Make meetings great again!
Today’s meetings
Meetings are part of our daily professional lives, not even a work-from-home mandate during a global pandemic eradicated them from our work calendars. We merely adjusted our schedules and shifted from meeting in person to online.
Yet many of us think that meetings are ineffective and unproductive, according to research data collected from a variety of surveys. In fact, findings suggest that many meetings are not only inefficient but are counterproductive and have a negative impact on morale, with 67% of employees complaining that they are spending too much time in meetings, hindering them from being industrious at work.
Research into working practices show that the average British worker spends 26 working days per year in meetings. That’s more than most employees holiday allowance! Managers and professionals aren’t immune to meeting mania either, losing on average 30% of their time in meetings that could have been invested in other productive tasks.
Meeting culture is taking a toll not just on employee morale but also on the financial well-being of the corporate balance sheet. A survey of 6,500 people from the USA, UK, and Germany found that among the 19 million meetings that were observed, the ineffective meetings cost the UK economy up to £45 billion per year.
Embedded into culture
Meetings are so embedded into office working culture that we often fail to appreciate just how much time employees spend in meetings. The statistics speak for themselves:
Overall, 15% of an organisation’s time is spent in meetings, which has increased year on year since 2008.
On average middle managers spend 35% and upper management spend 50% of their time in meetings.
More than 35% of employees cited spending 2 to 5 hours per day on meetings and conference calls but say they have little output to show for the time spent.
No tier of management spared
Meetings are viewed as a necessary activity to keep projects moving forward and keep the team engaged. However, the research doesn’t back this up; a survey of senior managers in a range of industries revealed:
65% said meetings keep them from completing their own work.
71% said meetings are unproductive and inefficient.
64% said meetings come at the expense of deep thinking.
62% said meetings miss opportunities to bring the team closer together.
Just who or what is driving this culture of endless meetings when surveys reveal that even senior management feels it’s a wasteful use of time?
It appears we have sleepwalked into accepting unproductive, inefficient meetings that chew up valuable chunks of our working week. But it doesn’t have to be this way. When run effectively, meetings are an opportunity to clarify issues, set new directions, sharpen focus, create alignment, and move objectives forward.
Improvement requires change
People are social creatures and meetings can be the sweet spot where we get work done, together. Meetings that are run effectively can be energising and morale-boosting, facilitating people to come together to collaborate on projects, coordinate resources and build their community.
To achieve this, we need to make meetings super effective, to leverage all the brainpower in the room in pursuit of clear meeting objectives, aligned with the purpose of the organisation. Adopting the right approach not only increases a successful outcome but it is also respectful of people’s precious time and the intention of making the most of it.
The good news is that running better meetings is a skill that can be easily learned, and it is called facilitation. Treehouse has an online course called Facilitating Better Meetings that will help you develop the skills to make your meetings effective, productive, and engaging.
Reap the benefits of better meetings
Meetings can be highly effective in getting work done, creating new ideas to solve tricky problems, and stimulating two-way communication. Increasing the effectiveness of meetings can:
Accelerate innovation - increasing the quality, volume, and frequency of strategic insight.
Improve speed to market – by exchanging ideas and insights across projects and responding more quickly to customer needs and market opportunities.
Increase accountability – creating an environment where more people contribute to discussions and decisions more often, resulting in higher levels of personal ownership.
Optimise time management – effective meetings are more productive, saving time and money.
Innovation and Change Management
Embracing innovation and change allows organisations to seize new opportunities, improve efficiency, and build resilience
By investing in the skills to make your meetings more engaging and productive, it will ultimately save your organisation money. It will make your people happier because they will feel involved and valued as a contributor and empowered to achieve their objectives.
There is no greater feeling than being part of a team that is firing on all cylinders, powering through the work, and creating great solutions that delight customers. When it comes to meetings, we should think like a 90's techno band and aim for shorter, better, faster, stronger.
Survey data sources: Harvard Business Review, Moo, Timely, HR Digest.