Too many meetings stalling your work? Here’s what you can do

Pandemic led to more meetings

Mr Price said the number of meetings ballooned after the pandemic as some leaders used them to compensate for the loss of in-person connection caused by the shift to remote working.

Others kept scheduling them out of habit, or because seeing their employees helped assure them that people were actually working. But these behaviours came at a cost, Atlassian’s research shows.

The report revealed that 78 per cent of knowledge workers find it difficult to get their work done because they are expected to attend so many meetings.

Among the common complaints about meetings were:

• not being able to get a word in because a handful of voices dominated the discussion;
• not understanding the next steps to be taken after the meeting;
• being forced to listen to information that could have been explained in an email; and
• having chaotic conversations that bounce from one topic to the next without a clear purpose.

“The answer is better leadership,” Mr Price said, suggesting that meetings should not be stopped altogether. “If you’ve got stronger leaders, what they’re going to do is [ask]: ‘How do we have fewer meetings so we can do more meaningful work? And then the meetings we do have, how do we make them highly effective?’”

Fewer, better meetings

To cut out unnecessary catch-ups, Mr Price recommends that teams audit their regular meetings every 90 days so they can eliminate or adjust those that are failing to fulfil their stated objectives.

Atlassian’s report advises people to decline low-value meetings and group the rest together to give themselves longer bouts of uninterrupted work – although Mr Price concedes that some workers will not feel comfortable about turning down meetings.

“I ask clarifying questions. That’s not me going, ‘I’m not coming to your meeting because I think it’s terrible’. It’s me going, ‘Assuming I come, how do we get the best value out of my time?’” Mr Price said.

He said most people should feel safe enough to ask such questions, which should prompt the convener to at least consider whether everyone’s attendance was necessary.

Each meeting invitation should state a goal, but 62 per cent of these fail to articulate this, the report says.

Atlassian’s other tips for effective meetings include writing an agenda beforehand, shortening meetings from 30 minutes to 15 minutes, and appointing a meeting facilitator to ensure nobody dominates the conversation.

Give attendees something to do

Donna McGeorge, a productivity specialist and author of The 25 Minute Meeting, said meetings often went awry because they lacked purpose, which sometimes also meant the wrong people were invited.

“From now on, and for the rest of your life, before you click send on any meeting request, you need to finish the following sentence in the notes part of the [invite]: ‘By the end of this meeting, it would be great if ...’,” Ms McGeorge said.

Giving people something to do in a meeting also discouraged them from multitasking or attending without contributing, she said.

“Please read the attached document and be ready to answer the following three questions when you come to the meeting,” Ms McGeorge offered as an example. “That will keep them present.”