To Meet, or Not to Meet, That is the Question
Scot Adams 2001 dilbert.com

To Meet, or Not to Meet, That is the Question

Most meetings are major productivity killers. Although meetings can provide benefits, such as opportunities for collaboration and face-to-face interactions, they also take a toll on job performance. Dilbert cartoon after cartoon made fun of the time waste most meetings often represent. This sentiment is not without support. Bain & Company conducted a study on meetings and found that 15% of an organization's collective time is spent in meetings. This is important because 65% of senior managers say meetings keep them from completing their own work, 71% found them unproductive and inefficient, and 62% say meetings miss opportunities to bring teams closer together (Harvard Business Review). While this study focused on senior managers, employees at all levels complain that they are unable to get work done, which is partly due to endless meetings. In fact, employees don't need to be in almost a third of the meetings they attend and this is a huge financial drain as useless meetings cost large companies approximately $100M per year (Bloomberg).

Other studies show, fifty percent of meeting time is well spent and engaging, while the other half isn't. This is troubling considering there are 55 million meetings a day. Further, only around 20% of leaders ever receive training on how to run a meeting, and that training isn't typically meaningful, so the likelihood of having effective meetings is relatively low. Also, most organizations have no assessment of meeting success or meeting feedback mechanisms (Forbes). Despite so much negativity and infectiveness related to workplace meetings, very little has been done to address it. However, there are a few examples of companies that are taking action. For example, Canadian eCommerce giant Shopify announced plans to significantly reduce the number of meetings held by the business at the beginning of 2023. What are some of the actions they took?? They removed all recurring meetings with more than two people "in perpetuity," prohibited meetings held on Wednesdays, and limited meetings of 50 people or more to a six-hour window on Thursdays with a limit of one per week (Business Leader). Curriculum Associates also recently made changes to address meeting problems by empowering employees to be masters of their own time and encouraging them to say "no" to meetings (Fast Company). Other companies have done things such as creating "no meeting" timeslots, having meetings only on one day per week, regularly re-evaluating meetings to re-work schedules as needed, and organizing a meeting purge where all recurring meetings are deleted and not added back unless they meet certain decision rules (The Muse).

Although most people have seen ineffective workplace meetings as a problem, academics have paid very little attention to how to address it until recently. Steven Rogelberg wrote an amazing book The Surprising Science of Meetings a few years ago and it provides a ton of helpful, research-based guidance for improving meetings. I highly recommend this book. I can't do it justice because it has so many great suggestions, but before you book that next meeting, here are a few things to consider.

  1. Do we "need to meet?" We've all seen that meme "This meeting could have been an email" and it's funny because it is so true. Meetings are good for idea generation, analyzing problems, or reaching decisions. They shouldn't be used to relay basic information. So, consider whether a meeting is required or if it can be accomplished in an email or phone call. If it can, don't schedule a meeting.
  2. If a meeting is necessary, who needs to be in the meeting? If a person's input is needed, invite them. If not, don't invite them. In other words, who will contribute to the successful attainment of the goals of the meeting? Only invite those people. A large room of people who are simply there, because they were included, wastes their time and likely detracts from the meeting.
  3. Are you inviting too many people? We often invite too many people to meetings. Research shows that as group size increases, so do a lot of negative group behaviors such as social loafing and poor group decision-making. Although there is no hard and fast rule, some research suggests that the best group size for decision-making is seven people, and the more people in the group, the more decision-making problems you will experience.
  4. How long should the meeting be? We often default to standard blocks of time for meetings. An hour seems to be one of the most common lengths of meetings but meeting length is often chosen without consideration of the actual tasks that need to be accomplished. Allocate a certain amount of time for each topic or task and base the meeting length on the total time estimate. You can have very productive 15-20 minute meetings if they are well-planned and focused.
  5. Do you use a meeting agenda and is it helping? Meetings without an agenda almost always run poorly, but simply having an agenda isn't a panacea for all meeting ills. Agenda items should be framed around problems that need to be solved or key decisions that must be made. Each agenda item should contain a detailed description of the problem, process notes, preparation required before the meeting, and the time allotted for the item. The time allotted can be somewhat flexible, but you should use it to help keep participants on track. Also, distribute the agenda a day or two before the meeting to allow participants to prepare and come to the meeting ready to contribute.
  6. Are you great at leading meetings? Most of us probably aren't based on the absence of training most of us receive on how to effectively manage meetings. However, we should be. While reducing the number of meetings is probably a good thing, meetings are still required and bad meetings are as big a problem as too many meetings. Invest time and money in improving the meeting skills of your leadership team (including yourself).

These are just a few considerations and I hope no one mistakes this column as expert advice because I certainly struggle with effectively managing meetings as well. However, I think the more we study meetings and apply the results to the workplace, the more common effective meetings will become. I'd love to hear your thoughts and insights concerning workplace meetings!

This column also appeared in the Southern Miss Business newsletter. If you would like to receive the full newsletter, click this link https://eepurl.com/gjv7eU.

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