Explore the hidden costs of dysfunctional meetings and how workplaces have gotten rid of them. Learn strategies to challenge meeting norms, create effective agendas, and foster employee engagement. Discover the importance of creating a sense of belonging, combating meeting overload, and the surprising benefits of fewer meetings for better work and work days.
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Quick takeaways
Many meetings are unnecessary and waste time, causing fatigue, stress, and lost ideas.
To improve meetings, it is important to determine the necessity of meetings, reevaluate meeting length, invite only relevant participants, and change the conversation dynamic during the meeting.
Deep dives
The Negative Impact of Inefficient Meetings
Meetings are often unproductive, awkward, and exhausting. A survey shows that more than two-thirds of people don't have enough time to focus, and inefficient meetings are the biggest disruptor of productivity. The pandemic has only worsened meeting overload. Despite our dread, we don't know how to escape bad meetings. However, it is possible to eliminate unnecessary meetings and improve the rest. A great meeting not only makes us smarter but also increases our happiness.
Understanding the Origins and Purpose of Meetings
Humans are social creatures, and gathering and meeting have been part of our nature since ancient times. Meetings were seen as an evolution from command and control systems to involve workers in decision making. However, the negative outcomes of meetings are not inherent to meetings themselves but rather the quality of the meetings. Research shows that nearly one third of meetings are unnecessary, wasting time and causing fatigue, stress, and lost ideas.
Reinventing Meeting Norms for Better Outcomes
Many meeting norms are based on tradition or borrowed from other organizations without strong evidence. People rarely question these norms even when meetings become excruciating. Pluralistic ignorance plays a role, where individuals go along with group norms because they mistakenly believe they are alone in disagreeing. To improve meetings, four conversations need to occur: determining the necessity of meetings, reevaluating meeting length, inviting only relevant participants, and changing the conversation dynamic during the meeting.
Implementing Strategies for Effective Meetings
To ensure productive meetings, it's important to gather only when there is a need for interaction, engagement, decision-making, learning, bonding, or action. Meeting lengths should be based on the time required, with shorter, focused meetings often being more efficient. Rotating meeting facilitators can encourage diverse perspectives and increase engagement. Framing the meeting agenda as a set of questions to be answered fosters thoughtful preparation and inquiry during the meeting. Encouraging active participation from all attendees leads to better outcomes.
Meetings often drain our joy and sap our focus – and meeting overload kills productivity. So why do we have so many of them, and is a better world possible? Adam investigates the science of improving meetings and explores how workplaces are fighting meeting bloat. Available transcripts for WorkLife can be found at go.ted.com/WLtranscripts
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