What’s the last productive meeting you sat through? Can’t remember? How about the last unproductive meeting? That’s probably easier to recall—because you likely have had more of them than you care to remember.
If you feel that way, know that you’re not alone. Nearly half of all employees feel that meetings are the biggest waste of their time. And upper management agrees: Nearly a quarter of all meetings are unnecessary, say executives.
That negative feeling about meetings leads to less positive behaviors, from daydreaming to doodling and dozing off. And they’re costing corporations, too, to the tune of $37 billion.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. Employees can wrest control of meetings and use them to brainstorm, be creative, and build better teams. What it takes is some concrete steps before, during, and after the gatherings.
For starters, figure out what the purpose of the meeting really is, and don’t include people just to include them. The only ones sitting around the table should be the people who are contributing to the issue at hand.
Establish some rules of conduct too, relating to speaking (one at a time) and smart devices. And skip scheduling the meetings at really awful times, such as Monday mornings.
After you work through your agenda and encourage everyone to join in the discussions, make sure to take and share notes. You should follow up and remind people of their assigned tasks, if there are any, as well as agreed-on results.
Ready to get rid of wasted meetings and instead spend your work time and meeting time creatively solving problems and coming up with new ideas that benefit your business and your brand? Use this graphic from Quill to holding better meetings as a guideline.
Now over to you
How’s your meetings? What can you learn from the infographic to make yours more efficient and effective? Please share with us!
