So, after a long and potentially expensive process, you’ve finally have the appropriate technology infrastructure to engage in video conferencing. Great! Whether you’ve decided to invest in Adobe Connect, Cisco WebEx, or Bluejeans, you can finally communicate with all of your remote workers easily and keep them up to date on all of your upcoming projects. But what if there was a way to get even more use out of your new video conferencing capabilities? If that sounds interesting to you, then you’ve come to the right place. In the sections below, we will outline some tips on how you can use video conference technology in order to expand the horizons of your business.
Hire At Least One Employee From A Different Country
Everyone has heard the old adage that two heads are better than one. Obviously, the reasoning behind this is that a second person can catch mistakes that the first has made, or bring a previously unconsidered perspective that can vastly improve the end result of the project. However, you can also take this concept even further.
While it seems naïve, people seem to consistently underestimate the effect that growing up in a different country has on a way that a person thinks and reasons through challenges. If your company requires video conferencing capability, odds are that you have positions in your company that can be filled by a remote employee. So rather than selecting your next employee from a local pool of talent, try casting your net a bet further to see what other countries have to offer. A employee that is based from a foreign country brings their own set of challenges that will need to be overcome (differing schedules, varying cultural norms etc.) but they also have the capability to bring a different method to their work or creative energy from local talent due to their different upbringing.
Shorten Your Meeting
Video conferencing also has the ability to vastly increase the efficiency of everyone who has the chance to take advantage of it. Employees no longer have to travel as much and will therefore have more time to work. Executives will never have to leave the office, saving the company money on travel expenses while allow the executive more time to see to the day to day needs of the company. But you can increase the effectiveness of your employees further through an incredibly simple method.
From this point onward, try shortening your meetings. The benefits of doing so are two-fold. First, your employees will have a larger amount of time to work when they have to spend less time in meetings, increasing the value that they bring to the company. The second benefit of shorter meetings is a bit more subtle however.
Imagine the following: there are two companies, one of which has a two hour meeting twice a month while one has an hour long meeting once a week. Based on these factors, which of the companies do you think would have the most efficient workers? Nine times out of ten, the company with the shorter but more frequent meetings experiences increased employee efficiency. The reason for this is that a shorter meeting will allow you to give concise information and instructions that will easily be remembered, versus dumping too much information on your employees at the same time. With video conferencing, you can easily get in contact with all of your employees no matter their location or schedule making this approach even more effective.
Conduct Video Interviews
Conducting interviews over the phone keeps you from being able to asses several different features of a potential employee that can tell you whether or not they will be an appropriate fit for the job. However, conducting interviews in an office setting can be incredibly inconvenient, not to mention making a stressful situation even worse for the hire.
However, there is a way that you can make this situation easier for everyone involved. To do this, simply give your employees the option to conduct their interviews through your video conferencing client. While it may sound like a strange approach considering that interviews have always taken place in person, being unable to quickly adapt can cause the downfall of any business. So don’t be afraid to give it a shot! You’ll still be able to visually assess them, and letting them conduct the interview in their home will increase their confidence because they will be in familiar surroundings.
In Conclusion
Whether you’re multiparty video conferencing with BlueJeans Network, Adobe Connect, or Cisco WebEx, all of the tips you’ve found in this article can greatly increase your business’s flexibility and earning potential.
