Meetings are an expensive hobby
A one-hour meeting with 5 employees costs hundreds of dollars in labor costs to begin with. But changes also require preparation and post-processing time. They interrupt processes that require concentration and focus and, all in all, do not improve labor productivity. Add the labor costs including preparation and post-processing to the lost labor productivity and you come to the conclusion that that 5-man meeting suddenly costs not hundreds, but perhaps thousands of euros. The motto is to handle meetings carefully. After all, meetings are a spicy expensive hobby.
Meetings are not popular
Research shows that meetings are far from being everyone's hobby. 57% of Dutch workers find meetings boring and 85% say they are more effective at their desk than during a meeting. Among 18- to 29-year-olds, 70% find the free lunch the most exciting part of a meeting. So many employees are not fans of meetings, yet they show up every time. The reason for this has also been researched and is called FOMO - the Fear of Missing Out. No one dares to say that a meeting is pointless for fear of social exclusion.
Quality meetings can be done
Despite these negativeperceptions, there are also studies that recognize that well-run meetings do have value. Nearly 65% of employees are enthusiastic about well-run meetings. Effective meetings can contribute to information sharing, decision making, problem solving and team building. The quality and structure of meetings have a major impact on how employees perceive them. Poorly organized or redundant meetings lead to frustration and a sense of wasted time. Well-run meetings are often seen as useful and productive.
Care needed
We can safely conclude that it is a good idea to use meetings carefully. Always ask yourself first if a meeting is really necessary. And if the answer is "yes," make sure you pay attention to preparation, (ed) management and post-meeting processing.
Preparation and structure
Magic words in meaningful meetings are Preparation and Structure. Set a clear agenda in advance with specific objectives for each agenda item. Share this agenda with all meeting participants. Prioritize agenda items so you can give enough time to the most important topics. Also, let participants know that they should prepare for the meeting. You can choose not to accept unprepared participation. At Tesla and SpaceX, for example, this is the most normal thing in the world.
Time (management) is of the essence
Time management during the meeting is also important. Short meetings of less than half an hour work he best. You can use timeboxing to prevent discussions from taking too long. Also think about meeting time. Research shows that Tuesday is a good meeting day. The best time on that day is at 3 p.m., but other times on that day are bound to work as well.
Invite only 'essentials'
Ideally, you should have meetings with as few people as possible. Therefore, it is better to invite only those employees who can make a substantial contribution during the meeting. It is helpful if you establish certain roles in advance, such as chairman and timekeeper. A special role is that of decision maker. The decision maker is responsible for reaching a conclusion.
Use technology
Using technology can also take your meetings to the next level. For example, in structuring your meetings, you can prepare an annual overview in your ISO2HANDLE platform. Through that overview, you can ensure that structure meetings are planned centrally and that all relevant participants are invited. You can later add agendas, action and decision lists and reports to individual meetings. The advantage of that approach is that you can finally get rid of all those agendas, lists and reports lying around on hard drives or in semi-structured Teams environments. Another advantage is that you can demonstrate in your ISO9001 audit that your most important deliberations are properly prepared, conducted and documented. Moreover, you can directly convert the action points from each consultation in ISO2HANDLE into tasks for the designated employees. You then use this platform to easily monitor whether tasks are picked up and completed. If necessary, the system automatically sends notifications to remind employees to pick up or complete tasks.
Want to learn more about how the ISO2HANDLE platform for quality management can contribute to the quality of your meeting structure and individual meetings? Then drop us a line. We'd love to show you what we mean.
