Tips to Keep Conference Calls Short and Effective

Michael is a technical project/program management manager.

  Communications Management   Teams  

With the current health threat of COVID-19, many of us are entering a new era of working remotely full-time for the foreseeable future. These dramatic and unexpected changes to our previous environment will require us to adapt to new ways of working, if we haven’t already.

As leaders within the project management field, we must take initiative to implement these new best practices for our projects to remain successful. Effective use of conference calls is one of the simplest yet most overlooked ways we can actively lead and improve efficiencies on our projects. I hope the following tips will provide guidance and assist each of you in streamlining your conference calls.

1. Come prepared
Being properly prepared for any call is probably the most critical habit you can build. If you are leading the call, sending an agenda out prior to the call highlighting the previous call’s action items will serve as a reminder to those owners to also be prepared. Addressing action items a day or two prior to the call by reaching out to their owners is another way to be proactive. This will aid in expediting your call as you can simply review the updated action items, obtain buy-in from the team, and close them out.

2. Build a relationship with the team
Using the start of calls while waiting for others to join doesn’t have to be spent sitting in awkward silence. …

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