Meetings are one of the main elements of the modern corporate culture. And one of the most disliked by employees. Most corporate employees hate regular meetings but have to go to them: it’s as inevitable as the 8 am rush hour.
We almost physically feel how we waste our time on empty talk in meetings. Those whose bosses love to chat are especially unlucky. A talkative leader may be one of the reasons we hate meetings. But even if there are no complaints about the talkativeness of the leader, we still feel that we could spend this hour and a half, or even two, with greater benefit for the cause.
How long should an effective meeting last?
Meetings would be less agonizing if they were shorter than is now customary. Practice shows that the most effective are those planning meetings that last about 30 minutes. In this case, employees have more time to complete their tasks: a session that lasts less than an hour does not have time to demoralize them during this time.
The problem is that meetings in large companies often bring everyone together, even those employees of departments who may not be relevant to the essence of the issue or do not have the authority to make decisions.
Employees of companies spend two hours at such meetings, but after these large-scale events are over, they cannot even explain what was discussed.
Schedule an afternoon meeting
But this advice is no longer so obvious. For example, it would seem logical to arrange meetings in the morning to discuss plans and get to work. But in fact, this is not at all the case.
The fact is that at the beginning of the day, people come to work with their own already prepared plan of action. They have tasks that they must solve. And so the person pours coffee, opens the computer, and writes the first sentence. And suddenly clap – a planning meeting. If it also stretches for an hour, then the employee returns to the workplace angry, hungry, and already tired, and the only thing he wants is to go to dinner as soon as possible. In this case, the first half of the day is completely killed.
If the morning is left free for employees, then by the evening, having done the pressing business, they will already be able to discuss other issues. And even have time to prepare for the meeting. And now it’s time to move on to the next point.
How often should meetings be held?
Each company regulates how often and in what format the board and its various departments need to meet. A convenient form is a meeting that takes place once a week (shorter) and a long one every few months.
How to make meetings easier?
To make meetings easier to conduct and as convenient as possible for all board members and employees who participate in them, you should pay attention to programs called board portals.
The board portal allows you to conduct quick and comfortable meetings with maximum information capture using built-in tools.