During the #covid induced #workfromanywhere, apart from the in-person #social interactions, if there’s one thing I have missed badly, it has to be #whiteboards (even more than the office coffee!) I can’t remember any meeting in last 15–20 years, or maybe more, where I could not stop myself from getting off the chair in the first five minutes of a meeting and scribbling and doodling my ideas on the humble but almighty whiteboard. And with some great effects too! The whiteboard has this magnetic appeal to invite feedback and critiques that the documents and powerpoints just don’t have. I find them too “laminated” in the sense that they can’t be modified by anyone examining them, as opposed to a whiteboard where anyone and everyone can dive in and contribute and improvise the ideas endlessly. My idea of a great office has always been ceiling-to-floor whiteboarding surfaces not just in meeting rooms but all along the hallways! But do people know how to best use a whiteboard?
I never thought there could even be an explainer video on how to use whiteboards correctly, but #HBR seems to have elevated that to a management fad :). But jokes aside, a lot of people freeze when they see a whiteboard (more likely), or just go berserk with literally dumping all that’s in their mind (less likely). So, it does seem like a skill that people could do better with. In any case, whether you are on the pro-whiteboard camp or the anti-whiteboard camp, I am sure there are a things or two that we all could leverage and improve the quality of our in-person meetings and conversations. And yes, I can’t wait to get back to office meetings…after all, the whiteboards are waiting :)…!
