By Paul Bryce
Business meetings can take up so much time and produce so little return on investment that it is mo small wonder that the majority of us dread them, even hate them with a vengeance! To give you an example of meeting madness, I have been to a pre-meeting meeting to discuss the meeting that we then attended. This was followed by a post-meeting debrief meeting to talk about how the meeting went and then later we had a strategy meeting to discuss how we would approach the next meeting! And if that wasn't enough, further meetings were spawned to discuss the tasks required to action some of the outcomes from the original meeting. All in all, I spent about 7 hours in meetings for the sake of one 2 hour meeting.
The really sad part about this is that it wasn't an isolated incident, nor was it peculiar to my employer. I have seen similar patterns before and since, where managers and staff are relentlessly drawn into meeting after meeting, seemingly without end. This never ending cycle of meetings has several pitfalls, not the least of which is the frustration caused and the lack of real work being done. That's not to say that meetings aren't necessary, they are, but many organisations overdo them to such a degree that staff can spend over 50% of their time stuck in meetings. Now, assuming that they were employed to produce a good 35 hours of meaningful work each week, is it any surprise that either things don't get done or there is a staggering amount of overtime.
Here are some ideas to cut meetings down to acceptable levels and get some work done;
Ask yourself this question before you schedule your next meeting; Is it necessary? Often, the subject of a meeting can be discussed more effectively via email or a few well-placed phone calls. This is especially true when the invitees are geographically dispersed.
Give attendees plenty of notice and be clear about the intended outcome. Too many times I have left a meeting wondering what it was about, never mind knowing what was achieved. These meetings become an unstructured talk-fest where no one really knows what they are trying to achieve (and that sometimes includes the convenor). While agendas don't suit everyone, it is polite to inform people why they are needed.
Start and finish on time. Everyone appreciates meetings starting on time, especially when you have a busy schedule. Likewise, meetings that conclude at the specified hour allow for better planning and time management. Once you establish a reputation for good time keeping, attendees are more likely to be punctual (or even turn up). If there are some people who are consistently late without good cause, you could introduce an honesty-box fine system (say $5.00 to charity for every 5 minutes you are late).
Consider using video conferencing to keep travel times down. Yes, attendees might be tempted to wander off to do something else, but there are systems which will let the convenor know when people are not paying attention. Also, if someone is not needed for the entire meeting, why not let them do some other work while keeping part of their attention on proceedings?
Keep your meetings down to 45-60 minutes. We have a limited attention span and long meetings cause people to lose interest and drift off, resulting in lost productivity. I sub-contracted to a very large Australian mining company a few years ago, where meetings were strictly limited to 15 minutes. This worked extremely well and we only had 2-3 of these a week. Everyone had learned to use their own internal networks to bounce ideas around and look for solutions to problems - we only had meetings when they were absolutely necessary.
Keep the topics to a minimum. That big Australian company I mentioned - our meetings usually had 1 or two items for discussion. That meant there was no need for an agenda, everyone who attended was 100% focussed and everyone contributed.
Have a clear set of rules about how the meeting will be conducted and the behaviour that is expected within the room.
Some meetings require minutes to be published and it is very frustrating if these only come out the day of the next meeting! If you do need to produce minutes, make a commitment to have them distributed within two business days, and certainly a week before the next scheduled meeting.
Finally, another useful tactic to employ in the battle against endless meetings is to set a quota on the number of hours everyone spends in meetings. You could, for example, set a quota of 3.5 hours per week; this means that time becomes a commodity which must be carefully spent in order to get the maximum result.
These are only a few tips to help you avoid meeting overwhelm and get on with business. By applying these simple principles alone, your meetings will become more efficient and productive.
The really sad part about this is that it wasn't an isolated incident, nor was it peculiar to my employer. I have seen similar patterns before and since, where managers and staff are relentlessly drawn into meeting after meeting, seemingly without end. This never ending cycle of meetings has several pitfalls, not the least of which is the frustration caused and the lack of real work being done. That's not to say that meetings aren't necessary, they are, but many organisations overdo them to such a degree that staff can spend over 50% of their time stuck in meetings. Now, assuming that they were employed to produce a good 35 hours of meaningful work each week, is it any surprise that either things don't get done or there is a staggering amount of overtime.
Here are some ideas to cut meetings down to acceptable levels and get some work done;
Ask yourself this question before you schedule your next meeting; Is it necessary? Often, the subject of a meeting can be discussed more effectively via email or a few well-placed phone calls. This is especially true when the invitees are geographically dispersed.
Give attendees plenty of notice and be clear about the intended outcome. Too many times I have left a meeting wondering what it was about, never mind knowing what was achieved. These meetings become an unstructured talk-fest where no one really knows what they are trying to achieve (and that sometimes includes the convenor). While agendas don't suit everyone, it is polite to inform people why they are needed.
Start and finish on time. Everyone appreciates meetings starting on time, especially when you have a busy schedule. Likewise, meetings that conclude at the specified hour allow for better planning and time management. Once you establish a reputation for good time keeping, attendees are more likely to be punctual (or even turn up). If there are some people who are consistently late without good cause, you could introduce an honesty-box fine system (say $5.00 to charity for every 5 minutes you are late).
Consider using video conferencing to keep travel times down. Yes, attendees might be tempted to wander off to do something else, but there are systems which will let the convenor know when people are not paying attention. Also, if someone is not needed for the entire meeting, why not let them do some other work while keeping part of their attention on proceedings?
Keep your meetings down to 45-60 minutes. We have a limited attention span and long meetings cause people to lose interest and drift off, resulting in lost productivity. I sub-contracted to a very large Australian mining company a few years ago, where meetings were strictly limited to 15 minutes. This worked extremely well and we only had 2-3 of these a week. Everyone had learned to use their own internal networks to bounce ideas around and look for solutions to problems - we only had meetings when they were absolutely necessary.
Keep the topics to a minimum. That big Australian company I mentioned - our meetings usually had 1 or two items for discussion. That meant there was no need for an agenda, everyone who attended was 100% focussed and everyone contributed.
Have a clear set of rules about how the meeting will be conducted and the behaviour that is expected within the room.
Some meetings require minutes to be published and it is very frustrating if these only come out the day of the next meeting! If you do need to produce minutes, make a commitment to have them distributed within two business days, and certainly a week before the next scheduled meeting.
Finally, another useful tactic to employ in the battle against endless meetings is to set a quota on the number of hours everyone spends in meetings. You could, for example, set a quota of 3.5 hours per week; this means that time becomes a commodity which must be carefully spent in order to get the maximum result.
These are only a few tips to help you avoid meeting overwhelm and get on with business. By applying these simple principles alone, your meetings will become more efficient and productive.
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