I got this great email from Kymn. She writes:
Hi John,
LOVE your newsletter!
Quick question: 99% of my communication with my VA is via email. We used to meet on zoom frequently and now we do not anymore. Her work is still excellent. I’m wondering if it is a mistake not to connect with her face-to-face more often and wonder what you think about this. She seems satisfied; I’m satisfied yet this is a nagging question.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts about this!
Kymn
Honestly, I don’t know.
I NEVER meet with my people via video. Always via project management or email. Often I send them a video of me, but rarely do I get a video (screen recordings) of them.
I asked them about it and got different responses.
Some of them are okay with just the video message, email, Slack, or comments on our Basecamp. They don’t like doing face-to-face meetings because they don’t want me to see laundry or hear their loud chickens/dogs/tricycles in the background. I’m okay with it, but I understand why they’d be self-conscious about that.
Some like regular meetings, but they’re okay with how things are. These are my OFS (Online Filipino Specialists) who’ve worked in offices before and are used to meetings.
The closest thing we have to a company meeting is when we do a Campfire on Basecamp. That’s where we post if we need to tell everybody something, and anyone can respond. For team meetings, we have our Slack channels.
This system works for us, for how we do things. But I know this might not work for everyone. Meetings get a lot of flack for being too long and tedious, but some businesses need regular meetings.
I think the important thing to think about is:
- Does a regular meeting serve a purpose?
- Does it help you run your business?
- Will it help your OFS get their work done?
If the answer is yes to all three questions, then go ahead and have a meeting. If this is something that you want to do and would make you feel more comfortable working with your OFS, go for it.
When you do it, you’ll get a feeling from it. Might be great for you. Might be great for them. It might not be.
I’d be interested in how you hold meetings with your team and how productive you feel they are.
If you want to know more about how I work with my Filipino team, check out my book, The Outsourcing Lever.
John