The Hidden Cost of Meetings

Statistics show that people who go to meetings of any kind say that over 33 percent of meeting time is unproductive, frustrating, or both. In the workplace, unproductive meetings are a hidden cost. The cost is hidden because there’s no bill to pay and hidden because it’s hard to quantify the lost productivity from ineffective and frustrating meetings.

Let’s run a simple calculation on a fictitious organization. First, assume that the people in this organization spend, on average, about 25 percent of their time in meetings, and that a third of their meetings are unproductive. (These are typical numbers for most workplaces.) If this fictitious organization’s annual budget
for all salaries and benefits is €750,000, then the hidden cost of unproductive meetings is about €62,000.

So our question for you is, how much time would you be willing to spend on better planning in order to save €62,000 every year?

There will always be some lost productivity as a result of meetings. Yet we know from personal experience that paying attention to some key planning steps, before a meeting is even called, pays off in substantial benefits. People know what is expected of them. Conflicts are prevented. Deadlines are met. Meeting agendas
work for people, rather than control people. Some proposed meetings are even canceled before they happen, when planning reveals that the intended result can be achieved in another way. It’s all in the planning. Here is a checklist to help you better plan for all the meetings you lead.

• Desired Outcomes for the Meeting Begin with the end in mind.What are the desired outcomes of the meeting? What will the meeting participants walk away with – decisions, agreements, a plan, a solution to aproblem. Be very explicit in stating the desired outcomes. 
• Stakeholder Analysis Based on the desired outcomes of the meeting, make a list of all the people who have a stake in the meeting. For example: those who will implement decisions, those who have authority to make the decision, those who have the experience or expertise, and those who hold the purse strings.
  Determine from that list who needs to attend the meeting or simply be kept apprised of the results of the meeting. 
• Meeting Logistics Based on the desired outcomes, determine the best time to hold the meeting. Determine the best location – room size, room set-up, audio-visual equipment. Room size and set-up can either make or break your meetings. Go for the best location. Don’t settle for the obvious choice in your organization. Determine whether food will be served and how.Will it be for conversation or getting to know each other better or will it be a working meal? 
• Meeting Tools Use an “Issues Bin” or “Parking Lot.” This is simply a piece of flipchart paper hung on the wall to list issues that come up during the meeting that need to be addressed at some point, but could get the group off track. Use an “Action Register” to capture who will do what task, by what date, following the
  meeting. Record those agreements and send it out following the meeting as a reminder. Use “Ground Rules” to describe the desired behaviors of the meeting, such as how participants will take turns sharing information or opinions, how decisions will be made, how conflict will be dealt with. Use an “Agreements Register” to record the agreements made during the meeting.
•  
• Balance the Meeting Above all, ensure there is a balance among three elements for your meeting: people feel good about their contribution to the meeting, the processes you use as meeting leader are efficient and effective, and there is a product from the meeting – the outcomes were reached. Planning is the key. The more preparation you do prior to the meeting, the better the results. Save those
  dollars from the hidden costs of meetings. There are more important things to spend them on – those clients you so faithfully serve!