{"id":42260,"date":"2021-07-22T10:31:46","date_gmt":"2021-07-22T14:31:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=42260"},"modified":"2021-07-30T13:48:52","modified_gmt":"2021-07-30T17:48:52","slug":"workplace-meetings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/workplace-meetings\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Make Your Workplace Meetings More Efficient"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Do you often find yourself stuck in workplace meetings that feel like a waste of time? How can you organize your meetings so they cause traction rather than a distraction?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A lot of the time, workplace meetings pull you away from your productive work and force you to listen to unproductive conversations. But this doesn&#8217;t have to be the case. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here is Nir Eyal&#8217;s advice on how to make workplace meetings more productive and efficient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Pre-Meeting and Meeting<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>All too often, someone trying to escape the discomfort of solving a difficult problem by themselves<em> <\/em>will organize a meeting, so they can make <em>other people<\/em> think about the problem for them. <\/strong>These meetings interrupt employees\u2019 schedules, and attendees who <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/stuck-in-life\/\">feel stuck<\/a> in a boring and unproductive echo chamber of ideas around a problem will become distracted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>For example, they might check social media if they\u2019re bored or go through their emails if they want to feel productive.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Workplace meetings <em>can<\/em> create traction, not distraction if they\u2019re organized in the interest of finding solutions rather than discussing the problem. <\/strong>There are two parts to this: the <em>pre-meeting<\/em> and the <em>meeting<\/em>.<strong>\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Pre-Meeting: Adequately Prepare and Brainstorm<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Both the meeting organizer and attendees have a pre-meeting responsibility:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>The meeting organizer <\/strong>should be required to send out a short agenda to attendees to outline the problem, propose the best solution they\u2019ve thought of, and explain their reasoning. Sometimes, this step eliminates the need for a meeting\u2014either it helps the organizer think through the problem herself or someone solves the problem via email.&nbsp;<\/li><li><strong>Attendees: <\/strong>After reading the meeting agenda, attendees should brainstorm solutions and come to the meeting with prepared ideas. This <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-brainstorm-effectively\/\">brainstorming<\/a> should happen alone or in small groups\u2014large groups tend to repeat the same ideas, but small groups often come up with diverse and innovative ideas.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>These two steps make meetings much more productive and efficient\u2014when people think about the problem ahead of time, the meeting can jump right into solutions.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Meeting: Cut Out Unnecessary Devices<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>A common problem in many meetings is that no one is paying attention\u2014they\u2019re checking their phones, sending emails, or doing work on their laptops. <strong>When attendees are only half-listening and half-participating, meetings become inefficient, boring, and unproductive.<\/strong> Put guidelines in place to minimize device use, such as:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Asking that attendees take notes with pen and paper rather than on their devices&nbsp;<\/li><li>Banning device use\u2014put a charging station by the door and require everyone to plug their phone, tablet, or laptop for the duration of the meeting<\/li><li>Having <em>one<\/em> person present slides on a projector instead of having everyone follow on their own devices<\/li><\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Do you often find yourself stuck in workplace meetings that feel like a waste of time? How can you organize your meetings so they cause traction rather than a distraction? A lot of the time, workplace meetings pull you away from your productive work and force you to listen to unproductive conversations. But this doesn&#8217;t have to be the case. Here is Nir Eyal&#8217;s advice on how to make workplace meetings more productive and efficient.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":42328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,14,30],"tags":[428],"class_list":["post-42260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-career","category-management","category-work","tag-indistractable","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How to Make Your Workplace Meetings More Efficient - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Workplace meetings can be distracting, but they don&#039;t have to be. Here&#039;s how to make meetings more efficient and effective.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/workplace-meetings\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to Make Your Workplace Meetings More Efficient\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Workplace meetings can be distracting, but they don&#039;t have to be. Here&#039;s how to make meetings more efficient and effective.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/workplace-meetings\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-07-22T14:31:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-07-30T17:48:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/work-meeting-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"829\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"450\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Hannah Aster\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Hannah Aster\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/workplace-meetings\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/workplace-meetings\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Hannah Aster\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/f39f52830e4f7039a16e45d12354542f\"},\"headline\":\"How to Make Your Workplace Meetings More Efficient\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-07-22T14:31:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-07-30T17:48:52+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/workplace-meetings\/\"},\"wordCount\":462,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/workplace-meetings\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/work-meeting-1.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Indistractable\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Career\",\"Management\",\"Work\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/workplace-meetings\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/workplace-meetings\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/workplace-meetings\/\",\"name\":\"How to Make Your Workplace Meetings More Efficient - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/workplace-meetings\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/workplace-meetings\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/work-meeting-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-07-22T14:31:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-07-30T17:48:52+00:00\",\"description\":\"Workplace meetings can be distracting, but they don't have to be. 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