?? The wisdom of planning your meetings ??

For the majority of knowledge workers, meetings continue to be a common difficulty. While conventional wisdom and earlier studies frequently concentrate on increasing the effectiveness of meetings or decreasing the amount of time we spend in them, there is another crucial factor that is infrequently considered: the way we schedule and arrange our meetings regularly. ????

However, scheduling can either increase or decrease our energy and productivity at work, therefore it is important to take it seriously. ??

We examine the effects of knowledge workers' daily meeting scheduling in our research, including some seemingly smart but unintentionally draining techniques. ????

Over 400 full-time knowledge employees from various intellectually intensive businesses, including those from technology organizations, participated in two studies that we conducted. ????

Throughout the workweek, employees were polled regarding their meetings, individual tasks, and other activities in the morning and afternoon, as well as their energy levels at the end of each half-day period. This was done in the middle and at the end of each workday. ???

We also gathered information from their managers about how well they performed at work, including how well they completed tasks and how creative they were. ????

We learned two crucial things. First, the proportion of meeting time spent compared to the time spent on specific tasks affects knowledge workers' energy levels, not the total amount of time spent in meetings. ????

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Our research shows that knowledge workers tend to take fewer short breaks throughout the day (such as a quick stroll, casual discussion, or quick enjoyable reading) the more time they spend in meetings in comparison to their particular responsibilities. ??♂??????

Such break activities are essential for periodic replenishment, and their absence depletes their daytime vitality. The knowledge workers' ability to complete tasks, their creativity, and their level of job satisfaction are all negatively impacted by the reduced energy. ????

An individual's energy can benefit from two complementing configurations, such as high-pressure individual activities followed by low-pressure meetings, or vice versa. ????

In contrast, on a day when an individual is struggling with a high-pressure report, a low-pressure update meeting about the company's IT system can provide a much-needed break for their energy. ??????

For example, a data specialist may find a high-stakes meeting where she pitches a new initiative energizing. We discovered that this complimentary effect is most noticeable in the morning rather than the afternoon when a knowledge worker is not yet overwhelmed by the responsibilities of the day. ??

Therefore, keep the following in mind while planning your workday, especially when scheduling meetings with specific tasks:

• Instead of just focusing on the overall number of hours spent in meetings, consider the ratio of meeting time to individual work time in a day. ??
• Even though it occasionally seems like a time-saving tactic, this approach necessitates avoiding packing too many meetings into a single day. To boost performance, creativity, and job happiness at work, it can be beneficial to manage the ratio of meeting time to individual work daily. ????
• Plan your workday such that separate tasks and meetings flow into one another. ??
• Distribute difficult chores and meetings over multiple days or periods of the day rather than condensing them into a single period of high-pressure activity. This strategy encourages appropriate pressure balance, boosting workday energy to support greater performance. ????
• Adopt a more comprehensive strategy for planning your weekday. Consider the bigger picture for your weekday structure instead of just adding a meeting or one-off job on the calendar for convenience's sake. Be aware of how a scheduling choice could change the way your daily is organized, possibly affecting your motivation and output. ??????? If you need a group of specialists, just let us know; we will be happy to help. You can reach us by sending an email to [email protected] or by messaging us on social media. ????