10 strategies to cut unnecessary meetings in half

Authoritative sources estimate that we now spend most of our work time in the company between emails and meetings. The Wall Street Journal Europe states that we spend about 20 hours a week in meetings of various kinds, or 30 to 50 percent of our total available time. According to this study, on average a manager “consumes” about 400 hours a week of his or her employees’ time between meetings and emails.

Another study, the one done by Bain & Company a few years ago, showed that managers around the world waste, on average, no less than 15-20% of their time on avoidable meetings, and that top managers around the world spend more or less two full days a week on top management meetings. Other paradoxical evidence is that about 22 percent of the participants, during these meetings, send three or more e-mail messages for every half hour of time spent ostensibly discussing, but in fact dealing with other things.

Beyond these studies, I think it is clear that unfortunately we are left with less and less time to “work” at high concentration, overwhelmed by hundreds of interruptions, emails and meetings. I think most of us would agree that attending unnecessary or ineffective meetings can be very frustrating.

Certainly they can be valuable opportunities to connect with colleagues, bosses, and co-workers and discuss important projects and initiatives face-to-face, but if a few basic guidelines are not followed, such opportunities can easily turn into completely counterproductive and very costly events.

Here are 10 strategies to dramatically multiply meeting productivity and reduce time wasted in sometimes completely unnecessary meetings.

1. Convene only those who are strictly necessary

If indeed a meeting must be had, make sure that the list of participants includes only those who can actually contribute to the expected outcome of themeeting. When a meeting is attended by more than 6 to 7 people, effectiveness begins to decline dramatically, because those who have something to say often do not make time to speak or elaborate, while others say nothing and basically just act in attendance. Crowded meetings are often the realm of multitasking, where many people spend their time texting on their cell phones, basically not even listening to what is being said.
Steve Jobs always followed this principle to the letter, and always made sure that only close and indispensable associates were present at a meeting, despite the fact that Apple had become a huge global business. And Google CEO Larry Page has a rule that no more than 10 people can ever attend a meeting. One exercise to start with is to try to eliminate the least necessary person from the meeting. This is not something your colleague should take personally: explain that it is simply the best way to respect his or her valuable time.

2. Develop an extremely clear agenda

The meeting should be planned well in advance and convened with specific timeframes, specific topics, and objectives stated in advance so that participants arrive aware of what the topic will be and already prepared to make a contribution.
If you are called to meetings without this kind of agenda, it is often much better to simply say no.
Too often, participants in a meeting have no idea why they are there. A meeting without good preparation done in advance often turns out to be an unnecessary waste of time for many. Hone your ability to say no in the workplace. If you are invited to a meeting about which you have some doubts, do not be afraid to tell the organizer, and ask why your presence is so necessary. Then, ask yourself whether it is absolutely necessary to meet to address the problem at hand. Can it be resolved by email, phone, or a quick face-to-face exchange? If yes, politely decline the invitation, and suggest a quicker alternative.

3. Ask for data and analysis in advance

It is important to let individual participants know at the convening stage what is needed to make the meeting as effective as possible. If you do not do this you will spend a good part of the meeting doing unproductive group analysis and research on things that would have taken much less time before the meeting with individual work by some of the participants.

4. Make meetings last the minimum amount of time necessary

When you go beyond 90 minutes your attention evaporates, you lose your sense of purpose: kind of like in school or college when a lecture exceeds an hour and a half and students lose focus and begin to get distracted. Cut it short. Only very few meetings need more than 25-30 minutes .
Very important issues can be resolved efficiently in much less time. Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg is known to have a notebook containing a list of items that need to be discussed at each meeting. When each item has been discussed it ends the meeting, even if only 15 minutes have passed.

5. Prepare meetings in advance and rehearse the necessary tools

Both the content part and the technical support part: try out the tools, audio and video equipment, connections, support materials, etc…check that all those little things that you might need, from markers to a flip chart or whatever else you might find useful, are also available.
If you organized it yourself, take five minutes to check that everything is ready to go before your colleagues arrive. If you tend to avoid the prep work thinking it is just a waste of time, consider how much it costs to keep ten people sitting in a room, twiddling their thumbs, because something doesn’t work. Do some math: it is easy to realize that even a few minutes of unproductivity costs the company a great deal.

6. Conclude meetings with a concrete action plan

Decisions made, actions needed and time/responsibility for implementation, date of next meeting. Put everything in black and white . All’inizio di ogni riunione, scegliete sempre una persona che prepari il report finale. Non dimenticatevi mai di condividere prima del termine della riunione questo report finale. Dopo la condivisione, assicuratevi che questo report sia distribuito a tutti i partecipanti del meeting, in modo che ognuno sappia esattamente cosa fare, e ne sia responsabile.
Without this precaution, a kind of collective amnesia can easily set in. Ideas discussed are soon forgotten and things to be done are never put into practice. So as to make that meeting totally inconclusive, which brings us back to the real question: why bother with these meetings?

7. Do not tolerate delays in starting meetings.

If you notice that there are habitual delays consider introducing a playful penalty, even in money, to be used for parties and special team occasions.

8. Absolutely require phones and laptops to be turned off.

If the meeting must exceptionally go on for a long time, include breaks where phones and laptops can be used.

9. Consider having the meeting standing up.

Some research shows that in this case the duration can be reduced by up to one-third of the seated duration. You can even make the meeting walking when the group is 2-3 people.

10. Ask yourself how to avoid the meeting you are thinking about

You can often avoid a meeting by replacing it with a phone call, a focused meeting with max 1-2 people, an email request, a clear definition of goals and responsibilities, and a good delegation process.

Peter Drucker stated, “A person either has a meeting or works. He cannot do both at the same time.”

It is our job to try to safeguard our time and energy during the workday.

A focus on reducing any form of social waste in the workplace is one of the pillars of the Lean Lifestyle.