Cost of a meeting

I know, you know, everyone knows - meetings are not work, but just people gathered together, and in the best case scenario talking about work. Yet even though we know it, somehow we keep going from meeting to meeting with our illusion that we have replaced the nonsense part with something valuable.  My main problem with meetings is that if I and my team have a 60-minute meeting, then it is not a 60-minute meeting. It is a 4-hour meeting, as there are 4 people participating. 4 hours of time where people could actually achieve something, but instead, they are around a table discussing. Why are we discussing ways to make more revenue and chasing goals, if we could start with cutting the meetings and saving money and finding time to achieve more. 4 hours that are spent in a meeting can equal 1 sold timmigration or settle-in service. So maybe instead of panicking on how to make that sale, cancel the meeting? 

Alternative

Do not get me wrong, a discussion is important. Communication is important. Just everything does not have to be a meeting. Things can be a short summary email; a phone call, a chat on your way to lunch, a voice message. As I have been leading my team for the past 4 months, I have agreed with myself that even if I am having a meeting, I try to cross the following things off from the checklist:

• The meeting has an agenda that is relevant. 

• The agenda is either to share an update (that is so important that it can't be shared just in Slack) or to make a decision. Therefore every meeting ends with an action item.

• The meeting agenda is clear for every participant and they know where to see or challenge it.

• Someone (who knows it) is making notes of the meeting and everyone knows where the notes can be found.

• The meeting is scheduled for a logical time. If possible in a time that does not cut through anyone's workday. 

• Don't spend everyone's time talking about past to-do's. 

Design your workday

My lifesaver has been that I know in the morning time I am most productive and therefore I do not let anyone schedule a meeting in my morning. All my meetings are in the afternoon and if possible, set as close as possible. Two days per week I try to have free from meetings. Currently, those meeting-free days are Mondays and Thursdays. On other days I mostly have meetings from 2.30 pm to 4.30 pm. Before the meeting, everyone can mark topics in the calendar invite. If there are no topics before the meeting, the meeting is automatically canceled. 

Design your meetings

During the meeting, we do not discuss our everyday to-dos or past accomplishments. To let the team know what we have been working on, we use Basecamp and there every evening can mark what did we work on. In addition, every Monday morning we can let there the whole team know what will be the main goal for our week via Basecamp automatically generated follow-ups. 1 thing that I know my team's meetings are not perfect for others but are very valuable for us, is the fact that our Friday meetings are a place where we can just share our experiences and emotions. As we do not have too much in-person time with each other anymore, then we just take this joint time to vent and keep our emotions in balance. A cheap therapy session for the team. 

✨ Moving with small hacks to the big time- and energy-saving solutions! I encourage everyone to challenge old ways of working with solutions that bring more benefits.