Meetings, Meetings, Meetings

Hundreds of hours are wasted in unproductive meetings every day.

Ineffective meetings lead to general dissatisfaction and are listed as one of the top three time wasters. 70% of employees feel they’re unproductive.

Have a purpose for holding a meeting in the first place - know the outcome you want.

Make sure the right people are in the meeting - whether contributors or decision makers.  There's nothing worse than trying to get agreement and another meeting is needed to make the decisions.

Always have an agenda for meetings with a set end time - so many meetings are open-ended with no direction and just drift on too long.

Start and end meetings on time. Have a time-keeper to keep people focused and it's the hosts/chair's responsibility to bring people back to the agenda if discussions get side-tracked.

Decide whether a meeting is the most effective use of everybody’s time? Could the information be better communicated by email, phone call or a report? The purpose and outcome of the meeting should balance the input of time and effort by all those involved.

Use technology to set up meetings using teleseminars, webinars or group conference calls.