Are You Handling Your Meetings Effectively?

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Meetings.

Love them or hate them (and you most likely hate them), the chances are that meetings take up most of your day as a team manager.

People book in meetings for everything from a quick catch-up to a day-long workshop, and it’s expected that, as a manager of people, you will attend and then cascade what has been discussed to your staff.

With the average manager spending about half of their time each day in meetings of one form or another, it can seem as if your working life is all about talking, and you are left with barely any time for actually achieving your objectives.

Although many managers try and block out their diaries in an attempt to dissuade people from booking time in needlessly, it can be almost impossible to deflect the constant barrage of bookings from people eager to conduct their business face-to-face.

According to research conducted by effectivemeetings.com, eleven million meetings take place in the United States, every day. Professionals who work in a corporate environment go along to over sixty meetings every month, and the research suggests that over half of this time spent in meetings is completely wasted. For every hour-long meeting which is held, over the course of a single month, employees can waste over thirty hours (that’s four full working days).

Bad meetings are not just a waste of time – they are actually counterproductive when it comes to keeping staff informed and motivated. A poor meeting can lead to attendees feeling frustrated, resentful of the time spent away from their regular activities, and wary of attending future bookings.

It’s a sad fact of corporate life that the majority of people in the work environment have never had the benefit of attending a truly effective meeting, which makes it harder to persuade your team and stakeholders that there can be any value in yours, when you book them.

Imagine if, just once, everyone who walked out of a meeting room after an hour of discussion felt that they had just been party to something supremely valuable? It may seem unlikely, but it is possible to achieve. The first rule for a great meeting is to make sure that there is actually something valid to discuss.

Many meetings are booked formulaically, meaning that when delegates arrive, there is actually very little to say. In addition, having an effective facilitator on board can make meetings run well, with items being ticked off swiftly, actions ascertained and allocated, and a genuine sense of productivity permeating the room.

Another rule of thumb for the effective use of meeting time is to make sure that everyone in the room actually needs to be there. Rather than inviting people out of a sense of duty, check that they will benefit, and have something to contribute, when you book the time in their diaries.

Finally, keep the meeting to a set agenda, which is circulated beforehand. Allocate things to do as they arise, have someone on hand to take minutes and then distribute them, and keep the meeting brief. If you follow these simple guidelines, you could stand to gain half of your time back for ‘real’ work, and your meetings will be looked forward to as something truly positive.

How do you manage meetings?

Please share your views in the comments below.

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