Leaders Leave Last
Before we went remote, I used to hang around at the end of meetings just in case someone had a lingering question they wanted to ask without an audience.
Today, even though I’m only a quick keyboard shortcut away from instantly exiting any Zoom call, I still try to be the last one to leave. Once we say our goodbyes, I hang on for ten more seconds as the group filters out.
Most of the time I’m left looking at me. Sometimes though, someone else waits around too. Then, given this serendipitous opportunity to bring up that gnawing question, they ask if I have another minute, and I say sure.
There’s no way to prove that I’m getting questions or conversations that wouldn’t come up some other way. But I do think there’s a little something to not rushing away at the end of calls—and a lot of something to leaders making an extra effort to be available. Besides, it costs me nothing.
I tend to overthink these kind of things. But the few times I’ve hung around at the end of a call only to see someone else hesitantly hanging around with me, I know I’m probably in for something good. “Hey, do you have another minute?” Yes. Yes I do.