4 Ways To Make the Most Out Of Meetings (And Have Less of Them)

As seen on Forbes.

Famous CEOs like Mark Cuban, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk all agree: meetings suck. They’re huge time and energy drains that take people away from doing work that actually matters. 

But no matter how much the world’s top CEOs seem to hate them, there’s really no way to get rid of them altogether. This is because it isn’t possible to keep an organization running without sitting down to talk at some point, especially as you scale up in operations. 

The truth is that Cuban, Bezos, and Musk aren’t avoiding meetings because they’re lazy. They just prefer to have meetings that are truly necessary and avoid ones that are just busywork. Here are four ways to make the most of the meetings you do need to have, which will hopefully allow you to have fewer of them.

1. Write An Email Instead 

Whether sitting together around a conference table or remotely via Zoom, meetings are excellent if participants actively engage each other and exchange ideas directly. The mark of a great meeting is if everyone involved actually gets something useful from them.  

Unfortunately, many managers often call for meetings where they do all of the talking. These meetings can be a waste of time because participants don’t feel their presence added any additional value and nothing new was discussed.

So before calling in another meeting, try to see if you can just write an email instead. 

One tell-tale sign of a meeting that would’ve been just as effective as an email is if your only agenda is to announce updates such as policy changes, upcoming events, or even status updates on projects.

Besides saving time, emails can also act as reference points that your team can go back to later, which is useful as participants are often distracted during meetings. Basically, if your meeting will resemble a class lecture, either record a video to share on Slack or just write it all in an email instead.

2. Plan Your Agenda Ahead of Time 

There’s nothing worse than a meeting that is not only long but also goes nowhere because of poor planning. Besides wasting precious time, such meetings can also be mentally draining, especially if your staff is already up to their ears in workload. 

To make your meetings more productive, write up your meeting agenda even before inviting key team members. Don’t forget to outline specific topics and objectives — you can even specify how much time you want to allocate to each topic to help you keep things moving along. 

Remember that every moment spent in a meeting is time that your team and colleagues could be spending on their own tasks, so it’s best to use that time wisely by being productive.

3. Invite Only Those Who Need To Be There 

According to Worklytics, meetings are most productive when they are limited to 3 to 8 participants. Anything more than that and there’s far less room for individual participation. What’s even worse is that people are more likely to be distracted in larger meetings, where people are most likely to check emails or social media to pass the time. 

There’s nothing wrong with sourcing diverse ideas from as many people as possible. This is especially true if you’ve been stuck on a problem for a while and need fresh ideas from people outside of the project. But with limited time available, it’s best to be strategic about who you invite to sit down with you in a meeting.

When it comes to invites, less is more. Stick to key players—those with a real stake in the project and maybe subject matter experts who can provide meaningful guidance if necessary. This will ensure that your meetings are more productive and the participants are really engaged. 

Perhaps most importantly, keeping your meeting’s guest list lean means less time will be spent explaining industry terms and concepts and more time coming up with solutions to the problem at hand. After all, it’s a meeting, not a lecture.

4. Create an Action Plan Afterwards 

The best meetings end in a resolution where all the key concerns are addressed and everyone knows what to do afterwards. To do this, make sure you end the meeting by creating an action plan that details what needs to be done, who is responsible for it, and when it needs to be executed.

Without a concrete action plan, discussions can easily dissipate into the ether, leaving attendees feeling confused and directionless. Worse, it may necessitate a repeat meeting, which will likely be a rehash of what was already discussed. Once the meeting is done, send out a recap of what was discussed along with an action plan to get it all complete. Now you can spend less time on pointless meetings and more time doing good work with your team. Don’t forget to have some fun along the way too!