What collaboration looks like since COVID-19

Collaboration is defined as the action of working with someone to produce or create something or traitorous cooperation with an enemy. As transformational leaders, we desire to empower and engage others in decision-making as much as possible because we know the importance of buy-in. COVID-19 introduced a virtual way of doing business and so you possibly have various meetings color-coded that now drive your day. There are recurring meetings, one-off meetings, and one on one meetings.

What happened? During COVID-19 those meetings kept us connected with the world outside our doors. As the workforce transitioned into a hybrid role the expectation was to have these meetings reduced and the time slots reviewed. What does it look like as an employer who states your employees are entitled to a 30-minute or one-hour lunch break but you have recurring meetings through the lunch hour?

Recently Google calendar introduced a feature that provides stats on how much time you spend on meetings each week based on your schedule. If you and your team spend more than 20% of your time on meetings, understand the productivity of your organization is at stake. Strategize, empower, and follow up. There is a sense of fulfillment when staff has reasonable time to accomplish an assigned task. Micro-management is controlling, mentally draining, and produces burnout.

To have effective meetings, and have participants engaged in brainstorming sessions, creative leaders are not only effective communicators but employ strategic storytelling principles that enable them to integrate abstract reasoning and analysis into informal and formal methods of communication. I go into more detail in chapter five of my book Data Speaks: Business Analytics For The Creative Leader. If you want to work with someone to produce or create something which is the essence of collaboration then the words of Franklin D. Roosevelt, "Be sincere, be brief, be seated".

I will like to hear your thoughts on the trend of meetings since COVID-19.