A company meeting calls for important discussions and strategy exchange that leads to breakthrough decisions for the business. Then why is it, that most of time employees cringe at the name of team meetings?
Majority of people agree that they spend a considerable amount of time in unproductive meetings which leads to inefficient work hours. In fact, executives consider more than 67% of the team meetings to be unproductive. Also 91% of people admit to daydreaming during these meetings.
These unproductive meeting statistics clearly show that long hours and inefficient meeting rooms aren’t helping anyone. But what exactly makes for an unproductive meeting and how to overcome it? Let’s look at the list below to find out.
1. Not Setting An Agenda
Stepping into the meeting room without knowing the objective, renders the meeting futile for everyone. One of the biggest mistakes you can make is to not set a clear agenda for all attendees. If you need a solid outcome after an hour long discussion, you first need to create a structured agenda that will help you with the meeting flow.
To overcome this huddle make sure you spend at least 10 minutes setting an agenda for the meeting and mailing the attendees prior to it. This will not only help you tackle unproductive meetings but also will keep the discussion from getting side-tracked.
Digressing from the meeting agenda is also a problem that results in unproductive meetings. A set agenda and time limit on discussing each objective will therefore help you prevent distractions and side-tracking.
Make it a rule for the person hosting the meeting, to set an agenda and share it prior to the conference, so that everybody can bring something to the table.
2. Multitasking In Meeting Rooms
According to leading surveys, 92% of respondents confessed to multitasking during meetings and 69% admitted to checking mails.
If there is a lack of attention in the meeting room, it will obviously result in an unproductive meeting. Checking mails and multitasking is a buzz kill in the conference room and also not very professional.
As someone who is responsible for the meetings, what you can do to get attention from your fellow members is to engage them in the conversation. Ask for opinions and suggestions. Even though you make the decision keep the discussion open and let members present innovative solutions for problems.
Urge people to take notes in the meetings. This will keep everyone, including you attentive in the room. You can also set some ground rules for the meetings that will prevent distractions like leaving mobile phones at the desk- the biggest hindrance, out of the way.
Unproductive meetings will churn ineffective ideas and result in a complete waste of time. Therefore it is always necessary to bring your most focused and attentive self in the room and avoid distractions.
3. Filling Up The Meeting Room Chairs
When you can’t keep up with the number of heads in the meeting room, you know you’ve invited more people than necessary. According to Inc. not more than seven people are required to create a productive group dynamics in meeting rooms.
Even if the magic number isn’t 7 for you, make it a point to invite only those who are “really needed” for the meeting and can contribute to the task in hand.
Apart from room space, another problem with too many attendees is that nobody really gets a chance to speak and bring effective ideas to the table. With side conversations around the corner the result is always an unproductive meeting room.
You can effectively tackle this situation with reducing the number of people in the room and make your meetings more efficient.
To ensure an efficient and productive meeting that does not take up your entire day, advise your team members to bring solutions to the meeting room instead of providing suggestions on spot. A smart practice is to set an agenda beforehand, so that everybody comes prepared with ideas and suggestion.
4. Unproductive Meeting Room Technology
According to a recent study by Sapio research, 15% of the time spent is meeting room is wasted on meeting room setup. Therefore, you end up spending 9 minutes in an hour long meeting, setting up the necessary device. Even in 2019, many companies are using age-old technologies for their conference meetings which is time consuming and ineffective.
To ensure productivity in meeting rooms you need technologies that can keep up with your boardroom requirements. From hassle-free screen sharing devices to video conferencing solutions, install collaboration tools that are easy to use, fast, and has no learning curve. Intelligent screen sharing devices like Zoapi helps you screen share within 30 seconds so that there is no room for unproductivity in meetings.
When it comes to corporate companies, unproductive meetings cause more damage to the business than we realize. It is important to come up with a smart solution that makes your meeting room more productive.
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