Surface Ripples

Managing Meetings

There’s an African saying, “if you want to go fast, go alone, but if you want to go far, go together.”

Meetings, as we’ve often found to our cost, can be value destroyers by taking up too much of our time. 

Since COVID ended, more meetings may be held “virtually” with attendees from all parts of the world joining in from different time zones.  This means that collaboration gets more difficult as not only are people more spread out than they used to be in the past, they’re also “cognitively disconnected”, meaning they don’t necessarily “think the same way” and see others as "faces on a screen".

Not only do we have team meetings, we also have one-to-one meetings with our managers (and our direct reports) to discuss our individual objectives and status of current projects that we’re working on.

I read recently that office workers can spend up to almost 15 hours a week in meetings (reclaim.AI). That’s almost 2 full working days out of five.

The modern office worker is increasingly asked to work on different projects with different people.  This results in them feeling that they’re constantly being pulled in too many different directions.  It's also mentally taxing.  Science has proven that the human brain isn't really designed to multitask in the way that many organisations require.

The result?  People maintain a semblance of productivity by focusing on small quick tasks that don’t require too much concentration (e.g. dealing with emails, answering the phone, updating lists). This is what we call “busy work” but what it does is prevent our teams from focusing on their more challenging tasks – the ones that are strategically important for the organisation.

How can we as leaders make sure that meetings are well spent?  The first priority is define the objectives of meetings to make sure our people don’t feel they’re wasting their time.

Ensuring the efficient spread of internal knowledge and information is also vital.  Rumours are one thing; facts are another. In a modern world it’s even more difficult to find the information we may need to be effective (there’s just so much!). 

Finally, we need to look at how much we’re putting on peoples’ shoulders.  There are “humans” in “Human Resources”, not just “resources” …

I’ve spent more than half my life delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With a wealth of international experience in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management.  I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email. My website  provides a full picture of my portfolio of services.  

Labels: Leadership, Productivity, Teamwork

posted by William Martin @ 17:52