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Why you should cancel your next meeting!
I assume many of you would like to cancel your next meeting. If you go through your to-do lists each week, you’ll see a handful of meetings. Some are important, others you consider quite unnecessary. You spend hours and hours in meetings where you often think “this meeting could have been an email”?!
On average, a manager spends around 23 hours a week behind a screen in meetings. Studies have shown that 71% of meetings are completely unnecessary. This blog article provides some tips on which meetings to cancel.
You should attend these meetings
The kick off meeting
This meeting serves to distribute roles and responsibilities within the team. It helps set the ground rules of a project. It should set the goals and above all motivate the team. These meetings are essential because they determine the basis of a project. They give meaning to the team.
The team building meeting
Team building meetings are critical to the well-being of a team. This type of meeting serves to get to know each other and exchange ideas. These meetings should be fun and connect.
The review meeting
Retrospective meetings serve to reflect and provide insight into the tasks and projects that a team has been working on. These meetings are important to determine what worked well this time. By organizing these meetings, a team manager has a clear view of which areas need improvement. As a team leader, you want to see real reactions from the team. Facial expressions, gestures and reactions from your colleagues are important!
The time critical issue
Some details of a project can be discussed later. Others just can’t wait. When such a situation arises, a meeting is in order. A quick call-in meeting can solve problems. These meetings can include discussions and brainstorming, especially when the opinion of all team members is sought.
Extra Tip: If you need help making a meeting fun, here are some tips for you.
The KKT rule
If you are unsure, use the KKT rule. KKT stands for Creativity, Collaboration and Team Building . If one of these three aspects is the focus, a meeting should take place!
Don’t waste my time with meetings!
Status updates, announcements, who needs that? This can definitely be done with a quick email or a group chat message.
One-man-show meetings should also be abolished. If only one person is speaking, that meeting could have been an email. If such an update is needed, there are many other better ways to convey that specific message. For example, a person can record themselves and send a video to their colleagues. In this way, a lot of time and, above all, energy can be saved. This information can be conveyed by asynchronous communication.
If you’re not the target audience for a meeting, you might want to spend your time doing other things.
Even if you are invited to a meeting without being informed of the meeting’s agenda or goals. You should ask beforehand if you could be briefed. Only then decide whether you should attend the meeting or not.
Your asynchronous communication will work with these tips!
Sit back and take notes. I have a valuable tip that has saved me hours from meetings – asynchronous communication.
You must ensure that the information you convey is fully understandable. Also that you have full documentation of what you are talking about. This is important so that no further questions arise.
Communication guidelines are important so that team members know how and through which channels to communicate.
Respect the working hours of your teammates! This is especially important if they work in different time zones or have flexible working hours in terms of responding to your information.
There are many tools that can help you when you decide to use asynchronous communication; Some of these are Slack, Mattermost, Rocketchat or Microsoft Teams.
Should we meet?
Here are important questions to ask yourself or your manager before planning your next meeting.
Does this meeting have a clear goal?
What would be a clear reason for a meeting? Does it need a meeting? Is this just a weekly routine exercise?
Is the entire team required for this meeting?
Maybe the whole team isn’t needed every week. You should try a different approach and meet the whole team every two weeks to streamline your meetings.
Are immediate reactions and insights required?
Are answers required for a creative process? If this is necessary for the further development of a project, then this is definitely a good reason to schedule your next meeting.
Is more than just technical feedback required?
If a meeting is just about sharing information without requiring further insight and opinion, then perhaps no meeting is necessary.
At your next meeting, remember to ask yourself these questions. Do you take the time to think? Rate the answers and then decide if you want to attend a specific meeting. Remember that meetings should be fun and enjoyable. Instead of causing trouble for you and everyone around you. When team members work together, work is a lot more fun. Hopefully with these tips and tricks, meetings won’t be such a chore anymore. Hopefully unnecessary meetings will be canceled as well!
