This is how work meetings can kill productivity

[jrineakter]

It usually happens like this: an empty table that slowly fills up. Colleagues staring at the ceiling. Others looking at their phones. Some commenting on last night's game. The boss (male or female) puts things in order by summarizing the topic at hand. One colleague starts. Another follows.

Ten minutes pass and people are already bored to death . Some people are yawning. Fifteen minutes pass and people start rambling, some talk about their personal problems, others say nonsense; the boss (male or female) doesn't know how to redirect the conversation. Twenty minutes pass and it's a real waste, an exercise in tiring and soporific verbosity . But there's more: when saying goodbye, someone says "more tomorrow." And the worst thing is that it's true. There will be more tomorrow.

Don't you see? Too many meetings are killing business productivity.

Before you do anything, you should ask yourself the point of what you are going to do. It may seem obvious, but the inertia of routine imposes habits that often result in a huge waste of time. Think, for example, of people who schedule tasks that they will later complete in half a minute. Is it really necessary to hong kong number data schedule that task? Wouldn't it be more effective to just do it?

READ MORE: 5 tips to dramatically improve productivity

Habits have a vital function insofar as they serve to help us recognise ourselves, to avoid getting lost in the maelstrom of today's world. This attribution clashes head-on with the least necessary aspect of these habits, which is the one that leads us to sit down day in and day out at an office table to talk about who knows what.

We do so, moreover, knowing that the meeting on duty is a time- and productivity-gobbling machine for the following reasons:

They break up your day into small blocks of time and disrupt the natural flow of work.
They break down agendas that are usually vague, so that in the end no one really knows what is being discussed.
Topics are discussed that rarely contribute to the correct functioning of the company.
They require prior preparation that attendees rarely comply with.
In the end, the loudest attendees end up talking about personal matters that could be resolved in a private chat and that represent a waste of time for others.
Time spent listening to these voices ramble is time wasted completing pending tasks.
At this point, it is worth clarifying that not all meetings are a problem. This is obvious. There are meetings that help clarify specific details and others, more structural, that serve to define the line to be followed by the company. Meetings encourage dialogue and bring together disparate points of view. They should not be demonised. What is being talked about here is excessive and poorly planned meetings. In certain companies, workers spend more time in meetings than working, and this is.