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The COVID-19 pandemic has driven significant parts of our lives online, including both personal and professional. The past few months have seen a tremendous surge in the use of videoconferencing for businesses. Organizations have had to make a drastic shift where employees have had to embrace the work-from-home culture with no real time to prepare for it. What are we learning from this experience, and what is needed to maximize our use of this technology?
‘Unmuted: What works, what doesn’t, and how we can all do better when working together online is a just-released report by the Goodman Centre in partnership with Capacity Canada and several other organizations. It fills a much-needed research gap about how to make videoconferencing and other forms of online meeting and learning more effective.
The study reflects the insights of 4,405 people working with non-profits, foundations, colleges, universities, and government agencies. It aims to equip businesses and organizations with information to support them during these challenging times.
“When the pandemic hit, we were hosting meetings using different videoconferencing applications, and we kept running into problems. We decided to look at some of the research we had and realized the last such research was done in 2009. We conducted at least 30 webinars in May this year to understand what people needed in terms of support and decided to follow it up with new research,” says Andy Goodman, from the Goodman Centre, who is also the writer of the report.
As the title suggests, by pressing ‘unmute’ and letting thousands of people sound off about their daily experiences during videoconferences, the report has identified best practices worth emulating. It also highlights persistent problems that require attention. The majority of survey respondents also indicated that online meetings would remain a regular occurrence in the future and were likely to become a permanent fixture for some. So, enhancing capacity in the design and delivery of online meetings is an important priority.
“Andy Goodman has done so much to help non-profits tell their stories more successfully. It is entirely congruent that we now turn to him to help us work together using the best information and practices available,” says Cathy Brothers, CEO, Capacity Canada.
Unmuted is divided into nine sections that each focus on specific aspects of videoconferences such as structure, leadership and facilitation, engagement techniques, and more. Each section includes data-driven recommendations that can substantially improve videoconferences.
One of the key takeaways from this research is the importance of training for leaders and those conducting web meetings. The study recommends online courses best suited for employees’ needs to train them on the skills required for conducting videoconferences.
“When we started our research at the beginning of the pandemic, we assumed people would be back to work by the time we complete our study. However, that hasn’t been the case. Like it or not, the era of videoconferencing is here to stay for a while,” adds Goodman.
LEARN MORE
- Download ‘Unmuted: What works, what doesn’t, and how we can all do better when working together online
- Learn more and visit the Capacity Canada website
- For more resources to support virtual work, check out the Virtual Work is Here: A Guide for Youth co-produced by Tamarack and Canadian Council for Youth Prosperity
