In a working environment, it’s necessary to be productive. Suffering from acute “meetingitis” is costly for the company, especially when these meetings keep employees occupied for a long time without being able to see tangible benefits.
Here are 3 factors that will encourage you to shorten the length of your meetings:
- Occupying resources. These days companies are increasingly specialized. In a meeting, it is important to make sure to only convene the persons necessary. Too frequently, some people are invited to meetings for projects they are little involved with. This time could be put to better use. Sometimes, the message can simply be sent by email instead of occupying several people for a long time. Create an agenda that you send to participants in advance and stick to it. A little planning goes a long way.
- Time is money. Reducing meeting times is also essential to the company’s profitability. It is important to realize that meetings are often counter-productive. If you take the time to analyze the cost of one hour when discussions become extended, taking into account delays and travel time, the amounts can be huge.
- Keeping the trust of your employees. If you do not have an agenda, and the people invited want to know why they are present, or if they consistently turn down your invitations, it may be a sign that your team is not taking your leadership seriously. As the old adage goes, once bitten twice shy!
Some large companies have adopted the stand-up meeting. There are no chairs in the room and the meeting lasts no more than 20 minutes, with a specific agenda. So the participants have no surprises. They know there will be no discussion about personal matters that don’t bring anything to the process and will remain engaged in the discussions since they are standing up. Would you be wiling to innovate and incorporate this technique to avoid meetings from becoming extended?