Long meetings, I think we all have too many of them.
You know that feeling when there’s absolutely no time to work because of all the meetings you have scheduled back-to-back? Recently I had the chance to speak with a few of my colleagues about that, and apparently we are not alone, everyone agrees that too much of our time is spent on meeting, and especially very long ones. Most people agreed that when they are in meetings all day, they don’t feel that they are managing their most important asset, time, especially well.
Then, I realized, that we can easily fix that. So I simply say, resist those long meetings!
I noticed that with long meetings people generally get more serious only when they realize time is running out. So don’t tolerate long meetings, only schedule short ones, come prepared, and demand the same from your employees.
To get it done, meetings should begin with a bullet point list of the main topics to be discussed. Once all attendees are aware of what needs to be covered, everyone will automatically speed things up.
I also don’t think that meetings should always be scheduled for 30 minutes periods (or more) each time, only because that’s the calendar’s default. So next time you’re about to schedule a meeting, try scheduling a 15 minute session. Chances are that it will be just as effective—possibly more so.
And the most important piece of your meeting agenda? An action items list to close the meeting. Without it, who will remember, later, what the group agreed on?
And you already know what will then happen, right? – Exactly, another meeting.
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