Meeting madness: Who needs it?

New research reveals 65% of employees feel meetings are stopping them from completing their day-to-day duties, so they have to work late to plough through their tasks.

In addition, 45% of workers say they are “overwhelmed” by the sheer volume of meetings they attend on a regular basis.  Many report spending more than five hours a week in meetings, while others who are engaged for 30 hours a month express frustration at “wasted time”.

Meeting quality vs quantity

It goes without saying that meeting quality and quantity are two very different things – you should never confuse one with the other. The key is putting a stop to the meeting madness that leaves attendees feeling drained and creating a better experience to inspire job satisfaction and greater productivity.

If there’s an inherited workplace culture of multiple weekly meetings, whether you actually need them or not, it’s time to make a change. A good way to find out if team members are drowning in a sea of surplus conferences is to ask for their views, but how should you use your authority at work to change what might be an outdated approach?

Learn when to say no

Everyone in the business world will agree that meetings are an important part of corporate life. They encourage discussion, innovation, creativity and collaboration, particularly when delegates meet in person – a format 76% of professionals prefer over video conferencing.

When they are held for the right reasons, such as to collaborate on an important project, or to conduct a staff performance review, meetings are crucial to the smooth running of your business. However, not every meeting requires everyone’s attendance, so it’s important to learn when to say no.

Often, we’re lulled into the pattern of attending meetings simply because we’re scared of missing something, or we want to fit in. On the contrary, it’s not necessary to agree to attend all meetings, regardless of whether they’re relevant to you or not.

Ask to see the agenda in advance and buck the trend of agreeing to attend by politely declining if it’s of no relevance to you, or if you have nothing to offer the group. It can take courage to say no, but you’ll thank yourself later.

Streamline your meeting

When organising a gathering yourself, take care to invite only the people who need to be there. Otherwise, you’ll be the person wasting someone’s time!

Don’t arrange for a large group of people to come just because it’s traditional to do so. Invite only those who have relevance to the topics on the table and make sure you send out the agenda so they can be prepared.

You need to ask yourself why you’re calling the meeting – does it have a clear purpose? Any meeting without an agenda is likely to be mediocre. Getting together simply because you have always done so at 9.30am on a Wednesday morning isn’t a valid reason. Companies evolve and so should you.

Don’t multitask in meetings

When attendees are taking out their laptops and mobile phones, there won’t be a great deal of listening to the discussions. It’s unlikely you’ll have useful dialogue when people are answering their emails and diverting their attention elsewhere. This isn’t a productive or useful meeting. It’s a group of individuals sitting round a table doing other things until it’s their time to give their report.

People tend to multitask more in meetings if they feel bored, or if they don’t really want to be there. Meetings that are designed to be valuable and useful will grab people’s attention and they won’t want to miss anything.

Recently, there has been a new norm of turning off mobile devices as the conversation begins. If you decide to adopt this policy, make sure attendees know in advance.

Start on time

There’s nothing worse than sitting around waiting to start late when there are so many other tasks you could be doing.

If your meeting is 30 minutes long and people are arriving five minutes late, you’ve already wasted 16% of your time. Around 50% of employees cite starting late as something that annoys them.

As a manager, refuse to tolerate lateness, as it builds resentment from the people who always arrive on time.

Appoint a timekeeper

In the same vein, don’t let the meeting start to fall behind due to pointless debates that veer off-topic.

Appoint a timekeeper to ensure it follows the agenda and don’t permit individuals to hijack the discussions with irrelevant points.

Even if you’ve called the meeting, you may find deputising another person into this role is useful, as they can support you.

Avoid tech issues

Around 50% of employees admit to feeling frustrated and irritated if they’re hanging around waiting for the IT team to fix something.

Hiring purpose-built business meeting rooms can be a major advantage for all concerned. They permit you to focus on the matters in hand, without the usual workplace distractions, as well as having technology that works such as AV equipment, LCD TV screens and fast wireless broadband.

It’s not difficult or time-consuming to book a venue, as the formalities are straightforward and the facilities excellent. Choosing meeting room hire can facilitate a productive gathering, because everything you need is taken care of. You don’t need to worry about tech equipment or seating arrangements, while refreshments such as tea, coffee and water and catering (if required) are all organised on your behalf.

Follow-up action points

No-one wants to attend a meeting just for the sake of it, as it should be a catalyst for positive outcomes. Action points should be raised, detailing who’s going to do what. However, if this isn’t followed up, it will seem pointless to the people taking part.

If you’ve discussed ideas and delegated follow-up tasks to attendees, you’ll have wasted your time if the results aren’t measured. Always leave around 15% of your time at the end of the event to make a note of the next steps and ensure everyone understands the plan.

After the meeting, check in with the team on a regular basis to see how they’re progressing. If you’re one of the 65% of workers who feel they’re in the meeting madness cycle and wasting time, ring the changes and take back control of your working week.