One thing you never hear in the office
"That 3 hour meeting was great. I wish it had gone on longer."
In fact it’s quite the opposite, research shows that 59% of meetings we attend are deemed unnecessary.
What gets in the way of work
It’s amazing how many unproductive meetings we attend that get in the way of our core day-to-day tasks. With this in mind here’s 4 things to remember when scheduling and leading meetings.
Source: Mitel - Office Productivity
1. Be selective with who you invite
Don’t invite your whole contact list, be selective and opt for the relevant decision makers and project influencers.
The more attendees the harder it is to keep the focus and achieve the desired outcomes.
Also make sure you provide the context and agenda for the meeting so those you have invited understand what they need to contribute and why it’s important for them to attend.
2. Opt for face-to-face or telepresence meetings
"John, has the contract been signed?...John?... John are you there?"
"Sorry, I was on mute," you say
What you actually mean is you were multi-tasking and working on the PowerPoint that is due by close of play and weren’t paying full attention.
Sound familiar?
Conference calls are often not the most productive. If a meeting is essential, where possible opt for face-to-face or schedule a videoconference.
3. Is your meeting really necessary?
Research shows ‘unnecessary meetings’ waste a significant amount of our time at work.
When scheduling your meeting ask these questions:
Have the key decision makers accepted? If not cancel and save everyone’s diary time.
Is the conversation bigger than an instant message or email? Often updates can be done a lot quicker via chat, email or calls directly to decision makers.
Don’t hold a meeting if the purpose is just to update people. This can be done via email.
4. Keep it short and stick to time
The best meetings are short and productive.
Engagement in meetings starts to drop off rapidly after 30 minutes. TED talks are only 18 minutes in length and this is one of the key reasons behind the format’s success.
It’s limited to 18 minutes as data shows 10 to 18 minutes is the amount of time most people can pay attention before they tune out.
With this in mind, and if your agenda is short, why not trial scheduling 24 minute meetings, give your attendees a six minute break to grab a coffee before they continue with their day of back-to-back meetings.
Can we help how your team collaborates?
If you’re looking to improve productivity in 2018 think about implementing tools like chat that can help your team achieve quicker decisions, eliminate the need for meetings and reduce email (by up to 40%).
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