The survey was developed by Office Team, a staffing plan service specializing in skilled administrative professionals. With responses from 613 men and women, all 18 years or older, the results are a part of "Office Team Career Challenge", a project to help administrative professionals enhance their career.
With today's lean staffing, there is increasing pressure on employees to manage their time effectively. But many employers actually sabotage time management with runaway meetings and interruptions. Industry Week calls meetings "The Great White Collar Crime" estimate they are wasting 37 billion dollars a year.
Some "red flags"
may indicate a mismanaged meeting:
No one in charge. If management of the meeting is not clear, there is a tendency for participants to waste time, preach their points and not draw any conclusions.
Does not start on time. This practice 'train' employees to come late and expect additional time to socialize.
Lack of goals or agenda. With no clear purpose and agenda to follow, it is easy for the meeting to get the track. Participants may not be fully aware of what needs to be discussed or for how long.
Long guest list. As a general rule, the more people at a meeting on less work. When the list of participants is large, it is often because there is a focus on not excluding anyone, not because each member's participation is necessary.
Just part of the routine. Regularly scheduled meetings can lose value, as the circumstances and personnel change. All routine meetings should be regularly evaluated to determine whether they should be kept at all.
To learn how to make meetings more productive, contact Chris Clarke-Epstein, CSP, who wrote the book, I can not take Your Call Right now I am in a meeting. The former president of the National Speaker's Association, she works with clients to help employees learn faster and work better. She offers concrete ideas to make your meetings more effective.
Idea # 1: Not every meeting should take place. The right times to schedule a meeting is when the conflict must be resolved, groups of people need to start working together or information to be shared at the same time. Meetings are a group activity so they can be effective when a group must reach consensus or rally around an idea or plan.
Idea # 2: The person calling the meeting has more to do than reserve the room. They must also consider other logistical problems, including the time necessary equipment, and food / drink. They need to take ownership of content, including preparation of an agenda and distribution of review materials. It is important to have a system to follow up on tasks and monitor the results of the meeting.
Idea # 3: Meetings are not better than the people participating in them. According to the
Idea # 4: What will be registered at a meeting has a chance to get done. All meetings need a form of collective, agreed upon memory. Without documentation, consensus can evaporate quickly. Meeting notes need to summarize the decisions made, itemize the actions agreed upon, fix accountability and document deadlines for all actions.
Idea # 5: Meetings that end without tasks are doomed to be repeated. Groups are often very good at making and incredibly bad to implement. There is a need for an identified person to implement each decision within a specific timeframe. Watch to make certain that everyone is getting some of those responsibilities.
Idea # 6: Teams to evaluate their meetings have better meetings. Take two or three minutes at the end of each meeting in order to evaluate the process. Use index cards and answer the following questions: Was it the meeting objectives met? Was the meeting format effective? Was sitting in value?
The true value of any meeting is what actually happens after the meeting. Ensure that individuals are held accountable for meeting performance. And remember, if you can not measure it, it will not happen.
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