Why fewer meetings are more productive

Many individuals who have heard the saying “work smart, not hard” may think that my statement is based on this concept and repeats this opinion, but they’d be flawed. As the nature of labor continues to come back under intense scrutiny, with a major focus on ‘where’, debates around the frequency and necessity of workplace meetings have intensified. This topic is being discussed a lot as of late, and rightly so. In 2024, we have many opportunities to alter worker productivity, creativity and satisfaction. There is a compelling argument that work teams have to be distant fewer meetings, in which I strongly imagine. I’ll let you know why.

The cost of excessive meetings

First up are the costs of forcing people to fulfill continuously. In most work teams, leaders and bosses are normally hesitant about team formation and the expenses it incurs. Organizing meetings is something that almost all view as a productive, progressive task and subsequently often flies under the radar when it involves eliminating unnecessary and costly activities. However, current research and personal experience tell me it shouldn’t. Research shows a trend that excessive meetings can significantly reduce productivity. Specifically, study conducted by Harvard Business Review found a fairly significant 71% increase in worker productivity and satisfaction when meeting frequency was reduced by 40%.

Not only will you increase your team’s productivity by reducing the variety of meetings, but you will also get a greater return on your staffing investment. It’s incredibly common that not every section of a meeting applies to every participant and their workflow, so people twiddle their thumbs and hearken to colleagues present work out of courtesy to them and the meeting leader.

Could this time be higher spent elsewhere? Almost definitely. Can information be delivered in a higher, more targeted way? Definitely.

As we mentioned at the starting, there are opportunities to transmit information more effectively than during a meeting, resulting from recent technologies, akin to e.g. LooseThe concept of or Bubbles. Don’t waste your colleagues’ time on unnecessary meetings and the money you spend on their salaries. Instead, discuss what must be discussed in the meeting and proceed the conversation during the meeting asynchronously using a tool like the one above, maintaining the detail and context of the information provided, but in a more effective way.

Psychological and operational impact

Not the whole lot is about cost, and in fact, many bosses would consider it a priority operational brilliance over additional expenses. So we’d like to look at how this claim suits into the operational side of things. I need to dig deeper into the statistics that have just been discussed to ask whether this is just an anomaly and the preference of a few, or whether the overwhelming majority imagine that a limited variety of meetings will have a positive impact on the functioning of their workplace.

I have noticed and heard from my team members that meeting less often allows them to feel more autonomous and less in control, which implies they feel more accountable for getting the work done.

We experience that working independently also increases the ability to focus deeply, which is essential in creative roles. We’ve found that joining a team meeting to debate more of our accomplished or blocked work means we’re operating at optimal efficiency and increased productivity. As I said, the point is this making the right decisions with the technologies available to us in 2024.

This was the most operational, so let’s dig into the psychology. Meetings often result in the so-calledMeeting with the recovery syndrome”, that is, when employees need time to gather their thoughts and mentally regenerate after frequent, long or chaotic meetings.

Techniques for reducing strategic meetings

Now that we have more clarity, let’s look at how your organization can optimize its meeting practices:

• Days without meetings: Allow this deep work to happen. Have days where there are few interruptions and let your workflow unfold through focus.
• Prioritize agenda-based meetings: Don’t meet if you do not know why you are meeting. Annette Catino, CEO of the QualCare Alliance Network, arrange it nicely: “Give me the schedule or I won’t be sitting there.” Meet higher, not more often.
• Limit meeting duration and size: Amazon has a two-pizza rule – don’t invite more people than two pizzas can feed. Don’t flood the room or overcrowd it and you will get more thoughtful input and results.
• Embrace technology: Integrate AI tools, meeting management tools, and platforms that may automate parts of meetings to maximise efficiency. Don’t waste your time doing silly, mundane tasks.

This will take you to the way forward for meetings. They are set to develop into more strategic and relatively than being the default approach to communication, teams (the good ones) will take a more thoughtful approach, assessing the real need for each meeting and its potential value. Don’t get left behind and now create a culture of meetings that are higher, not busier, whether or not they happen in person or remotely.