For all of you, that work in office environments meeting is a constant. I am going to go all-in on this one; meetings drain your happiness. They require lots of attention, sometimes they put you in a bad mood, and many others they are just a waste of time.
I am going to give you the five rules for successful meetings and less burden. I have been using these for years now, and they give my team and me more time to do actual work, which equals productivity and a feeling of accomplishment. That translates ultimately into more happiness but also will give you the power to control our most precious asset in this life, TIME.
1. If there is no agenda, there is no meeting
2. Too many cooks spoil the broth
3. The shortest the better
4. Are you adding any value?
5. Timing is key
I appreciate the fact that in some very corporate and regulated environments applying these five rules could be a challenge and in some cases would it be seen as bad behaviour. However, don’t trick yourself with what other people do, these rules will help you win in the long run. I recommend applying these five rules gradually.
Start declining some meetings that are useless to you, always reply the invitation with a reason of why you are not able to attend, otherwise just dropping meetings or ignoring them is quite unprofessional and in some cases rude.
Ask for an agenda when it is not present.
Openly question why we need 20 people in a meeting? And back it up with facts, for example, do you understand how costly it is for the company to have 20 persons locked in a room not doing any work? That will help others understand and educate of the meeting unprofitability that we suffer every day.
In the end, and as per my estimations, you would be able to be up to 50% more productive, which means that you do work on time. That gives you the rewarding feeling of completeness that makes you go home every day with this feeling of ‘work is done’.
In the infographic below, I have illustrated these five golden rules:
