Participation in meetings is an expected part of most (if not all) of our jobs. How many of these meetings are necessary? Could some of the “work” of meetings be accomplished with a few emails or other asynchronous forms of communication? Are meetings cluttering your schedule and making it impossible to get any real work done?
Some answers to these questions are offered in a Harvard Business Review article from March 2022.
Key points include:
70% of all meetings keep employees from working and completing all their tasks.
Ineffective meetings that waste our time can negatively impact psychological, physical, and mental wellbeing.
Advantages to fewer meetings:
Productivity was 71% higher when meetings were reduced by 40%.
Employees feel empowered and more autonomous, increasing their job satisfaction by 52%.
Removing 60% of meetings increased cooperation by 55%.
Authors recommend holding meetings only when “absolutely” necessary. That typically includes:
To review work that’s occurred (what worked or didn’t and why)
To clarify and validate something (policies, team goals, etc.)
To distribute work appropriately among your team
References
Laker B, Pereira V, Malik A, and Soga L. Meeting Management: Dear Manager, You’re Holding Too Many Meetings. Harvard Business Review. March 9, 2022.
