CEO of Tesla, Elon Musk sent out an email to staff in which he suggests walking out of meetings if found not productive but is this really the solution? Contributor Steve Duignan, VP, International Marketing – LogMeIn.
A recent study by Bain & Company found that senior executives are spending on average more than two days a week in meetings. But if employees aren’t finding meetings useful, what other ways are there to tackle this?
Meetings are a crucial part to any business. Whether it’s new business, performance reviews or casual catch ups – they must happen. However, it’s important to organise them appropriately so that time isn’t wasted. Atlassian reported that workers spend as much as 31 hours every month in unproductive meetings. So, how can we make meetings more productive?
Being a host comes with responsibility. One of them being ensuring everyone takes something away from the meeting so it’s not a complete waste of time. A host will need to invest more than a solid block of time talking to each other. Meetings should be as effective as goal-setting: they should have objectives, as well as ensuring that everyone stays on target.
Want to get the most out of a meeting? Put the most effort into preparation. Keep it simple, organised but be prepared – don’t turn up to the meeting unsure of what to say, with the wrong material or not enough information. Not only will this diminish the productivity, but it will waste time by keeping employee waiting for the host to get it all together.
Taking control
As a host, it can be difficult to take control of the meeting’s tempo, especially those that take place online. Everyone is in a different room and possibly, in a different time zone so there may be a few issues of people speaking at once, or one person take over the conversation.
To ensure that the meeting is under control, understand that interruptions are okay – if it’s for clarification. Everyone needs to be moving along at the same speed, if someone doesn’t understand then it’s the hosts responsibility to explain and keep meeting members on track.
Ask everyone for input. Don’t do all the talking, every participant should be given the chance to contribute. For example, if a stakeholder meeting is being hosted – these individuals want to hear from everyone who will be working with them, not just the senior team.
Multitasking is a big no go during meetings, it can cost the whole team. Make a meeting count, as a host your full attention should be to the people in the room. When multitasking you risk being less creative and productive as your concentrating on different things. It will send the wrong message to those attending the meeting, either they aren’t important enough or you’re setting an example for others to go ahead and copy your behaviour, making not only you but a group of people less productive during meetings.
Wrap it up if needed. Not every objective will be discussed and met during meetings, that’s fine. It’s important to come up with a plan of action for the team to work on or a plan of action for the next meeting. However, if all goals are achieved before the end of a meeting, let everyone go. This will mean the hosts meeting gets a reputation for efficiency, but people will be more like to attend future meetings as they know time is respected.
Being informative with PechaKucha
PechaKucha is a style of presenting used in Japan. The aim is to inform people quickly whilst being ensuring key points are being explained properly. The way they put this into practise is by, communicating a number of ideas, using the same number of slides. For example, thirty ideas will mean that the host will explain himself in thirty slides.
The numbers aren’t the most important thing about this process, you can use as many or as little as you like. What makes PechaKucha successful is explaining things straight to the point, without having time to go off on a tangent.
PechaKucha may not be possible at all times, especially for large, big-picture meetings, however – this style is used to inform and build the context for the meeting. It’s totally up to the host whether they would like to open it up to further questions. Using this method means you only present the essential, clarity is improved, and distraction reduced to a bare minimal.
Not all meetings have to be a tedious task, the host must make them productive and interesting. Members should be informed during these meetings, they should be captivated. A good host will not only be incredibly organised but present it in a way that keeps everyone interested and engaged.
