to encourage working from home, it makes sense to subsidise the additional costs your employees will need to bear.

We've taken this step in our own business by paying for our team members' internet costs. And we also upgraded their home internet to the highest speed fibre internet.

It's the modern equivalent of providing your typist with a typewriter. Giving your factory workers a machine to operate. Or providing your roving salesperson with a vehicle.

5. Training in virtual meeting facilitation

You've considered the advice and implemented what makes sense. Now what?

Now it's time to invest in virtual meeting facilitation training. 

Now your investment in training will go the distance. You'll get your team excited about the potential of digital collaboration and the systems will be in place to enable them to unlock the potential of virtual productivity.

Unlock the potential of your virtual collaboration

Virtual meetings can be enjoyable and engaging - with a bit of practice and the right tools under your belt. To make this easy for you, we’ve pulled all our guidance together in the Virtually Productive e-book.