Five Reasons To Meet.
Are you trying to do too much in your meetings?
Why do ineffective meetings infuriate so many of us?
It’s probably because you spend nearly half your week in meetings.
Between 2020 - 2022, meetings increased by between 100 - 600%.
Data also indicates office workers typically spend 2 working days/week on meetings and emails.
If you find yourself thinking ‘there’s just not enough time’...
Well, after you’ve done your meeting and email admin … you’re technically ‘working’ three days/week.
Something to think about today is this: if this kept up, would your job actually be do-able as a 3 day/week gig?
Can you honestly say you were mentally present in 100% of your meetings last year?
If so, you’re in the 8% of people who aren’t multitasking.
One study found that 92% of employees attending meetings confess to multitasking; 41% admit to doing so often or all the time.
The most common things they were doing? Checking email, working on other projects, or eating.
There has to be a better way for 92% of employees.
The path to more effective meetings is knowing why you are meeting, and what you want to get out of it.
Every employee wants to have clarity on their priorities.
Confidence they know what they’re doing and validation they’re on the right track.
Meetings, tick those boxes plus so much more.
Meetings can give any employee instant:
Certainty e.g. you can get clarity you’re on the right track.
Validation e.g. you can get a respected peer’s perspective in under 30 mins.
Visibility e.g. you can build relationships and credibility, working in public.
Approvals e.g. you can get a quick approval, then back to it.
Supervision e.g. you can get the OK from a mentor, or someone with influence.
Safety e.g. you can ask something sensitive in a group vs a 1:1.
Structure e.g. you can instantly create a sense of urgency and a deadline.
You can get all this, by having less meetings. And, you’ll get more time and energy.
Here’s how.
Consider the five reasons to meet.
The five reasons to meet are:
Inform e.g. a WIP, reporting or RAG status.
Decide e.g. a strategy or sales pitch.
Debate e.g. workshop a strategy, problem solve.
Collaborate e.g. generate ideas and workshop.
Connect e.g. teams who are connected are more productive in the long run.
When your meetings try to do all of these things, meetings become ineffective.
Instead, consider this: what if your meetings only did one of these things?
Would it change your agenda, stress and temptation to multi-task?
Need to makeover your meeting culture?
Bring our introductory workshop, Engaging & Effective Meetings, to your workplace.
“It was good to check the meeting design of those I run as well as those I am invited to.”