If you have a quiet space at home and the environment is distraction-free, there’s no question that working remotely can be a productive way to get things done.
That's assuming it's a solo work effort, or requires no more than one or two other people to complete the task at hand.
But have you ever tried to work on a project virtually lately?
Depending on the day, you might have a Zoom full of faces… or empty spaces.
People talking over each other…or people not talking at all.
People taking the call from their car…or people rebooting frozen screens.
And then my favorite…people showing up for the meeting but using this time to catch up on emails or work on something else they deem as being more important.
Sound familiar?
Attending these weekly meetings might be necessary but they just keep dragging on. A project that could have been done in a couple of weeks, sputters along for months.
3 MONTHS OF WORK IN 4 HOURS
My team recently held a workshop to prepare for the rollout of a major change in our recruiting process.
The people in the workshop are all fully remote and hail from all corners of our footprint. They very rarely get together in person.
Since the stakes were high for this meeting, I asked the project lead to develop an in-person workshop to make sure everyone was dialed in and focused on knocking this project out of the park.
The result?
What would have normally taken us 3 months to accomplish, we finished in a four hour workshop that day.
But it didn’t happen by chance. It took a lot of planning to pull this off. But this planning and the success of the meeting is what caused me to write this article.
WHEN IS IT TIME TO BAG THE VIRTUAL MEETING?
After the success of the workshop, I started thinking about when I, as a leader, needed my team to be together and when it was okay if we’re apart. I reflected upon the last few years when we were operating at our best and times when we just scraped along struggling to tie up loose ends.
Here’s when I decided it’s essential to get the team together in person:
When you’re planning a major rollout or a major change.
When you’re doing talent reviews or succession plans.
When you’re kicking off a project or implementation.
When you’re evaluating software/service vendors.
When you need to generate lots of new ideas.
When you’re working on strategic planning.
When you’re working on your strategy.
When you’re process mapping.
When you’re celebrating.
I could probably list a few more, but I think you can see some themes here.
When you’re doing work that involves multiple people, it’s at a critical stage, and has high stakes involved, you have a better chance of being productive and successful if you get in a room, in-person, with the people involved.
Remote, individual or small-group work is great for all the other times when you’ve already set the stage and everyone is deep in execution mode.
Pulling teams together takes time and money, but I would argue that letting projects drag on for months at a time is even more costly.
// Supporting Resources
Here is a curated list of high-value, creative assets based on the article's theme of fun, engagement, and team unity.
Books to Read…
Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport: This book offers strategies for focusing without distraction on a cognitively demanding task. It provides a blueprint for how and when to schedule uninterrupted solo work to complement in-person collaboration. Link Here
Podcast Episodes to Listen to…
"The Power of a Retreat" from the Business Made Simple podcast by Donald Miller: This episode discusses why getting a team together off-site is a critical part of a company's rhythm and how to design a productive retreat that drives business results. Listen Here
"Zoom In... or Out? Why Face-to-Face Meetings Matter" from the If/Then: Business, Leadership, Society podcast: This episode from Stanford Graduate School of Business features a professor's research that found pairs working face-to-face generated 15-20% more ideas than pairs working on Zoom. It directly supports the idea that in-person interaction is superior for creative collaboration and brainstorming. Listen Here
"Getting Unstuck" from the Renegades of RecOps podcast: This episode focuses on how recruiting leaders can identify and address problems that are preventing their teams from moving forward, a common issue when projects stall. Listen Here
Articles or Blog Posts to Read...
"The Return-to-Office Productivity Argument Is Over" from Inc. Magazine: A concise article that outlines specific situations and types of work that are better suited for in-person collaboration, reinforcing the core idea of the newsletter article. Link Here
"The 7 Simple Rules of Brainstorming" from Ideo: This article challenges traditional brainstorming norms and suggests new techniques that are highly effective in a group setting, directly supporting the point that ideation is best done in person. Link Here
"Team Project Kickoff: Six Best Practices That Work" from Syntactics: A step-by-step guide to leading a project kickoff that sets the right tone, clarifies roles, and builds momentum, a key component of the newsletter's in-person framework. Link Here
Visual Frameworks...
The McKinsey 7S Framework: A framework that analyzes a company's organizational elements. The visual shows how "Strategy," "Structure," and "Systems" must align to achieve success, reinforcing the core message that a recruiting function needs a clear, unified approach to thrive. Link Here