How Much Time Will You Spend in Meetings this Week?

Is your schedule overrun with meetings?

Before you even begin your workday is your calendar full of meetings.

Take a look a your calendar and add up how much time you will spend in conference rooms this week.

When will you get your work done if you are stuck in meetings all day?

How Many Meetings Do You Have?

Many companies have a “meeting culture.” They think they have to have meetings in order to be productive.

Status meetings, strategy meetings, staff meetings, recurring meetings, meetings about meetings. They lock their employees up in meetings all week long and think that work is getting done.

The opposite is true.

After all the meetings, there is no time left to do any work. Workers go home exhausted, frazzled, and frustrated. Yet, no real work is accomplished.

And then leaders are puzzled when tasks are not completed, and deadlines are missed.

‘To get work done, you need to get out of the meeting rooms.’

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No one ever came out of a meeting and said, “Wow. We got a lot done in there!”

Rather, you have to allow yourself time to actually do your work.

Here are a few tips to help keep meetings from ruling your workday:

• Limit Meetings – Put a hard limit on how many meetings you will allow in a day. And a percentage of time that you will allow them to take each week. Many workers start their week with over half of their time owned by meetings.
• Shorter Meetings – If you can eliminate meetings, try shortening them. Try cutting them in half. Most meetings can be accomplished in less time than allotted.
• End on Time – Respect everyone’s time and end meetings on time. This does not mean “on the hour.” It means a few minutes before the appointed time.
• Block your calendar – Block time on your calendar for your most important work before you let others fill it up with their requests. Try blocking your calendar out at least 2 weeks in advance.
• Right to Decline – Don’t feel that you must accept a meeting invite just because someone sent you an email invite. It is just as important to decline meetings when appropriate.
• Excuse Yourself – This one can seem tough. But, if you find yourself in a meeting that just isn’t worth your time or presence, then politely excuse yourself. One of the best lines is, “Sorry, I have another meeting.”

What’s on Your Calendar?

Take a quick inventory of your schedule before you begin your day. You might be surprised.

Make sure meetings aren’t the dominate force on your calendar.

How many meetings are on your calendar this day? This week?

Make time for your work before you get locked in a conference room for hours at a time.

Question: How many meetings are on your calendar? How much time is actually left to do your work? You can leave a comment by clicking here.