Too many meetings stifle morale and productivity

Start-up companies have many demands on an employee's time. From product design to marketing for new customers to aligning capital, it's a never-ending battle to fit all that work into a limited amount of time. But what is often the case, productivity is reduced by early career entrepreneurs who schedule far too many meetings, which prevents employees from having enough time to do their actual work. And when productivity slows, the company's bottom line suffers and employees start looking for the door in frustration. Let me explain further.

Why so many meetings are scheduled

There are many reasons to schedule a meeting. Some are recurring meetings between bosses and their direct reports, for weekly check-ins and team collaboration needs. Some are one-time meetings for one-time items, like annual strategic planning, putting out a fire at a client's house, or team-building events. But most prepare because entrepreneurs are inexperienced and don't know any better. This is largely related to not trusting the team to do their job or their need to control every decision made. It is this last category that kills.

The negative impact on employees

Employees get frustrated when a few things happen in meetings. First, they think it's a waste of time, and they don't even know why they're needed in the room (so don't invite everyone to every meeting, invite only those who really need to be there). Second, they get frustrated with sitting in a meeting and not sitting at their desk to get their real work done faster (so maximize their time at their desk, not yours). Or, third, they are offended that they are not trusted to do their job, by a boss who feels that they need to closely monitor all decisions (thus empower your employees to make decisions without you). All of this is a recipe for disaster, often having employees looking for the exit, where the resulting turnover of employees can be crippling for a young company that needs to forge ahead at full steam, as soon as possible.

Case Study

A CMO once started as an interim executive at a new client and was given a team of people to manage. On the first day, he was given a schedule of all the weekly meetings he was scheduled to attend with his team. He looked through the long list and realized that about 40% of his time was spent in meetings, many of which he considered unnecessary, a process inherited from a former manager. He didn't have two days a week to spare doing his job.

So he got the team together and asked what each of the meetings was trying to accomplish, and they agreed they didn't need as much, merging multiple meetings into one. And, he asked each of the employees to look at their own personal schedules and remove all unnecessary meetings. One such person said she was in meetings that took up 80% of her time each week. The CMO asked how he did the job? The employee said no!!

The employee said that it was mandatory that he attend these meetings and that he had no choice. To which the CMO responded that he needed to reduce his meeting time to a cap of 20% of his time, cutting 75% of his meetings. The employee went white as a ghost saying it was impossible. The CMO dug in and said that not only was it possible, it was needed by the end of the week. After rethinking his time, the employee prioritized only the most important meetings, reduced his meeting load to target, and actually started doing his own thing, quashing years of complaints that he was the bottleneck for others in getting their job. done.

How many meetings should be scheduled

As a suggestion, try limiting your recurring weekly meetings to 20% of your time. A one-on-one meeting with each of your direct reports, a meeting with the person who leads you, a meeting with the people you manage as a group, and a meeting with your peers to collaborate on needs between departments. This leaves plenty of time for ad hoc meetings that occur in the normal course of business, which again should be capped within this 20% framework. This allows you to work efficiently on the most important work that needs to be done and allows your team to work efficiently on their most important work. And when people start ticking projects off their to-do list, they feel a sense of accomplishment, the business is progressing, and a healthy atmosphere is maintained in the office.