Help, save me. Not another meeting! Four ways to increase the value and impact of your team meetings.

Whenever I ask a team about time wasters in their work, ‘too many meetings’ figure in the top three.

A recent google search uncovered a number of studies from reputable sources such as Forbes, McKinsey, Inc. Fast Co. and others reveal similar perceptions of the current state of meetings

o 33% of employees spend 33% of their time in meetings

o 62 meetings per week- the number of meetings per week — many people working from home imposed by the COVID crisis reported that the number had increased

o 47% people report meetings are the #1 time waster.

o 31 hrs unproductive time/month

o 90 minutes — The length of the average meeting.

o $399 Billion annually — the accumulated cost of meetings in studies conducted across USA, UK, and Germany

A recent Doodle survey of 6,500 interviews concluded the cost of meetings across USA and UK along to be half a trillion dollars. Whichever way you count it, the lost cost is huge and too much both in money and emotional energy.

So, what is going on and does it really have to be that way?

In addition to the figures above, studies also indicated that:

o 63% of meetings happen without an agenda.

o 91% of people say they daydream.

o 39% report having slept during a meeting.

Four ways to increase the value and impact of your meetings

Here are four things you can do to increase the effectiveness of your meetings so that people are more engaged, fully interact and may even find them a useful contribution to their work.

1. Have a clear purpose

This is the number one rule for any meeting. Why are you meeting? What do you hope to get out of the meeting? Who needs to be there? Many years ago, I trained as a Team Management Systems trainer. The authors of TMS Margerison and McCann introduced us to a very simple tool for determining the purpose of a meeting so as to design the right process. The SADIE model is one I have used and taught hundreds of times: Share information, Analyse and Decide, Innovate and Evaluate and I still feel it has validity — it is also easy to remember so is a practical tool for people to use.

a. Sharing information If your purpose is simply to share information is a meeting the right place to do that? People fall asleep or multitask when they are not interested or engaged in the meeting. A go around the room about what we’ve all done this week is not the most exciting way to use people’s time. Consider creating a team format for capturing ongoing task status. The team can complete it before the meeting; it can be the basis of the meeting documentation. The team can then allocate time to discussions around areas for collaboration. A basic format might include:

i. 1–3 things I am proud of achieving this week.

ii. 1–3 things I have to achieve next week.

iii. A problem or task I will need help or input from others in the team.

There are a couple of reasons for sharing information in a team meeting.

o if you want input from others to get different perspectives.

o you need them to challenge or query an idea or decision so as to strengthen and improve it.

If your conversation requires input from only a subset of the team, then have that meeting separately and don’t drag everyone through a process where they have no interest or involvement.

b. Analysis and decision-making Meetings are of best value when everyone’s contribution is required and their input results in an improved solution or decision. To ensure a quality decision make sure you have a process where everyone gets an opportunity to speak and can contribute equally. Use some method of capturing ideas and summaries so that everyone can literally be on the same page. If you are meeting virtually everyone can use a google doc or Jamboard or you can simply have someone share a white board, doc or slide and capture ideas as they come. Decide on your decision-making method. With a small group it is relatively easy to get consensus, for less significant decisions you might agree to vote, for more technical decisions you might agree to get input from everyone and allow the most technically expert person to suggest the decision. In traditional participative management a team leader may invite ideas from everyone, yet ultimately make the decision herself. This is perfectly appropriate so long as the decisions taken reflect the input of the team. If a manager asks for input, then always makes her own decision seemingly ignoring the input from the team her trust and credibility will be damaged and people will be less likely to contribute to discussions in the future.

c. Innovation — creativity and innovation are not the same thinking processes as analysis and day to day decision making. Creativity demands a different thinking, space and place than day to day work. John Cleese and other artists from all sectors say that it can take them an hour to get their creative juices flowing. Creatively requires a more informal and open thinking style. If you want true innovation, these meetings should be scheduled separately — blocking the session off, and having a coffee break can help. Get people out of their seats. Many people report being more creative when they stand up and are physically liberated. Creatively is beyond cerebral; it is a whole-body somatic endeavour.

2. Never hold a meeting without an agenda.

1. OK, having said that and in full disclosure, I’m currently in a couple of learning groups who meet weekly for an hour outside of our course work. We sometimes meet without an agenda because the purpose of our meetings is to allow each person (we are a small group of 6) to share and explore their personal reflections and reactions to the week’s learning, and we don’t have a specific outcome in mind. We may not have a formal agenda but we have a process: What did you learn? How is it affecting you? How will it impact your coaching? Don’t insult your team by not preparing an agenda. You can simply ask team members what they think ought to be on the agenda, and make sure they receive it before the meeting starts.

3. Kick off informally

The biggest complaint and problem over the past two years has been the lack of social connection. People have reported missing the gossip, the chemistry, the social interactions over coffee, the expressions of compassion when things are not going well and the ‘creative abrasion’ that happens when you have an unscheduled meeting with a colleague and the conversation triggers new ideas or motivation. In face-to-face meetings this often occurs naturally as people convene and as human communication patterns of enquiring how others are doing, or in unsolicited sharing by members. In a virtual or hybrid space these interactions need to be more intentional. Spend the first five minutes or so simply catching up socially. This is not wasted time. The social capital you create is an investment in the team’s psychological safety and mutual trust. The returns from these activities can be greater than the investment. No high performing, value add team achieves that status without solid trust and relationships. The best performing teams have high ratios of positive to negative comments among team members.

4. Finish with a DARE

The DARE acronym stands for:

a. Decisions — document what decisions were made in the meeting

b. Actions — note and get commitment from those who have agreed to implement those decisions.

c. Reflections — evaluate the meeting. Did you cover everything, and did you achieve what you set out to achieve?

d. Emotions — do a personal check. How is everyone feeling right now? This can be as simple as a high 5 gesture or it may require a little deeper debrief if conversations got heated during the meeting.

Even, if you schedule regular meetings with your team, you can decide the best use of

that time by agreeing or reassessing meeting purpose. Hey, if there are no major issues and you just want to get together to connect and build some of your social capital that’s OK too.

By following these relatively easy steps you can demonstrate your leadership and your respect for your team. You never know, they may begin to look forward to meetings with joy and anticipation.

Contact me at plb@plb-consulting if you want to discuss how I can help your team achieve its goals by having more produtive and added value meetings.