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Meetings are one of the #1 time wasters in the workplace.<\/p>\n

Too often employees are locked in meeting rooms instead of allowed to get their job done.<\/p>\n

They take up too much time.  Cost too much money.  Kill too much of employees’ morale.  And result in too much loss of productivity.<\/p>\n

Most companies would be better off with less meetings.<\/p>\n

In fact, less meetings.  Less time for meetings.  Less people in meetings.  And so on…<\/p>\n

Does your workplace need “less of” meetings? <\/span>
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The Cost of Meetings<\/strong><\/h3>\n

In today’s workplace, meetings are often used instead of doing work.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

In fact, when dealing with ineffective teams, I often see them calling meetings instead of doing their work.<\/p>\n

However, the cost of meetings goes beyond impacting simple workplace productivity.<\/p>\n

Meetings cost your company is many areas:<\/p>\n

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• Money<\/strong> – Think meetings are free?  Locking those 10 senior managers in a room for 3 hours just cost thousands of dollars.  Was the work accomplished worth that price?<\/li>\n
• Time<\/strong> – Managers think they are only calling a 1 hour meeting.  But with 10 people in the room, it just cost 10 hours of work productivity.  Probably more when you consider the interruption to the workday.<\/li>\n
• Morale<\/strong> – Nothing sucks the life out of workers quicker than long, agenda less, expanding-to-fit-the-scheduled-time meetings.  If you want to kill your team’s morale, long meetings are a good place to start.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

  Put Your Meetings on a Diet<\/strong><\/h3>\n

  The first thing that I recommend to companies that are suffering from too many meetings is to put their meetings on a diet.<\/p>\n

  They need “Less Of” Meetings.  Cutting back can show immediate, tangible increases in team productivity.<\/p>\n

  Get your meetings out of your team’s way and they will often surprise you.<\/p>\n

  Here are “10 Ways to Put Your Meetings on a Diet”<\/h3>\n

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  1. Less Meetings<\/strong> – Simply, hold fewer meetings.  Cancel them.  Let your people work instead of locking them in a room.  Go through your calendar and eliminate any unnecessary or duplicate meetings.  A good sign that meeting is not necessary is that it repeats every week no matter what is happening in your business.<\/li>\n
  2. Less Lateness<\/strong> – Most meetings in the workplace start late.  This means that they last longer than they need to.  Start on time.  End early or at least on time.  Make it a hard a fast rule.  Exclude those who are late.<\/li>\n
  3. Less Required<\/strong> – If you must have meetings, do not make them required.  Give your employees the “Right to Decline.<\/a>”  You will quickly find out which meetings are important and which employees should be there.<\/li>\n
  4. Less Time<\/strong> – Keep meetings short.  Try 30 minute meetings.  No meetings over an hour.  In fact, try cutting your meetings in half.<\/a><\/li>\n
  5. Less People<\/strong> – Bring the minimum number of people to the meeting.  Do not allow squatters or extra invitees.  Not only do meetings with more people cost more money, they take more time.<\/li>\n
  6. Less Room<\/strong> – Don’t go for big conference rooms, where people hide out at the far end of the table and surf or do email.  If there are 4 people in a meeting, get a small round table with 4 chairs.<\/li>\n
  7. Less Interruptions<\/strong> – Defend your meetings against interruptions.  Do not start them over when someone arrives late.  Do not allow cell phone calls in the meeting.<\/li>\n
  8. Less Work<\/strong> – No working on other items during meeting.  If someone is busy working on something else on their laptop, then they should be excused.  They obviously should be elsewhere working.<\/li>\n
  9. Less Topics<\/strong> – No open ended “get-together meetings.”  Ensure that each meeting has specific decisions to be made.  No agenda?  No meeting.<\/li>\n
  10. Less Tech<\/strong> – No cell phones, laptops, etc.  You are better off with a whiteboard and taking notes on paper.  Does wonders for meeting productivity.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Try Less Meetings for More<\/strong><\/h3>\n

      Try cutting back on your meetings.  Meetings are best in moderation.<\/p>\n

      Give you employees their time back.  And they will give you back their productivity.<\/p>\n

      Put your meetings on a diet and watch your team’s productivity soar.<\/p>\n

      Does your workplace suffer from too many meetings?  Do your meetings need a diet?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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      You may also like –<\/h3>\n

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       <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

      How to Cut Your Meetings in Half<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

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       <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

      via timemanagementninja.com<\/a><\/div>\n

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