How Not to Waste Time in Meetings?

Meetings. There are two kinds of meetings, as BusinessDictionary.com puts it.

1) Organizational Meeting, i.e. Board Meetings and Annual General Meetings, mostly involving the Senior Management and Shareholders

2) Operational Meeting, i.e. the ad hoc meetings , involving the management and the employees.

Organizational meetings are essential, as they are responsible for giving direction and building strategy for the future growth of a firm. It is the Operational meetings, that I have a problem with.

I am sure there must have been a time for any working person, when he/she is sitting through a meeting, with their mind wandering away and thinking “What am I doing here”. Don’t worry, you are absolutely right to think that way, as you could indeed be sitting either at your own desk, doing some much more productive work or better, sleeping in your house.

Meetings take up an obscene amount of your working hours. Higher your position, more the time one spends in meetings. The issue being, this doesn’t just eat up your working hours, It extends it. Also, with increasing amount of time being wasted, one also ends up lagging behind their actual tasks for the day. This would eventually lead to another “review” meeting, and henceforth. A vicious cycle, which more often than not leads to reduction in productivity.

People often think that having a 2 hour meeting to review employees, delegate work, use business jargons and of course, fix the next meeting is extremely effective and gets the job done. But It doesn’t. I don’t mean to say that meetings are a strict no, but there are certain things that could be done better , giving the meetings an actual meaning.

- Do not invite people who are not expected to make any contribution to the meeting. 2 things that happen due to such invitees are, one, they just sit through the meeting happily biding away time and procrastinating their actual work. Two, they give their “expert” opinions, which more often than not leads to a muddled discussion.

- Set a time limit, Stick to it. Often, meetings do not have a set time schedule. They extend from minutes to hours, and even after that, there is no consensus reached. Isn’t it much better, if the meeting is scheduled for a fixed time limit, giving the attendees a proper chance to put across their points, rather than meandering aimlessly over 2-3 hours.

- Even if the agenda of the meeting is not met over the fixed time limit, end the meeting after the set time.

- Stick to the Agenda, and don’t include a number of topics to be discussed in the same meeting. This will automatically reduce the number of attendees and the time of the meeting.

- Do not review already discussed items for people turning up late. It was their fault and hence, let them regret it (Or do they?).

- Always go prepared to a meeting. This will ensure you don’t ramble , trying to make up points on the fly, and also that you finish your meeting on time.

- Strictly no phones, tablets, PDAs or laptops, except for the one being used for a presentation maybe. People interrupting or diverting their attention are not just disinterested, but they are also devaluing the meeting

- Address the expectation of the meeting right at the beginning, and finish it with a proper set of tasks assigned to the attendees. Make Every Meeting Count.

- Don’t dwell in the past. Do not discuss issues that had arisen in the previous meetings. It will only prolong the meeting without actually moving forward. Have a fresh start. Always.

It’s actually not hard. But, If these simple set of rules are followed, meetings will actually be productive and not just an excuse to while away time in Office. As I said earlier too, you could instead be sleeping in your own cozy bed. Take your pick people.