5 Ways To Trim The Fat From Your Meetings In The New Year
Meetings—most of us have a love-hate relationship with them. Like email, they’re annoyingly necessary. Our collaborative work culture requires them, but sometimes it can feel like all we do is attend meetings. Our meetings have meetings!
According to one roundup of meeting statistics, 83% of employees spend around a third of their working hours in meetings. The average employee attends eight meetings weekly, with that number climbing as high as seventeen meetings every week for C-suite positions.
Almost half of employees (47%) report that meetings were the biggest waste of their time at work and they feel overwhelmed by the number of meetings they attend (45%). Often, the wasted time is due to waiting for meetings to start. It’s estimated that the average employee waits 10 minutes and 40 seconds for meetings to begin (which adds to 3 days and 2 hours annually). That number rises to 15 minutes and 42 seconds for senior executives—costing them 5 days and 19 hours every year.
One of my team’s commitments for 2024 is to trim the fat from our meeting schedules and use the time we do devote to meeting more carefully. Here are the five principles that will guide our meeting philosophy in 2024 and beyond.
1.) Stagger attendance
Instead of scattering meetings all over the week for various mini-teams, in 2024 my company will hold one weekly meeting that is attended remotely by all team members. At the start of the call, we will share what we are working on and what input is needed from other coworkers. After that, we will move into a more specialized mini-team meeting for specific projects that require a high level of collaboration. Those who don’t need to attend this portion of the meeting will exit to move on with their workday.
We’ve been piloting this model for the past few weeks and it has already yielded benefits. For one, those who need uninterrupted blocks of time for deep-focus work appreciate having one longer meeting at the beginning of the week, rather than having to devote chunks of time here and there throughout the week to separate meetings.
Additionally, we’ve found that we tend to come more prepared to this weekly meeting because we know this is our main opportunity to communicate our needs and timelines in real time. Staggering attendance in one full-team meeting has been the easiest way thus far to get the most out of our meetings without allowing them to become bloated.
2.) Hold a monthly vision meeting
While our weekly meetings are vital for effective collaboration, it’s important that we also set aside time monthly to dive into deeper conversations about our vision and strategic focus. So, once a month we replace our usually brief staggered meeting with a longer time together. During this time we tackle some of the bigger questions and opportunities that may lie outside our normal day-to-day work.
Recently, I’ve noticed that as we have improved the quality of our weekly meetings, our monthly vision meeting is becoming shorter. Because we’re all up to date on our current projects and needs thanks to the weekly meeting, space is cleared to stay focused on the big-picture issues we need to talk about at the vision meeting.
?3.) Prioritize the human connection
I believe everyone we interact with is silently asking three questions: Do you see me? Do you hear me? And do I, in fact, matter? When they feel that the answer to any of these questions is no, the human connection has been sacrificed. But if they do feel seen, heard and valued, we have the chance to forge a real human connection with that person. And that’s when people start leaning in, giving their best effort and making the company vision their own.
To kick off our vision meetings, I ask each person to share something that is new with them, either personally or professionally. With my team, we have very little ice to break, but this eases us into the meeting and sets the stage for a conversation where everyone feels seen, heard and valued.
At the end of these meetings, I ask each person to share something they felt was significant from what we covered. It’s been instructive to see what each team member feels were the most valuable takeaways from our time together. This strategy both supports the human connection and reinforces the value of our time together.
4.) Don’t follow the agenda too strictly
Most advice on how to hold better meetings will urge us to set a clear agenda, objectives and action steps that should result from the meeting. We need to stick to the plan and make sure everything gets covered.
I’m all for that—but I do have a word of caution. While it’s important to lead meetings efficiently and with a clear focus, it’s equally important to leave the floor wide open at some point for attendees to make a comment or ask a question that maybe we haven’t thought of.
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Meetings should be collaborative. A meeting that doesn’t require interaction or an exchange of ideas does not need to be a meeting; it should be an email instead. The whole point of a meeting is to meet—not to lecture. In our pursuit of streamlined meetings, don’t forget what meetings should be. Sometimes the best insights are discovered when we allow some free rein amid our agenda.
5.) Let others lead
As the CEO, I’m the one setting the agenda, prioritizing projects and generally leading our team toward the future we all want. Because this is a very natural part for me to play, it’s only in the past few years that I have realized the power of occasionally stepping back from that strong leadership role.
When I bring all the ideas, sweeping everyone into my enthusiasm, setting all the goals and vision—well, there’s little room left for my team to do anything other than agree and maybe offer one or two refinements to my plans. It makes us, in essence, a one-man show.
And that’s why I’m done leading that way. We know we are better together, that collaborative work yields better results than siloed projects. That’s the mindset we need to bring to our meetings as well. Instead of me simply informing the team what our next direction will be, we forge that direction together. We wrestle through the things that would otherwise keep me up at night—and somehow, we always figure it out. I’m fond of reminding my team (and myself) that we’ve never not figured it out.
Strong leaders don’t have to lead strongly at every moment. In fact, I would argue that the strongest leaders are those who allow plenty of room for others to flex their own leadership muscles.
No more mind-numbing meetings
Meetings are not going away, so we might as well make the most of them. The good news is, when we see them as collaborative, connected, concerted team efforts, they can actually become a highlight in our week.
If you’re in the habit of making New Year’s Resolutions, resolve this year to hold meetings that are leaner, fewer and better for everyone. Staggering attendance, revisiting our vision regularly, prioritizing the human connection, being flexible with the agenda and letting others lead is our resolution for meetings in 2024. What’s yours?
Don’t miss the latest episode of the Develop This! podcast, where I chat through workforce predictions for 2024 with host Dennis Fraise. Find out why:?
One thing’s for certain—2024 is going to be a wild ride. Tune in now for a sneak peek at what we’re in for this coming year!?
ABOUT MARK C. PERNA
Mark C. Perna ?is a generational expert, keynote speaker, and bestselling author with a mission to shift the paradigm in workforce development. Mark, who CEOs the strategic consulting firm TFS Results, founded the Education with Purpose & Employment with Passion movement to help communities connect their education, workforce, and economic pipelines. Find out more at?MarkCPerna.com .?