How to reduce the number of time-consuming meetings
Meetings, whether they are one-on-one discussions or gatherings of five, ten, or twenty people, are an important part of working life - but they are time-consuming. And often they are criticised for being unproductive, costly, boring, and sometimes unnecessary. Are they always needed? And all of them? Check out these points, and you may find you'll be holding fewer meetings in future...
1. Be fully aware of the cost of your meetings.
Meetings consume valuable time. Often, time is wasted on rambling discussions, excessive socialising, political manoeuvring, special-interest conflicts, and travelling. Nor is time the only casualty. When did you last find out what your organisation's meetings were costing in salaries alone?
2. Consider why you hold so many meetings.
Meetings can be very useful tools for communicating ideas, clarifying information, solving problems, making decisions, and building teams. But they can also be held for the wrong reasons:
Do you meet simply because the day of the week traditionally calls for it? Do you meet (but primarily socialise) in the guise of work? Does your department meet once a week - only because another department does? Do you hold many meetings because you believe volume indicates 'busyness' and productivity of your organisation or yourself? Do you hold a meeting simply because you haven't the courage to make a decision yourself? Do you hold a meeting to decide something even though you've already made up your mind?
Spend some time thinking about why you hold regular or once-only meetings before considering the following strategies aimed at reducing unproductive meeting time…
3. Establish a workable review process.
Often, regular meetings outlive their usefulness. Try to set a termination date whenever you establish a committee - or, at least, review a committee's progress periodically and disband it if it is no longer productive.
