How To Speed Up Meetings As A Manager [3 Easy Steps]

Meetings are the number one time-waster in the workplace. As a manager, you’re going to sit in on a lot of them.

So how can you avoid this, and get more out of your own time as well as your teams?

Follow these three tips!

Three Tips To Speed Up Meetings

1. Purpose / Agenda

A meeting without an agenda or clearly stated purpose is a sure-fire recipe for wasted time.

If people don’t know what you’re aiming for, then they’ll have no idea when they get there.

Meetings without agendas meander to a close, as people aren’t sure if everything has been completed.

Meetings with agendas end crisply as it is clear to everyone that the meeting is finished as the business to be addressed has been concluded.

It’s a fundamental of our line manager courses: making sure things run efficiently, with as little wasted time as possible.

If there is no agenda for a meeting:

Email the organiser before the meeting asking them to set one.

2. Set An End Time

If people don’t have a clear deadline to hit, they tend to wander and waste time.

If the person who set the meeting didn’t set an end time:

Let them know that you have other responsibilities, and ask if they can provide one.

This will force the organiser to get to the point of the meeting.

Not knowing how long a meeting should take is an obvious planning mistake by the leader!

3. Stop Small Talk

Small talk is an important part of group activities, but can be excessive.

As a manager, you can use your authority to help to tweak down the amount of small talk.

Try saying something like: “Do you think we should be getting started?”.

This is a polite way of signalling that you’d like to get started.

Meetings are often a reflection of the people attending, so keep things under control!

Do You Need To Attend The Meeting?

Many people will view an invitation as a request that they attend a meeting.

When you are invited to a meeting, stop and think about whether you actually need to attend.

Feeling the need to respond immediately is a great demonstration of the urgency effect!

Will you learn something important or contribute something important?

If not, say no!

If the meeting is a few weeks in the future, then the temptation is to just say ‘Yes’.

Saying ‘Yes’ now has no cost in the present, and makes life easier immediately as the invite is then cleared from your inbox.

The issue is then that in a couple of weeks time the meeting comes up, and you realise that it’s not going to be a good use of your time.

When someone invites you to a meeting ask yourself:

Would you attend if the meeting was today?

Mandatory Meetings

For the meetings you do need to attend!

Push people to run it efficiently and effectively to maximise output from the meeting.

Even if they don’t say, don’t doubt that other attendees will be thanking you.

Remember even if you aren’t running the meetings, you are not powerless.

If you are attending a meeting, don’t miss the opportunity that you have to shape it and drive it forward.

Conclusion

The best way to reduce the time you spend in meetings?

Go to less meetings!

But when you have to go, make sure you keep these tips in mind.

And don’t forget, meetings can still be great place for you to learn things!