Planning Meetings - Managing Meetings To Maximize Time

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One of the common complaints I hear from both employees and managers has to do with the amount of time they have to spend IN MEETINGS. Oddly enough employees don't see meeting attendance as "part of the job", or at least important to doing their jobs.

That's just the symptom, though. Yes, people like to do the job tasks they beleive they were hired to do, and don't see meetings as part of that equation, even when the meeting topics are directly related to what they do every day.

The Real Meeting Issue

The real, issue, rather than the symptom, is that meetings at work are often incredibly inefficient. Lack of a clear agenda, absence of proper controls so meetings can stay on track, specifying meeting "deliverables", and having the wrong people (often too many people) at meetings, makes them frustrating for all who attend.

Let's face it. When people are in meetings, they aren't doing other things that continue to pile up when they are away from their primary work/job location.

Meeting Productivity Through Meeting Planning and Management Is Where It's At

Not only is meeting management and planning critical for productivity reasons, but employees who have to attend too many inefficient meetings grow frustrated, and start withdrawing from the process -- a form of disengagement by meeting overload. While it may not be possible or even a good thing to do away with meetings, proper organization, and conducting meetings properly can save time, and frustration -- thus, higher productivity.