Earlier this week, a friend, on a phone call (not a zoom call), told me about “zoom fatigue” as he was venting about how many hours he spends every day on phone calls and video calls; then, at the end of the day reflects on “what the heck did I even accomplish today?”
And as the week progressed, I experienced the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon, otherwise known as frequency illusion. The phenomenon where something you recently learned suddenly appears everywhere. Like when you’re thinking about getting a golden-doodle puppy, suddenly all you see are golden doodles. Once my friend told me about zoom fatigue, it’s on the news, friends are talking about it, it’s everywhere!
So I did a bit more research and found, yup, it’s a thing.
Defined as “the feeling of tiredness, anxiousness or worry with yet another video call.”
I found several tips to combat zoom fatigue:
Not every video call needs to be a video call
Take breaks in between video calls
Only the person speaking/presenting has video on
Once a week have a team video call to foster a shared sense of being together, and all other work is audio calls.
As a leader, think about how you can help your team combat zoom fatigue.
Many years ago, one of my team members, Mike Griesi, gave me some great advice. I had a routine that every Sunday morning, I would review our numbers and plan my priorities for the week. This generated a number of emails to my team members with questions, ideas and calls to action. One day, Mike shared with me how these Sunday morning emails were creating a lot of stress for my team (my direct reports). Even though I didn’t expect them to respond on a Sunday, Mike informed me that they felt some pressure to either respond or at least be prepared to respond. He asked me to consider writing the emails, but don’t send them until late Sunday or maybe even wait until Monday morning. Just because Sunday morning was a good productive time for me, didn’t mean it was good for my team.
What does this story have to do with zoom fatigue?
Consider scheduling a phone call with your team members instead of a video call. You might not have a Mike Griessi to tell you how much stress you’re creating with your video calls; but that doesn’t mean you can’t give your team an “out”. Occasionally you can join the call with the video off.
What other things are you doing to combat zoom fatigue and help your team combat it, too? I’d love to hear from you. Send me an email at info@KJCompany.net.
Photo by Kinga Cichewicz on Unsplash