A Guide on Running Effective Meetings: How Meetings Affect Employee Productivity?

In this article, you’ll look at meetings in terms of how they affect employee productivity and find out how to transform your meetings into strategic sessions that drive results.

It’s rather easy for companies to fall into the trap of too many meetings. Even more, remote work has only made it easier to jump from one Zoom call to another. According to Forbes, more than 50 million meetings happen daily, and about half of them don’t lead to anything substantial.

Trying to maintain productivity when ineffective meetings constantly disrupt your team’s focus and workflow is a frustrating task. What’s worse, many managers are unaware of just how ineffective meetings are and exactly what toll they take on both the workforce and the business.

In today’s article, we’ve decided to focus on this part of company’s daily workflow by outlining strategies to reduce inefficiencies in meetings and teaching you how to schedule and lead them with intention and purpose. We’ll also show you how time & productivity tracking software can help you track how much time your employees spend in meetings and assess the impact of meetings on productivity.

Impact of Ineffective Meetings on Company

If meetings aren’t streamlined, they can lead to ongoing productivity loss, frustrated and burned out employees, bad decision-making, higher turnover, weaker team spirit, and ultimately, hurt the organization's overall success.

Online scheduling service Doodle’s 2019 State of Meetings report (based on the study of 19 million meetings and interviews with more than 6 thousand German, UK, and US specialists) estimated the cost of poorly organized meetings in the U.S. in 2019 at approximately $399 billion!

65% of senior leaders and 67% of line workers surveyed felt like they spent too much time in meetings and calls, which prevented them from completing their work. 71% of managers admitted that their meetings were unproductive and inefficient, often because action items and follow-ups aren’t clearly defined.

Reasons behind these dreadful data include a plethora of factors, from unclear meeting objectives and poor planning to inadequate follow-up and overreliance on the practice of meetings in general.

Effective team meetings are crucial for team collaboration and building stronger relationships within an organization. In an ideal world, it is exactly during meetings when staff can discuss creative ideas with each other freely without distractions, boosting productivity and ensuring better decision-making. Meetings allow each team member to voice their opinion or offer suggestions, improving intracompany communication. If managed correctly, effective meetings can improve company culture and build rapport, especially if the team consists mainly of remote employees. Overall, meetings are essential for fostering a positive work environment and ensuring efficient problem-solving within the company.

Here’s the downside of the story, though. Too many meetings can negatively affect employee productivity, morale, and creativity. Meetings can take up time that could be used to carry out actual work tasks, hindering employees’ ability to complete core tasks efficiently, stifling their innovation and leading to burnout and decreased job satisfaction.

Meeting fatigue is a common complaint among employees, which can lead to a decline in engagement and talent retention. The number of meetings that would be considered “too many” depends on individual roles and work nature of each employee & manager, but a general guideline is to balance meetings and focused work time to ensure a productive work environment.

Luckily, avoiding consequences of poorly managed meetings is easy with some foresight and the right tools to guide you.  

How to Ensure Meetings Have a Purpose

Streamlining meetings from the very beginning reduces time wasted in excessive gatherings and ensures important meetings are well-prepared and effective.

First of all, you should determine the type of meeting and make sure its purpose matches the format and participants. This is important to identify in advance, since each meeting type has different goals and needs specific preparation.

Next, you need to manage meeting time and refrain from scheduling unnecessary or overly long meetings that eat into time better spent on critical tasks. Keep the meetings productive and leave participants feeling that their time was well spent. Start by regularly evaluating whether your meetings are necessary and just how often they happen in order to avoid scheduling them out of habit. We also advise you to use the time blocking or timeboxing technique to make sure your meeting doesn’t interfere with time employees might need for other important tasks, thus improving their productivity.

To run meetings more effectively, take a look at the following different types of meetings:

• Decision-making meetings: The focus of these meetings is on making critical decisions that affect the organization. All relevant data, reports, and proposals should be distributed in advance, all decision-makers and key advisors should be present, the decision should be summarized, action items – outlined, responsibilities – assigned, and deadlines – set. Optimal duration of such meetings is a few hours, possibly a full workday.
• Creative solutions meetings: The focus of these meetings is on brainstorming, problem-solving, and coordinating activities across teams. A flexible agenda for open discussion should be prepared, brainstorming techniques are to be used, and ideas and solutions need to be summarized with assigned tasks and deadlines. Such meetings typically run for approximately 1 hour.
• Information-sharing meetings: These meetings are designed to disseminate information to a group. They should be kept brief and focused, concise presentations should be prepared, and time for questions needs to be set aside. Their optimal duration can range from 30 to 90 minutes.
• Regular team meetings: These meetings are considered routine to keep everybody on the team informed and aligned. They begin with updates from each team member, followed by discussion of issues or roadblocks, and end with a summary of next steps and action items. They tend to run just under half an hour.
• Retrospective meetings: These meetings are held at the end of a project or sprint, and their purpose is to review successes and areas for improvement. Feedback is collected, SWOT analysis is usually used, and the meeting concludes with actionable steps for improvement. Their optimal duration is 30 minutes for every week in the project.
• Strategy meetings: These meetings are focused on discussing strategies and planning long-term goals. Research needs to be conducted, with relevant materials distributed in advance so that everybody can be on the same page during the meeting itself, and a strategic plan tends to act as the conclusion of such meetings. Such meetings typically run for a few hours.

Finally, no matter the type of your meeting, you should end it with clear goals and a follow-up plan so that everyone can be kept accountable and knows what they need to do next.

Here’s how you do it. At the end of the meeting, don’t forget to follow these steps:

• Summarize key takeaways of the points that were discussed and the decisions made.
• Clearly outline the specific actions that need to be taken as a result of the meeting. Each action item should be detailed and include what needs to be done, who is responsible, as well as the deadline for its completion.
• Assign each action item to a specific employee or team. Make sure that you communicate everybody’s responsibilities clearly and they are understood. This accountability ensures tasks won’t get overlooked.
• Set realistic deadlines for each action item. Deadlines help maintain momentum and ensure that tasks get completed in a timely manner. Be sure to consider employee workload and availability when setting these deadlines.
• Regularly check in on the progress of action items through follow-up meetings, status updates, or even digitally, using productivity software. Monitoring progress helps ensure that tasks are being carried out on track, at the same time allowing for adjustments if needed.

10 Tips to Improve Meetings Efficiency

Effective meetings are the cornerstone of collaboration, decision-making, and progress. They keep teams aligned, spark creativity, and drive results. But how do you ensure your meetings are successful and not a waste of everyone’s time? Here are a few more tips for you to maximize the efficiency and effectiveness of your meetings.

1.Create a detailed and clear meeting agenda

Your agenda should outline the topics to be discussed, the order of discussion, and the time allocated for each item. In order for it to be effective, it needs to not only highlight the main points but also include the purpose and expected outcomes of each topic.

You should distribute the agenda in advance so that to ensure everyone comes prepared, thus making the meeting more focused and productive. An agenda that is well-structured helps prevent meetings from veering off-topic and ensures that all issues get addressed within the allocated meeting time amount.

2.Figure out the desired outcome

Identify the specific outcomes you want to achieve from the meeting and communicate these goals to all participants. By setting achievable objectives that align with the overall goals of the organization, you can guide the discussion toward productive and actionable results.

Clear outcomes also help in prioritizing agenda items and ensuring that the most critical issues are addressed. Sharing these desired outcomes with participants beforehand provides them with a clear understanding of what is expected, in turn leading to more meaningful contributions.

3.Act as an effective meeting leader

Don’t forget about the responsibility to facilitate the discussion, manage the flow of conversation, ensuring everyone has an opportunity to contribute, and keep the meeting on track, ensuring it progresses according to the agenda.

Effective management in meetings also includes setting a positive tone, encouraging participation, and making sure that all voices are heard, which helps foster a collaborative and inclusive environment.

4.Encourage active listening

Get your team to actively listen by promoting engagement, asking open-ended questions, and once again ensuring everyone feels heard.

