Improve Team Performance With These 7 Tips on How to Reduce Meetings

“Oh boy, another meeting.” Has this been your reaction to a calendar invite for an upcoming appointment? If so, you know that meetings are essential but often tedious, primarily if handled inefficiently. Time is precious — especially when you’re attending to other aspects to improve company agendas.

In Malaysia, the standard time of work is 7.5 hours a day, six times a week. Going beyond those hours will mean employees will be entitled to overtime pay. However, since the global pandemic, the standard working hours have become interspersed unevenly following the work-from-home setup. Add unimportant meetings to the mix, and you have a swamped employee.

If you are a supervisor, group leader, or project manager, you may have to spearhead meetings every once in a while to align the team’s goals. So that attendees will not have to pretend to go to the restroom or answer an urgent phone call just to escape a blah meeting, read on for tips on how to reduce meetings.

Tips on How to Reduce Meetings

1. Eliminate what is not working anymore

You know what they say: old habits die hard. Letting go of that compulsory Monday check-ins may seem too drastic at first, but once you consider the productivity value, is it really worth keeping? Reestablishing weekly check-ins during seasons when deadlines are tougher and team alignment is more necessary. This works especially when there is an ongoing project that needs all hands on deck.

But during normal working days when everyone is set out to do their mundane tasks, reporting on a check-in meeting at 9 AM just becomes counterproductive.

There are many types of meetings that cause issues. It’s not because of the nature of the meeting but more so of how they are executed. If you keep holding a standard huddle every single week without significant improvement, you might experience some repercussions. Employees may become uncooperative, which is why too many meetings can be bad.

2. Consider the alternatives

The work-from-home setup has introduced various tools that can help maximise everyone’s workload. That includes alternatives to tedious meetings. If a particular session can be consolidated into one effective email blast, this might have a more positive outcome.

For example, if you want a brainstorming session, consider creating a mind map instead of using Google Docs or other tools. You can make it editable so everyone can jot down their ideas and see the current progress. Afterwards, a short alignment meeting to discuss your choices can be scheduled at everyone’s convenience.

Another example is if a coworker asks to meet with your group to clarify any questions regarding a project. It is possible to send them an email to save everyone’s time.

Take a look at the email template below:

3. Set your boundaries early on

If you want more time to attend to your daily deliverables, or even more freedom for leisure or rest, block your calendar. Make it public so that everyone will be aware of your busyness and not disturb you at those times. This technique is a great way to condition those around you to respect your working hours. It also saves you from attending to unimportant matters, and you can focus on other things, like that vital fifteen-minute nap to increase productivity!

(Read more: Why Sleeping On the Job Helps You Become a Better Worker )

4. Learn how to decline

At some point, you may have been included in a meeting that bore no significance to your job role or the assignments under your jurisdiction. This can be quite troublesome because not only does it derail you from your pending tasks, but it can also be mentally taxing. Your workload is difficult all by itself. What more about getting through a meeting that does not concern you?

It is completely normal to feel anxious about saying ‘no’, but know that you do not have to be a yes man to be on everyone’s good side. Sometimes, learning how to decline will even benefit them since they do not have to accommodate an extra person.

Look at this email template below:

5. Set the agenda for the meeting

It is quite easy for the group to get sidetracked, so keep the members focused:

• Cascade the agenda and objectives of the assembly days or even weeks in advance. Include your time frame per topic. Having time limits creates a sense of urgency among participants, making them get down to business at once.
• Distribute minutes from the last meeting in advance, too. This way, decisions made during the previous meeting need not be revisited to update those who were absent.
• Unless it is an emergency, do not allow interruptions during the meeting. Remember that everyone has commitments, and disruptions will needlessly prolong the talk.
• Begin and end on time. Be prompt, and only recap for latecomers if absolutely crucial. Write relevant concerns raised on a whiteboard for discussion later to avoid straying from the planned order of business. Have a timekeeper prompt you if you fall behind schedule so you can adjust accordingly.

6. Propose a ‘No Meetings Day’

If you have enough authority in the company, say you are a team leader or a manager, you can propose or enforce a “No Meetings Day.” Doing so will give everyone time to work straight without having to worry about attending a meeting. Be sure to keep an eye out for employees who will not adhere to this. If one team does not follow the No Meetings Day, everyone will disobey the principle.

To make your goals more realistic, you can have a No Meetings Day at least once a month instead of doing it weekly. This is to manage everybody’s expectations and to make room for possible emergency meetings.

7. Make meetings shorter

Contrary to what some people might think, longer meetings do not always make for a productive gathering. A productive five-minute meeting that answers everybody’s concerns is better than withstanding an insufferable three-hour meeting that leaves everyone not only drained but also without enough time for other pressing matters.

Schedule well. Generally, the best times for holding meetings are 11 AM and 4 PM. After lunch is the worst, as people experience an energy drop right after a meal. Also, meetings become less wieldy the greater the number of attendees. Determine who must be present throughout the whole session and who can come in when specific topics are touched and can leave afterwards.

If you can’t afford to take shorter meetings, then allot breaks so people can recharge.

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