Give us 15 minutes of your time and we’ll give you even more back. Here’s how.
Meetings can be a major productivity block. A Microsoft Office survey revealed that 70% of those surveyed thought their meetings were unproductive, and no less than 92% said they spent their time doing other things while in meetings.
According to research published in MIT’s Sloan Management Review, executives in the noughties spent an average of 23 hours per week in meetings. Fast forward to the post-Covid era and the situation has not improved.
In fact, those working remotely are spending more time in meetings than they were pre-pandemic—given what we know from Microsoft’s research, it all adds up to a lot of time where other things - productive things - could be done! Figures like these are untenable, and they affect team members across the board who get caught up in a cycle of low-value meetings, leaving little capacity for important work.
Because the fiscal knock-on effects cannot be overstated, we decided to call a meeting about all these meetings.
Let’s commence.
Give us 15 minutes of your time and we’ll give you even more back. Here’s how:
Of course, you can follow the steps below without Beamible, but creating an account is free and will make this process a whole lot faster and easier.
Beamible was designed to make work better for everyone, and you can use our platform for a number of things, including efficiently reducing time spent in meetings.
Tip: Try to set a reduction goal for your team as well.
There you have it! Using the intentional process above and repeating it on a monthly or quarterly basis (depending on how hectic your schedule becomes), you should be able to keep time spent in meetings at a reasonable level.
In addition to simply reducing meetings, there are things you can do to improve their efficiency and effectiveness. Over time, working on these aspects can reduce the time it takes to tick times off each meeting’s agenda, and reduce the cost associated with low-value work. It’s a win-win.
Let’s take a look at those now.
Make meetings energising for leaders and participants by examining these factors:
As Elon Musk rather abruptly puts it: “If you are not adding value to a meeting, walk out or drop off the call.”
Another quick way to knock excessive meetings on the head is to ask whether a meeting is the appropriate communication choice.
Meetings are moments for collaboration, so if what you have to say is a one-way message, an email, video recording, instant message, or even a quick phone call are probably better communication channels.
One way to help establish communication best practices, and provide guidance on which channels to use in different scenarios is to create a Team Charter. Another upshot is that everyone’s preferences are accounted for, meaning people can work in the way that best helps them to succeed.
Your team charter might include:
Low-value meetings and excessive meetings can be an expensive time-sink. Do you know how much they’re costing your company? If not, it might be time to regain control and gain some valuable insights in the process.
Beamible helps you ascribe a cost to time spent (or indeed wasted) in meetings. Equipped with this knowledge, you can then make conscious changes to ensure meetings are both productive and effective.
Ready to Beamible your way to better work? Get in touch with us today.
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