A lot of businesses waste a lot of time on meetings that are not productive. We all know TIME IS MONEY which means, time isn't the only thing wasted on unproductive, ineffective meetings. It's been estimated that meetings cost businesses as much as $37 billion EVERY year.
Harvard Business Review has a meeting cost calculator that quantifies just how much money is lost during meetings and it's pretty appalling.
Before we continue…if you'd like to calculate how much money your company is spending on meetings (it may be a good starting place before reading the remainder of this blog), find the calculator as well as some other super interesting information, here.
Getting back to the point…
This subject begs the question: what is the “cost” of having no meetings? Albeit the monetary calculation is less tangible, there are downsides of failing to have team meetings. Teams collaborate better, communicate better, and build their interpersonal relationships better when effective meetings are introduced. For one thing, nonverbal communication makes up around 55% of our messages. Body language, facial expressions and other types of nonverbal communication can change an entire discussion and cut down on a lot of confusion or misunderstandings.
To make the most of your team meetings:
- Make an agenda
- Stick to it: limit small talk prior to starting the meeting – that is time wasted, and team bonding can occur on a separate occasion.
- Change it or scrap it on the agenda if it does not bring value or productiveness to the group.
- Listen as effectively as you lead: equally as important as staying on topic, is hearing what your team members have to say. This is where collaboration and project momentum will occur.
- Keep in short and stay on topic: if a greater issue is uncovered, table it and schedule a new meeting to address the new topic.
- Follow up: for any high-level meetings, we suggest recording them or having an assigned individual send notes to everyone involved. This will give time for everyone to reflect on what occurred, then formulate their follow-up emails that will see their action items to the finish line.
There's a lot of reasons why meetings are important and why we should work collaboratively to optimize efficiency and boost creativity. The key is to ensure that your meetings are PRODUCTIVE to you, to your employees, and to your organization as a whole.
If they are, then they should be worth every penny.
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