Upgrade Your Meetings Game

“People who enjoy meetings should not be in charge of anything.”  — Thomas Sowell

Meetings are tough. They can either be super productive or a complete waste of time. The line between the two is often blurred, as what was supposed to be a constructive meeting can downward spiral into chaos. As your career progresses, the time you spend in meetings only increases. This magnifies the time wasted with meetings which are dumpster fires. Remember, that lost time is something you (and everyone on the call) can’t ever get back.

It probably comes as no surprise to anyone that meetings are ineffective 72% of the time¹. This is due to factors such as not being able to chime in, no clear next steps or action items, and information being on repeat. 32% of people think a meeting could have been an email all or most of the time². We admit, we aren’t the biggest fans of email, but if it saves 30 minutes to 1 hour, then fire away. It’s estimated that business losses in the US are as high as $37 billion due to wasted productivity in excessive meetings³. That’s an insane number. Conversely, well run meetings have positive impact. Short and clear virtual meetings increase the overall work flow experiences⁴.

Right, so bad meetings are bad, but how do you improve? Our attention spans are shorter and the same should be for meetings, so cap them at 30 minutes⁵. Ensure every meeting has an agenda and stick to it². Always end the meeting with clear action items or next steps assigned to owners. On your own calendar schedule 90-120 minute blocks for deep work¹. Don’t let people extend meetings with ramblings. It can be awkward at first, but feel free to end or decline a meeting that has no agenda. Your time is worth too much to be wasted.

Action: Review your meeting game. Talk with your team and manager about the overall state of meetings and how to improve.

Further Reading:

1. Meet the #1 barrier to productivity
2. SurveyMonkey Poll: virtual meetings
3. The economic impact of bad meetings
4. Getting into flow during virtual meetings: How virtual meetings can benefit employee functioning in the work- and home domain
5. Shorter meetings are more productive. Here’s why.