Conference Call Etiquette – the do’s and don’t’s of multi-way phone conversations

Conference calls - the curse of every hard working manager. Love or hate them, with today's geographically dispersed teams and travel restrictions, conference call etiquette is a key part of any manager's skill set.

Here are 3 of my favorite transgressions of conference call etiquette...

• a barking dog drowning out the key discussion point was bad enough, but then owner started shouting at his pet

• a thirsty caller uses the hold button whilst slipping out to get a drink, unaware that hold music starts playing to everyone on the call

• a talkative colleague uses the mute button to moan about the call, stopping anyone answering the question just asked by the remote senior manager

Obviously I would discourage all these career limiting behaviours, so what are the do’s and don’ts of effective conference call etiquette?