To foster active listening, create an environment where team members feel comfortable sharing their thoughts without interruption. Demonstrate to people that their input is valued, thus enhancing participation, building trust, and fostering a more collaborative atmosphere.

5.Provide a safe space for diverse perspectives

Create an environment where team members feel safe to express different viewpoints and ideas without fear of judgment. This involves fostering a culture of respect and openness.

Brainstorming sessions where all ideas are welcomed and a structured decision-making process where each idea is fairly evaluated can help promote divergent thinking. When you allow for balanced participation from a range of perspectives, you drive innovation and arrive at more creative (and often effective) solutions to problems.

6.Ensure everyone gets a chance to speak

Give all participants the opportunity to contribute by actively soliciting feedback from all attendees, with techniques such as breakout groups that provide a more intimate setting for every person talking or round-robin discussions where each person has a turn to speak.

By creating opportunities for everyone to participate, you ensure a balanced and open discussion, where all perspectives are taken into consideration. This leads to more comprehensive decision-making and fosters a sense of inclusion and teamwork among participants.

7.Let employees express their ideas

Create an open environment where everyone feels encouraged to share their ideas and solutions freely. This involves actively soliciting input from all attendees and ensuring that everyone has a chance to contribute.

It's important to listen actively and respectfully to all suggestions, fostering a culture of collaboration and innovation. Encouraging diverse perspectives can lead to more creative and effective solutions, benefiting the overall outcome of the project planning.

8.Take notes

Ensure that key points, decisions, and action items are accurately recorded during meetings.

Detailed notes help in maintaining a clear record of what was discussed and decided during the meeting, as well as the rationale behind decisions. They also serve as a reference for those who were unable to attend and provide a basis for follow-up actions. Proper note taking ensures that nothing is forgotten and that everyone is on the same page regarding their responsibilities following the meeting.

9.Leave the meeting with clear next steps

Conclude the meeting by summarizing key takeaways, decisions made, and specific action items. Assign responsibilities and deadlines for each action item to ensure accountability.

This helps in clarifying expectations and facilitating follow-through for the next meeting. Follow up on the action items in subsequent meetings to track progress and address any issues that arise.

10.Collect feedback from participants

Don`t forget about the feedback at the end of the meeting in order to evaluate its effectiveness.

Feedback (through a brief survey, verbal input or even written comments) helps identify what went well and areas for improvement in future meetings. It also demonstrates to all attendees that their opinions are valued, encouraging employee engagement. Remember to consider and implement constructive feedback to enhance the overall meeting experience.

Keep Meetings Effective with the Help of Kickidler

Want to ensure your meetings always result in maximum productivity? With its comprehensive suite of productivity features Kickidler offers valuable insights into employee behavior, tracks employees’ productivity and helps make the most of your team’s time.

Some of the useful Kickidler features that can aid with improving meeting productivity of meetings include:

• Online monitoring of employee computers
• Continuous video recording of employee screens
• Extensive productivity analytics that help evaluate team efficiency and identify best practices and areas for improvement
• Tracking project progress and resource utilization that provide complete visibility into project and task productivity, including the “Workload” and “Attention Focus” reports

The software provides managers with clear visibility into how much time teams spend in meetings through its easy-to-understand dashboard, which is essential to streamline communication and keep productivity high.

Valuable insights into employee productivity data help improve manager’s understanding of the workflows, thus improving overall productivity levels. The time tracking functionality further supports the analytics features that measure employee performance. You can see exactly how much time your employees spend in meetings and how that impacts their productivity. This data can next be used to optimize project scheduling and planning.

Having a clear understanding of your team’s workload is key for setting realistic deadlines on action items. Productivity monitoring sheds light on the team’s capacity and can be used to monitor progress to ensure tasks stay on track. This data can be used to optimize the follow-up plan for future meetings.

A successful meeting means productive use of every meeting participant’s time. It achieves its goals and fosters collaboration. This requires a clear agenda, focused preparation, and an inclusive environment where everyone feels comfortable sharing their ideas.

So why settle for ineffective meetings that adversely affect employee productivity? Let Kickidler help you run effective meetings, maintain high employee productivity levels, and achieve overall company success!