Most People Are Ending Meetings the Wrong Way

If there’s a right way and a wrong way to end a meeting — and management gurus say there is — then making the wrong choice can contribute to a decrease in employee productivity and mental health.

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“One of the most common mistakes leaders make in meetings is neglecting a proper ending,” said Steven Rogelberg, a professor of organizational science, psychology and management at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. “If you don’t properly close a meeting, people wonder what the heck was decided and can get very frustrated.”

Most people keep talking until they are kicked out of their conference rooms or the top of the hour hits and people have to bounce over to their next meeting. Instead, people should be wrapping up meetings three to five minutes before the stated ending time to start the “closing process.”

During this time, whoever is leading the meeting should succinctly recap what was said, what the next action items are and who will be directly responsible for completing the upcoming tasks. They should set specific deadlines and outline what follow-up is expected.

If the end of the allotted meeting time has arrived and there are still undiscussed agenda items, state what they are and when those things will be discussed next.

Readers: Do you think there’s a wrong way to end a meeting? Tell us your best tips by joining the conversation below.

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Quick Hits

• General Motors is calling workers back to the office, ending Chief Executive Officer Mary Barra’s “Work Appropriately” policy that gave people flexibility to stay home during the Covid-19 pandemic.
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• Spending more than two hours a day in two hours a day in meetings can hurt productivity, a new survey found, putting a ceiling on an element of the daily grind that many workers have come to dread.

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