You're hard at work and rushing headlong to meet a deadline you'll never make when you receive it in your email - a mandatory invitation to one of those endless office meetings. You dread heading into the boardroom, knowing how much farther behind you'll be when you finally come out.
If that scenario sounds familiar, you're not alone. According to a new survey, a quarter of all managers agree that the gatherings are often a complete waste of time. And 41 per cent think you'd be a better employee if they were banned from calling them at least one day a week.
Staffing company Office Team asked 100 executives across Canada about the tradition of holding regular work meetings. Nearly half admitted employees would be more productive if they didn't have to attend.
They're not going to go away anytime soon, of course. So how can you streamline them to maximize efficiency and minimize time wasting? Here are some suggestions:
Too Much Too Soon
Too many meetings try to cover too many topics and wind up going on far too long. Stick to one thing. Get it done and get them out. People sitting in a boardroom aren't making any money for the company.
Don't Drone On
A general rule of thumb: if it lasts longer than 60 minutes, most workers stop paying attention.
Audience Additions
Don't invite people as a courtesy. Only ask those who really need to be there. You can be sure everyone has something better to do.
Presentations Not Accounted For
Don't launch into a lengthy PowerPoint demo if the information can be more efficiently disseminated beforehand in a simple emailed memo. Get to the point and stop.
Routine Regret
Don't call a meeting just because it's part of the normal office routine. In lean times, when companies are cutting back, fewer people have a lot more to do. Let them do what you hired them for.
"The adage, 'Be brief, be brilliant, be gone,' rings particularly true in the workplace right now," concludes Office Team spokesman Robert Hosking in a statement.
But if you work in an office where these kinds of endless gatherings are commonplace and your boss loves to hear him or herself talk, you may not want to forward this on to upper management. Otherwise you may be called into a very different kind of meeting you weren't quite expecting.