Virtual Meetings Are Not Your Enemy Dana Look-Arimoto
Virtual meetings. Once, a rarity often secluded to large companies. Now, an everyday occurrence that means we have to be presentable from the waist up. COVID-19 has forced people to become virtual at an extremely accelerated pace. Going from meeting up with friends in very real places after leaving a physical office building, to confining all meetings, personal and professional, to your computer, laptop, or phone screen. And while COVID-19 sped up the process, this shift was only a matter of time, especially where I work and live in the Silicon Valley. Here, the push for companies to become more accepting of virtual models and meetings was already on the rise. That push became an unceremonious shove around the globe as companies and people had to adapt to social distancing and lockdown orders. So, all this is to say that virtual meetings and models are here to stay, in some form or another, even when the pandemic passes. We are going through life-altering times and there will never truly be a return to what was before.
The New Norm The shift to a virtual model, at least for my work, was a seamless transition because I was already almost completely virtual. I run a “solo-prenuership” called Phoenix5, where I coach executives, leaders, and companies on building teams and corporate cultures that last. My clients are spread all over the United States and our sessions are conducted over phone or Zoom. The only time my job required me to show up in person was when I led offsites or spoke at events. Now, this is not to say that I don’t miss meeting with my clients in person. I absolutely do. But I was participating in the so-called “new norm” before it was the norm, so I didn’t feel too much change in that sense. Where I did feel a huge change was my social life. Meeting up with friends in-person to take walks or grab a drink and a bite to eat was a big part of my relaxation time. And I loved it. I am a social person, though growing slightly more “hermit-esque” with age, and I enjoy spending time around my friends. Adapting to a virtual model here was a much bigger challenge. I think I first adjusted to the new norm as per most of us, phone calls. I would call and chat with friends
