So I’m about 4 weeks into my new position at work which entails many hours on zoom calls (actually it’s Microsoft Teams). I’m not sure how I managed to work though the pandemic and not be familiar with zoom, but neither of my jobs required any zoom calls. So one of the reasons I shifted responsibility at work was to get some experience holding meetings on Teams. I feel ridiculous even saying that because if you asked anyone else, even my children, they would all be very familiar with doing this now. I tend to not like FaceTime, preferring just voice calling – so the whole video thing is not something I’m used to.
I haven’t really had regular professional meetings in over 15 years (maybe 20?) in which there are more than 5 or 6 people trying to work together to solve a problem. I have become a very independent worker, not even really relying on my colleagues really for very much.
I like it as a work tool, I feel like it’s a little more egalitarian on Teams than in person. There is a line to speak, everyone speaks in turn, people seem to more understand to not dominate the meeting (though it still happens). Everyone is kind of the same size and occupies the same mental space on the little grid. Of course, it’s very convenient and we are all in our homes only feet from our beds/kids/snacks/FedEx delivery/etc. But the meetings tend to bleed because you can still chat on the chat box after the meeting has adjourned and people do this for hours after the meeting has ended. I’m not great at keeping tabs of the chat and the voices of the meetings at the same time. So I miss small asides during the meeting.
Sometimes I feel like an old grumpy person, not transitioning well to this new way of working. hahaha. nah, I’m ok. It’s fine, gotta go to a zoom meeting. See y’all later.