In this blog series, I’m looking at some of the Microsoft Teams faux pas that we’ve all seen (and maybe done!) so that we can laugh at ourselves a bit and remember that we’re all learning!

Deadly sin number 2 is, as they say, a ‘doozy’! That awful moment when you realise that you thought you were on mute in a group Teams call… but you’re not! (Dun dun duuuuuun)

So it’s the daily stand-up, the weekly sales meeting, or worse still, the Quarterly All Hands update. You’re working from somewhere other than the office, and you’ve settled in, safe in the knowledge that your laptop/headset is on mute and nobody can hear what you’re saying/doing.

Then, you have a sudden thought and shout down the stairs to your youngest son “LUKE – HAVE YOU FOUND YOUR RECORDER?”* – after a brief pause, the MD / CEO / VP makes a mildly uncomfortable comment and you realise that you weren’t on mute after all and EVERYONE in the call has just heard you shout down the stairs. Worse still, Luke hasn’t found his recorder.

We’ve all been there / heard about / actually done a not-on-mute mistake. I’d love to say that I’ve got lots of clever tactics to help make sure that this never happens to you.

There are some headsets out there which give you a visual clue to tell you you’re on mute, like a red light, (I still don’t trust it) but as I’m not a device expert (maybe some of you device experts out there can chime in here?!)  I guess the bottom line of it is… just make sure you’re on mute. OR – don’t shout down the stairs just in case.

Have you heard a mute mishap? Or worse fallen foul of one? Or have you got a failsafe that helps make sure this doesn’t happen? I’d love to hear them in the comments! 

_{*Actually heard on a Quarterly All Hands Business Update call. The victim shall remain nameless to protect their identity.}