By Moira Dunne
We all complain that we spend too much time in meetings. It is not so much the number of meetings that frustrates us but the feeling that we are losing so many hours out of our week. Also the time spent at meetings often feels wasted if discussions go on too long and little is achieved. It is a good idea to try to reduce or eliminate some of the meetings in your schedule. Ask yourself “Do I Really Need This Meeting”?
Do I Really Need This Meeting?
Meetings can be a habit. We get used to the frequency of certain meetings and automatically keep going. We sometimes schedule meetings without questioning if there is a better solution. So we need to challenge ourselves and start asking some questions:
Meetings You Organise
- What problem needs to be solved?
- Who do I need to involve?
- Do we need a real-time discussion?
- Do we need to meet face-to-face
Meetings You Attend
- Why am I invited?
- Can I send a delegate?
- Can I send an update?
- Can I attend for the relevant section only?
We tend to think of meetings as simply the time we sit in the meeting room. But effective, efficient and productive meetings only happen if effort is put in before, during and after. It’s about focus and clear objectives. This may require a little work to establish a new approach but before long it becomes routine and time will be saved on the meeting itself and the follow up.
