I’ve always wondered how many people out there have ever argued that meetings are the key to their personal and professional productivity. I suspect there are very few. Don’t get me wrong, I actually value face-to-face meetings more than anything else in the world when it comes to knowledge transfer and getting alignment on important issues. In fact, I find myself ignoring emails and phone calls much more in favor of meetings. But if I’m in meetings all day, when does the actual work get done?
Meetings are Unproductive
For most job roles, a meeting means sitting around a table with a group of people that are all waiting for their turn to speak. We’ve all been in that situation before (likely on both sides). Look around the room about 50 minutes into a 60 minute meeting and observe.Most people are likely drifting off, checking email, or “pretending” to check email on their phone.
“Research says you should ban laptops and sitting down, set a timer, and have silence breaks if you want meetings that accomplish anything (FastCompany).”
Put a goldfish in a small fish bowl and it will remain small. Put them in a large aquarium and that same fish will continue to grow until it fills the tank (or so I might have read once on the Internet). The same goes for meetings. If you schedule an hour, the meeting will last an hour. If you schedule a 30 minute meeting, you’ll be rushed, but it will finish at the half hour mark (or beyond). For this reason, we believe it’s important to keep meetings in a fishbowl … um, we mean, purposefully short.
The 20/50 Model for Meeting Scheduling
Years ago, we developed a model that would take back 10 minutes from every hour long meeting, which ensures people have time to digest the current topic before rushing to the next task or meeting. Rather than schedule an hour meeting, schedule (or just run it) for 50. If your day is filled with meetings, like most, this ends up giving your team a free hour each day to recharge, refocus, and reengage themselves in the subjects being discussed in meetings.
If you apply this same approach and methodology for half hour meetings, your organization can achieve massive gains in productivity. People will be less resentful of meeting time and will work together to ensure all topics are given their just due, knowing they won’t have to rush from one topic to the next.
Giving your team this free time to reflect allows them to
10 Rules For Productive Meetings
- No Spectators
- Screens Down
- Schedule Short Meetings (20/50)
- Stand Up (people will get tired)
- Focus Your Agenda
- One Meeting Owner
- Forward Thinking. Few Reviews.
- End Meeting When It’s Over
- Give Back Time