Companies all over the world have become obsessed with meetings, so much so that they dedicate several hours each week to sitting in them. In US, on average, employees spend 33 percent of their workweeks in meetings and will attend between 6 to 15 meetings per week. Unfortunately, not all of them are productive. Quite the contrary! Some team meetings often pull employees away from periods of concentration where they can work without disruption.
Team meetings are an inevitable part of the average employee’s schedule. But regardless of their frequency, just how productive are those meetings? And how many prove to be pointless meetings?
Have you ever considered how much time you spend in meetings each day? Attentiv reports that Americans hold approximately 11 million meetings per day, with an average length between 31 to 60 minutes. As the COVID-19 pandemic drove teams away from the office, employers had to adapt to remote meetings. And video calls and phone conferences replaced many in-person interactions.
The problem is that 33.4 percent of meetings are considered unproductive, according to the same report. Leading an effective meeting is a skill, and so is leading an effective remote meeting.
Very often, people think that a full calendar is a proxy for productivity. A daily planner packed with meetings seems to satisfy most managers. However, more often than not, supervisors and team leaders are more productive when they are not spending all day in meetings. Their time is actually better used when they are working with their team, bringing real measurable results.
Having a remote team comes with great advantages. For team members, it means flexibility, less time wasted commuting, less stress, lower costs and increased autonomy. For companies it means access to global workforce with a minimum waste of resources. Being a win-win option, as of 2019, 66% of companies allow their employees to work remotely, while 16% are totally remote.
Remote work is a dream come true for all the introverts of our generation. It brings countless benefits for both employees and employers: higher productivity, lower costs, no time lost in traffic, no need to socialize on every break and no annoying mandatory meetings. You set your own schedule and only interact with a bunch of people without even seeing their faces or hearing their voices. Can it get any better than that?
Team meetings have a pretty bad reputation. Most people either shiver or yawn only when hearing the word. The main reason is that uninspired leaders hold people hostage for hours, while delivering dull speeches or presentations that no one actually is interested to hear. But you can do better!
We live in world that moves at an incredibly fast pace. So many things are happening at the same time, and so many of them require your attention. Distractions are everywhere, and everyone you know asks for your attention at one moment or another. Staying focused in these conditions sounds like mission impossible. However, there are some strategies you can apply to improve your focus and increase your productivity. In this article we are going to discuss some of the most useful ones.
Meetings are essential for the success of any business. They allow people to collaborate and share information, keep updated on company news and make decisions together. Then why do most employees absolutely hate to attend meetings? And what should management change in order to have truly effective meetings?
Focus is a perpetual challenge. After all, adjusting and maintaining our focus is a daily battle. Hence, most of us take it personally. We seldom talk about our ability to focus. We are seldom forthwith about fatigue, distractions or procrastination. Conversely, we seldom talk about burnout or our inability to concentrate.
