Have you been in a meeting that felt like this? Surveys of meeting habits keep finding the same picture: most people admit to daydreaming in meetings, and managers estimate that around half of their meeting time is wasted.
One widely quoted set of figures from Dr Donald Wetmore of the Productivity Institute suggested that 90% of people daydream in meetings, 60% take notes only to look as if they are listening, and over three quarters of managers have never been trained to run a meeting. Whatever the exact numbers, the striking thing is that they are not surprising.
Why it happens
Three reasons, in my experience. Historical precedent: we run meetings the way meetings have always been run. Habit: poor meeting practice is everywhere, so it looks normal. And leadership development rarely teaches people how to bring a group together to think. The cost is time, money and vitality.
The problem of "catch-ups"
A friend told me about the new team of twenty he had just joined. Its weekly meeting was mainly "catch-ups": each person updating the others on progress. The meeting now took an hour and a half, and people found it boring.
The occasional presence of the senior leader made it worse. Those keen to impress took ever longer to describe everything they had done. In my friend's view, those who had achieved the least took the longest to describe their achievements. It has all the signs of a classic flabby meeting.
The 10-minute fix
- Rotate the role of facilitator.
- Ask everyone to write their progress on one gridcard with a fat pen. That allows about 20 words.
- Each person reads out their card.
- Map the cards on a wallchart against the key milestones, or against last week's cards.
- Use the time saved to discuss only what is blocked.
New meeting length: ten minutes. Across twenty people, that saves nearly 27 hours of time every week. If people still run on, try the MOMO card.
Start with an objective
Most wasted meetings have a topic but no objective. "Catch-up" is a topic. "Identify the three projects that need help this week" is an objective, and it implies a ten-minute process. Read how to replace your agenda with objectives, or the nine conditions for brilliant meetings.
Sean Blair is the founder of ProMeet and Serious Outcomes, an IAF Certified Professional Facilitator and a LEGO® Serious Play® Master Trainer. About Sean.