Running Effective Meetings. If in doubt have a meeting…That should sort everything out!!
Some points to consider…we are spending more time in meetings than ever…and that was prior to pandemic! 50% of meetings are considered to be ineffective.
Its then frightening to consider that 70% of people bring other work to the meeting, and at some point, 90% will have their thoughts elsewhere.
For 25% of the time trivia is discussed.
Finally consider the ripple effect across the business…the senior team meet…the message gets cascaded…and so on…right down to the shop or office floor.
The time lost?... 71% of professionals waste time every week due to unnecessary or cancelled meetings, and 31 hours are spent on unproductive meetings monthly.
It sounds like the following six pointers need to be taken on board!!
Run your meetings as you would have others run the meetings that you attend…Learn from what goes wrong…put right the findings.
Be prepared and ensure that all the participants can be as well. Prepare an agenda and ensure that it is circulated 24-48 hours in advance. Similarly, make sure that any other relevant and necessary information, is similarly shared. People should know why they are there and of the expectations.
Have a time schedule and be disciplined. Be aware of timings, and be considerate when setting the time of meetings…when are people most productive?
Stay on topic and expect the same of others…remind people when necessary.
Don’t hold meetings for the sake of it…schedule by all means…defer when not needed. Is there a better way to communicate?
Perhaps most importantly…when concluding, make sure that all outputs are known…by when, and by whom!
Consider this, wasted meeting are akin to granting 15 days extra holiday to each individual…can your business cope with that?
“Meetings should be like salt - a spice sprinkled carefully to enhance a dish, not poured recklessly over every forkful. Too much salt destroys a dish. Too many meetings destroy morale and motivation”!
Jason Fried.
