1. Ask yourself whether each meeting is the best use of everyone’s precious time. Solution: One easy solution is to eliminate absences and no show excuses by scheduling a meeting time that works for all participants. This can be just a simple survey of 3-4 questions which can help determine ways to improve future meetings. Noting summary of the meeting and communicating decisions, actions, and plans shortly after the meeting. Another, while not as popular, is to make the meeting mandatory for attendees. Long-term, this can result in workplace conflict, a decline in innovation, increased employee turnover, and worse yet, longer sales cycles due to a lack of understanding about the customer journey, the products/services offered, and so forth. This might be partially due to the fact that 37% of meetings start late.6 Why should participants be on time when participants know the meeting likely won’t start for another 10-15 minutes? Once you establish the agenda, send it out prior to the meeting so everyone comes prepared. Don’t be afraid to call out topic hijackers. The frequency and cost of ineffective meetings is not a reason to identify meetings as an activity that does not of upholding good productivity. Rather than focusing on the meeting’s length or duration, the chairman’s attention should be on the meeting tasks. Signs of ineffective meetings: 1. The point being, you invest somewhere between 2-4 hours of your work week into these types of meetings each and every week. Once the time limit is up, move on to the next issue. At the end of the meeting, include these in the meeting minutes so that these topics, if relevant, can be addressed down the road. The meeting is simply used by the department manager as a way to check in with his/her staff, while wasting everyone else’s time as they do so. 4. If you are leading the meeting, arrive early and have the room set up. No minutes are taken at the meeting – without minutes, details are lost, action items are missed and there are no clear takeaway’s for anyone. Bottom line: There are many advantages and disadvantages of meetings, and the best approach is to focus on these two takeaways: Discussion and decision making meetings are GREAT; Update meetings are BAD, do the updates in writing instead In an unstructured meeting, the loudest or most discontent voice will have the floor even if they aren’t the most qualified to lead. Ask yourself who is essential to this meeting? A major reason for ineffective meetings is vague goals. Dept. This creates inefficiency and frustrations among colleagues. 5 Ibid. No Ownership. Take a look at our, https://www.inc.com/john-white/ineffective-meetings-cost-companies-up-to-283-billion-a-year-streamline-collaboration-with-these-tips.html, https://www.thehrdigest.com/excessive-cost-ineffective-meetings/, https://www.businessinsider.com/37-billion-is-lost-every-year-on-these-meeting-mistakes-2014-4, The 10 Critical Keys to Ensure Successful Leadership, 10 Reasons Why Travel Incentives Are Great for Business, The Cure for Boring Meetings in the Healthcare Industry, How to Use Gaming as Part of Remote Learning and Team Building, Select Outstanding Keynote Speakers and Entertainers for Virtual Events, 15 Reasons Why In-Person Meetings Will Remain Vital to Business, Tips for Green Meetings in 2020 and Beyond, The Priorities That Should Top Every Chief Information Officer’s List in 2021, How to Balance Markets and Solutions for Long-Term Business Stability, Gavel Cares 2020: Helping Children Find Joy During the Holidays, Five Strategies to Build an Endurant and Valuable Workforce. head asks Manager B for an update, Manager B provides the update and around we go. Communication is one way – you often see this when someone “in charge” calls a meeting and it simply is that person “pushing” information to the others in attendance. Relevant examples include incompetence, willful neglect of duty, unprofessional conduct and dishonesty. Before a bad meeting can be transformed into the highly efficient gathering it should be, the first step is to be aware of the problems that occur during ineffective meetings. Do your participants often show up late, leave early, or worse, not show up at all? Don’t be afraid to introduce conversations with differing viewpoints. 1 https://www.inc.com/john-white/ineffective-meetings-cost-companies-up-to-283-billion-a-year-streamline-collaboration-with-these-tips.html A few tips: You might discuss an issue in depth for hours. 6 Ibid. If there is no agenda, or simply a meeting request, or worse yet, a recycled agenda (i.e. This sends a clear signal that it’s time to focus on the agenda and tasks at hand. Informal meetings These takes the form of brainstorming or discussion sessions, where strict agenda may not be followed and minutes may not be kept. Solution: Establish a corporate policy on meetings that outlines the expected conduct, culture, and productivity. Many meetings are poorly designed and not planned with purpose, Repenning said. 8. During my career as a manager at Shell, the site manager initiated a program where there would be a monthly meeting of all of the managers on the site, to have a discussion forum to address issues of concern to any of the particular managers. People are not sure why the meeting is being held and what the goal of the meeting is supposed to be. The sales team has a film review to listen to a sales call a team member ran, and the manager assigns another team member to give critical feedback. To keep meetings in check, do a meeting audit every few months. Prepare paper handouts or be ready with an alternate method to handle the meeting without the use of technology. Ineffective meetings lead to lower engagement and morale among employees. Either way, meeting participants leave the meeting with a clear understanding of what they need to do or “act” upon. Solution: As you wrap up an issue, identify whether or not action is needed. “Mary, we hear your concern and we’ve added it to our list of topics for future topics to address. If you find that there is little engagement, don’t be afraid to call on certain individuals who should be engaging in the conversation. ABOUT | GAVEL EDGE | INCENTIVE PROGRAMS | MEETINGS & EVENTS | CASE STUDIES | RESOURCES | PRIVACY POLICY | COOKIE POLICY | TERMS OF USE. It’s only common sense that unproductive meetings are bad for business, but just how much do unproductive meetings really cost? Meetings are like accordions - … There is NO point to this meeting. An ineffective meeting has occurred when participants leave the meeting saying things like: “What was the purpose of that meeting?” or “What exactly am I supposed to do now?” or “Why did they need us there, couldn’t they have just send us an email?”, This post originally appeared on The Armchair HR Manager blog on July 15, 2013, Image courtesy of Ambro/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net. Location, Date, & Time – This would allow the attendees to plan ahead their schedules to coincide with the meeting. However it is considered a good business practice to issue members with agendas. When it comes to starting meetings, show your participants that you value them, by starting at the scheduled time regardless of whether or not everyone has arrived. This builds trust and encourages collaboration. Whether or not all of the symptoms above are true of your meeting, chances are there is room to improve in almost all organizations. 2 Ibid. 7. It shows a lack of respect for the attendees and it also sends the message that the meeting really isn’t that much of a priority because whatever was happening before hand was way more important. Studies show that productivity lost from ineffective meetings costs businesses anywhere from $70-283 billion every year.2 If this seems hard to believe, consider that studies show that 30-50% of the time spent in meetings is wasted.3 For the average professional, approximately 31 hours per month are taken up with unproductive meetings.4. There is no opportunity for questions, comments, exchange of ideas, etc. The atmosphere is likely to reflect either indifference. Clarify discussion points by email or phone if necessary. However, the good news is that well-planned and effective meetings are well within your grasp. Don’t forget to follow-up on the meeting’s effectiveness by collecting feedback on the value and productivity of the meeting. For example, “I will never be late add a 15-minute buffer in between my meeting slots each day so I won’t be late for the Monday morning stand up meeting again.” Researchers from Cornell University recently found that RescueTime is one of the best ways to stay accountable to your goals. However, without an action plan, nothing will actually be accomplished. There is either no written agenda or the items on the agenda are not clear. assistant but there is no clear subject or purpose indicated for the meeting request. Another issue is the stiff price companies pay for badly run meetings. Think of them more as red flags; that is, if you see more than two of these signs, odds are your meeting is going to be ineffective – whether you are leading it or are participating in it. This will allow time to process new information and think of questions before the meeting. Do they need to know what’s going on, or is this meeting essential to their daily job duties? 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