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Many of us suffer from collaboration overload. Daily meetings, phone calls and emails have increased about 50 percent and take up 80 percent or more of our time, according to a study published in Harvard Business Review by Rob Cross, Reb Rebele, and Adam Grant.
Add to this equation that, typically, at least one member of the team will be working remotely and suddenly it’s no surprise that we often sit through inefficient and repetitive meetings.
Lori Wright, general manager of Microsoft Teams and Skype marketing, offers advice for making daily meetings less repetitive and more inclusive.
Use video when you can.
Although not everyone is a fan of video meetings, it is the next best thing to everyone being in the room. Video allows you to see your colleague’s facial expressions and helps everyone to read the visual cues, making it easier to participate in the discussion, Wright says. Plus, seeing your colleagues is better than staring at a phone in the middle of the table.
Seek out the silent voices.
If someone in the room or on the phone hasn’t spoken, ask for their opinion or encourage them to ask questions, Wright says.
Remove barriers.
Pay attention to obstacles to participation. For instance, remove the chair that is blocking the video camera, or make sure the meeting room is large enough so that everyone can comfortably fit, Wright says.
Keep your meetings short.
“A meeting should only be as long as it needs to be,” Wright says. Often, when a meeting is scheduled for 30 minutes, an hour or even two hours, participants feel like they need to fill up the entire time. If you only have one or two agenda items, there is no reason to drag the meeting out. If you can finish in 15 minutes, adjourn.
Consider canceling the meeting.
Every decision doesn’t require a meeting. “Anything you can do without having a meeting, you should do,” Wright says. “Meetings are only necessary if you’re spending too much time discussing something through email without resolution or if you need to meet face-to-face to solve the problem.”
Don’t fall into the trap of having a reoccurring meeting without a purpose. “ Don’t be afraid to cancel a reoccurring meeting if you don’t have anything to discuss, or if you don’t have the right people in the room,” Wright says.
Cluster your meetings.
Everyone needs meeting-free time during the workday to focus on tasks. Wright recommends making sure you and your colleagues have at least two hours of uninterrupted time each day.
Avoid repetitive meetings.
If you keep meeting about the same topic, there is a good chance that no one is communicating out to the team the results of the meeting or what each person’s actions items are following the meeting, Wright says. “After the meeting, there is decision or path forward that needs to be communicated out,” she says. “We often have same meetings over and over again when that last step doesn’t happen.”
