Are All Meetings Necessary?

Meetings are a necessary part of work, but they can also be a major time suck. According to Zippia, the average American spends 3 hours per week in meetings and 30% of workers say they spend over 5 hours per week in meetings. 🤯

A few other quick meeting stats from the same study:

⏳In the US there are approx. 55 million meetings held each week. That’s over a billion per year! 😲

⏳It’s estimated that 24 billion hours are wasted each year due to unproductive meetings.

⏳65% of employees agree that meetings prevent them from completing their own work.

⏳42% of Zoom users say they’ve attended a virtual meeting from their beds!🛌🏻(Had to throw that one in there)

There are numerous reasons why meetings can be so time-consuming or unproductive. Common reasons are that they are often poorly planned, lack an agenda or failure to control speaking times. Meetings can also go overtime, and people can often get off track. (Shocker)

There are things you can do to effectively work around meetings and save yourself time. Here are just a few tips:

💡 Block off time in your calendar for deep work. Time you can focus on your individual tasks without distraction.

💡 Schedule meetings that have recurring themes or topics for the same time each day or week. This will help all participants manage their time, get into a routine, and be prepared.

💡 Only attend meetings that are essential. Don’t be afraid to decline meeting invitations if you don’t think your attendance is necessary or if the matter could be handled via Teams, Slack or over the phone.

💡 Set a clear agenda for each meeting. This will help keep the meeting on track and prevent it from going overtime.

💡 Start and end meetings on time. If someone is late, don’t wait for them if possible.

💡 Encourage attendees to stay on topic. If someone starts to go off track, gently redirect them back to the agenda.

💡 Finally, if you’re going to have a meeting, make sure someone is taking minutes and those minutes are distributed on a timely basis.

If you find yourself spending too much time in “mandatory” meetings, talk to your manager about how to manage your workload in concert with these meetings. You may also be able to negotiate for more flexibility in your schedule, so that you can attend fewer meetings.

Remember, meetings should be a means to an end, not the end itself. By being mindful of how you approach them, you can maximize your time and productivity. 🚀 So, let’s make our meetings work for us, not against us!💬💡 #Meetings #ProductivityHacks #TimeManagement #cpacareer #careercoach