Tag Archives: Meeting

Jan20

Don’t Schedule Meetings on Mondays

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Don’t Schedule Meetings on Mondays

How many times have you said after attending a long drawn out, very boring meeting, “well, that could’ve just been an email!” Many people check out of meetings and start scrolling through their social media feed after while. It could be for a host of reasons: they shouldn’t have been included in the attendee’s list, the presider was ill-prepared, the meeting is too long, too boring, or not relevant to the attendee, etc.

But have you stopped to wonder if maybe you set the meeting during the wrong time of the week? You may be asking, “Is that even a thing?” Apparently, yes! Researchers[1] suggest that the worst time to schedule a meeting is during Monday mornings.

Right now, I can imagine that most of you are going…nooooo! Many businesses, especially those that involve teams, start the week with a Monday morning meeting. And with good intentions, since most of these meetings act as a sort of a huddle – a way to make sure that everyone is on the same page and to make sure jobs are assigned and projects are evaluated for progress.

Why not Mondays?

Mondays are statistically believed to be the most productive day of the week for employees. Many employees hunker down and get to work right away, so it is imperative that their concentration is not disrupted by having to attend meetings. Also, statistically, most employees choose Mondays or Fridays to call in sick or even file for leave to get a long weekend. So Monday morning meetings are probably prone to a lot of no-shows.

If not Mondays, when?

Science shows that the best day to hold meetings is Tuesday at 2:30pm. This data was derived from more than 2 million responses to 530,000 meeting invitations. The reason: it’s not too early in the morning and also not too late in the week. You can still steer the direction of projects and get updates early enough in the workweek and it’s not too early in the day to cut through the productive hours of employees.

Optimal meetings

No matter how well you schedule your meetings, if it’s boring or not very well prepared, people are going to zonk out. Here re a few tips to keep it engaging:

  • Keep it short – keep it within 45 mins, that’s the sweet spot. Half an hour is too short and should just be an email. An hour or more is just too long and will likely feel like a drag to attendees.
  • Distribute materials in advance – if you have materials for review or comments, please send them out in advance. Don’t assume that people will be able to give relevant input while you go through your presentation slides that they’re seeing for the first time.
  • Open with a purpose, close with action – set expectations at the beginning. What do you need to address? What needs to be accomplished? Answer that throughout the meeting and then close with a plan of action.

Do you like attending meetings? What are your meeting survival tips?  Share your tips with us in the comments. Remember to work smart and be a blessing to someone today.

Written by Jaie O. TheHelp

[1] https://www.payscale.com/career-news/2016/07/science-says-best-day-time-meeting

Mar18

Why you should hold company meetings around meals

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Why you should hold company meetings around meals

Mandatory work meetings are annoying for everyone involved – the organizer, the presenter, and the attendees. Nobody wants to sit through an hour long meeting that should’ve been just a very well written email. In fact, meetings are the biggest time wasters in an office setting. A few years back, emails were the biggest time wasters at work. Sending and replying to emails takes the top spot of biggest time waster at 57%. But if you factor in the amount of time spent on preparing for, attending, and extending the meetings, that takes up a much larger chunk of time compared to reading, writing, and replying to emails.

Don’t get me wrong, meetings are an important part of work life if done correctly. However, some meetings are unnecessary, too long, or too inclusive. Seeing that the average employee attends 62 meetings in a month, with half of those being considered as time wasted by surveyed employees – that would translate to a lot of wasted time…and apparently, money. Unproductive meetings cost US big businesses $37 Billion.

So how do you get your employees interested in attending meetings without having them feel that it is just a whole lot of wasted time? You introduce food! This is a great way to turn boring meetings into an activity that employees actually look forward to, again.

Healthy food for a huge productivity boost
It is a know fact that eating healthy foods boost productivity. Scheduling your meetings around a nutritious and well balanced meal would boost overall productivity around the office. It doesn’t have to be around lunch. A quick snack with a healthy salad or sandwiches, or even an excellent cup of coffee, instead of doughnuts or cake, would be ideal.

The team that eats together, works well together
Think of all the dinners spent around the family table, or the meals spent with friends, or the dinner spent connecting with a date – whatever the circumstance is – one thing holds true. Food connects people. Enjoying a meal with teammates and coworkers offers the opportunity to get to know each other better. I fosters a great atmosphere and encourages food feelings. Meetings with food helps foster a more positive workplace.

Food shows appreciation
Food is a great motivator. If meeting attendance is low, the promise of GOOD food will always drive attendance up. Not only does food serve to entice attendance, it also serves as a token of appreciation for a job well done. People want to know that they are valued for what they bring to the company They will appreciate the idea that their employer is willing to invest in them, too.

As mentioned earlier, team meetings don’t have to be centered around a full on buffet lunch. It could be small coffee breaks with artisanal bread and spreads. It could be sales reports with a healthy salad bar. It could be a daily huddle with berry smoothies. If it could boost productivity and camaraderie, isn’t it worth a try? Stay humble and hustle hard.

Written by Jaie O. The Help

May28

Where Does the Time Go?

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Where Does the Time Go?

Do you know what the biggest time waster at work is? No, it’s not checking your social media updates. Take another guess.

It’s meetings. A few years back, emails were the biggest time wasters at work. Sending and replying to emails takes the top spot of biggest time waster at 57%. But if you factor in the amount of time spent on preparing for, attending, and extending the meetings, that takes up a much larger chunk of time compared to reading, writing, and replying to emails.

Here are a few more cringe-worthy stats:
● On the average, employee attends 62 meetings in a month and half of those are considered as time wasted.
● 31 hours are spent on average in unproductive meetings in a month

In an average meeting, an employee has at one time or another:
● Missed it (96%)
● Daydreamed (91%)
● Did other work (73%)
● Complained (47%)
● Felt overwhelmed (45%)
● Slept (39%)

Unproductive meetings cost US big businesses $37 Billion. It’s not only big businesses that are affected. In the UK, SMEs lose an average of £63,700 per annum on meetings. With that amount of money going down the drain, something needs to change.

39% of staff fall asleep during meetings and the company can’t really do anything about that aside from providing free coffee. But a shocking 63% of meetings don’t even have a prepared agenda, and that’s where major improvement can come in.

Having a clear agenda before calling a meeting can help the host and all the attendees immensely. Going into a meeting with a vague idea of what you want to get out of it rarely ends on a productive note. So, start with identifying the objective of the meeting. Ask yourself what you want to get out of it and once you’ve set a purpose and a goal, you can start building the agenda from there.

Having an agenda will keep the discussions on track. Write down some focus points and discussion topics – keep those detailed to lessen the chances of veering off course.

Share the agenda with attendees before the meeting, at the very least, the day before so that they too can prepare their questions and suggestions. And ruthlessly cull out anybody who doesn’t need to be there. Most meetings are designed to make decisions and not just share information. If they can be just copied into an email that details the results of the meeting, then don’t invite them anymore.

Don’t be late. Attendees are expected to arrive on time. Meeting hosts are expected to arrive well before the meeting time.

Consider stand up meetings for agendas that have only a few focus points. People are more engaged during stand-up meetings and the time limit is more often followed. Obviously, this won’t work for longer meetings or planning sessions but works great for 1-3 discussion point meetings.

Stick to the agenda. It’s best to provide a timed agenda, if possible. Assign roles and have an idea parking lot which acts as a “repository” for focus points that would need more information or more time to decide on. Don’t forget to follow those up!

What are your teams meeting habits? Are they productive? What areas can you improve on? Let us know in the comments below. Stay humble and hustle hard!

 

Written by Jaie O. The Help