Research shows that 67% of all workplace meetings are unproductive, costing businesses hours of time. But why do so many meetings fail, and how can you get more from your team huddles?

Multitasking

A lot of meetings fail because employees are multitasking, thus dividing their attention. So one of the best things you can do is remove distractions - that’ smart phones, iPads – everything.

No decisions made

It’s easy to get side tracked during meetings and lose track of the main objectives to the point where everything is discussed, but little is resolved. 

Managing meetings is a skill that can be learned. A couple of tricks include:

- Create a schedule and stick to it
- Set clear expectations
- Send materials in advance

It’s not uncommon for meetings to be held after a decision has already been made, and to use the meeting to inform the relevant people involved.

Meetings overrunning

Meetings have a tendency to overrun, especially when everyone goes off topic. It’s tough, but give the meeting a time limit then stick to it. Allocate each item on the agenda a time slot, and stick to that, too.

Too many cooks spoiling the broth

Everybody wants to be heard, and when you’re holding a meeting, the last thing you want to do is silence people and make them feel undervalued.

This is why you should never invite a surplus of people to the meeting in the first place. Make sure that the only attendees are those who truly need to be present and can contribute to an outcome. If you’re worried about keeping people in the loop, you can share the meeting minutes with them.

Staff arriving late

Late attendees tend to be a big interruption. If somebody is late, don’t waste time briefing them on what they’ve missed; they can always catch up later. Some companies will refuse to let a staff member participate if they are substantially late.

This article was written by Tirebuck Recruitment, specialists in sourcing permanent and temporary staff in Solihull.

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Readers who submit articles must agree to our terms of use. The content is the sole responsibility of the contributor and is unmoderated. But we will react if anything that breaks the rules comes to our attention. If you wish to complain about this article, contact us here