Leading Group Audio Calls

Group audio calls, or conference calls, are more involved than one-on-one calls. All the rules apply, and they are even more important. Again, because phone calls—even group calls—feel so familiar, you might be inclined to skip some of the five steps of a phone call. However, doing this decreases the effectiveness of the call and can lead to people feeling frustrated or unheard.

Who to Invite

To start with, be sure you invite the right people to participate. The more people who are on a call, the more chaotic it can become. Make sure you invite only those who are crucial to the conversation, rather than simply inviting anyone who might be interested. Remember, you can always send a call summary afterward to those who are not essential to the call. Some apps also allow you to record calls and share them later.

If you will be recording a call, everyone participating should be aware of the recording in advance. In some states, it’s illegal to record calls without permission from the other participants.

Scheduling

As possible, schedule the call in advance and give participants the necessary information about the technology, including call-in numbers or applications you will be using. You should at least have a basic agenda. Even if it’s a recurring weekly call, make sure you’ve thought about how time will be spent and what the priorities are for this week. Go through all of the five stages of a call. Setting the next steps is especially important in a group setting so people feel their time has been well spent and know what’s expected of them going forward.

Best Practices

Here are some best practices that make conference calls easier for everyone to follow:

Bring energy to the call: Your physical actions, like standing or moving around, can make you sound more engaged and lively, even if others can’t see you. If you’re stuck sitting, sit up straight and imagine you’re presenting to people in the same room.

Clarify speaker transitions: Let participants know how the conversation will move from one person to the next. For smaller or familiar groups, the conversation might flow easily. With larger groups, it might help to save questions for the end or after each section to avoid chaos.

Do time checks. Since people won’t be able to read each other’s cues, those who are speaking won’t be able to see the urgency in the faces of those who want to join the discussion. By mentioning how much time is left in the call, you are gently reminding people not to monologue or take over the conversation. Generally, checking in at the halfway point, with fifteen minutes left, and then with five minutes left is a good plan. You can say something like, “I want to do a quick time check. We have fifteen minutes left and two agenda items yet to discuss.”

Reduce background noise: Encourage those not speaking to mute their microphones to cut down on distracting sounds. Also, ask participants to silence other notifications to avoid unexpected interruptions during the call.

Participating in a Group Audio Call

So far, we’ve mostly talked about conference calls assuming that you are the leader or planner. But there are ways to be a good participant on calls that other people are leading.

• Call in a couple of minutes early so that people are not waiting for you. With most third-party call-in apps, you will get hold music or silence. You can keep doing your work while you’re waiting, but you’ll be ready to go as soon as the host dials in.
• Plan to stay in one place just as you would for an in-person meeting. Sometimes, you have to get ready to leave or the call starts while you’re on your way back from another meeting, but to the extent that you can, stay put.
• Mute your line if . . .
  • You don’t expect to be doing much talking.
  • You are in a noisy place like a coffee shop or airport lounge.
  • You have to eat during the call. Chewing sounds drowning out the speaker is pretty tacky.
  • You have a cold or allergies that make your bodily functions especially audible.
• Let the host or planner know in advance if you will need to join the call late or leave it early. That way, when people hear the notification sound, they won’t wonder who’s hung up and waste time asking.

Minimize Distractions

Resist the temptation to check emails or surf online. If it’s worth your time to be present at this meeting, you should really be present and actively listening. If you find it difficult to stay focused, take notes. Even if you don’t need them later, taking notes with pen and paper will help you stay focused on the call.

Hybrid Meetings

You may find yourself planning or participating in a meeting that includes both people in the same room and people on the phone. We’ll call this a hybrid audio meeting. Certainly, the same rules apply to hybrid meetings as apply to other types of group calls:

• Remember to send them an agenda and any handouts or other materials in advance.
• Add extra time for technical difficulties just as you would if everyone was on the phone.

The main issue with hybrid calls is that the people in the room tend to forget about the people on the phone—they literally forget they’re even there. As you can imagine, this doesn’t happen as easily with videoconferencing when you can actually see people’s faces on a screen. So how do you avoid abandoning your remote colleagues?

• Assign one in-person participant to advocate for the people on the phone. This is by far the most effective way to make sure that they have a chance to participate. This person should take the following steps:
  • Take the opportunity after every agenda item to ask the people on the phone if they have questions or anything to add.
  • Make sure that if anything is being shown in the room, it gets described for those on the phone. For example, if someone has a sample that just arrived, the phone advocate should describe it: “For those listening remotely, Maggie just showed us the new shopping bag prototype that arrived this morning. It’s the same colors as the old one, but the design is really retro. We’ll send you a picture after the call.” Or if it’s really important, the advocate should send a picture right away from their smartphone.
  • Explain laughter or other emotional responses that are not clear to those not in the room: “Hey phone people, the reason everyone is laughing is that the food delivery guy thought Charlie was the president of the company.”
  • If possible, set up an IM chat with those on the phone. This will allow them to ask for clarification or post questions without having to interrupt the flow of the meeting. Jumping into a conversation when you’re miles away is not always easy, and it can feel really awkward.
• If you have notes or an agenda for the meeting, add in “check with phone participants” at moments when it makes sense.
• Don’t forget that it’s a phone call for at least some of you, so go through the five stages with everyone.