It’s like a reflex. We need to set up a meeting with someone and we instinctively schedule it for an hour, regardless of topic or reason. Then, because we have scheduled a one-hour meeting, we feel like we need to fill up the hour regardless of its purpose or desired outcome. We plan the agenda accordingly, or in frequent cases of agenda-less meetings, we use up the time since this is a one-hour meeting, and a one-hour meeting it shall be!
There is nothing inherently wrong with one-hour meetings. Or meetings in general for that matter. Like most things, they can be used for good or evil, or, as is often the case, for no reason at all. The value of the meeting itself is determined largely by the organizer of it and how well they define its purpose, determine who should be present, facilitate it effectively and follow up as needed.
Meetings are often a waste of time- approximately half of the time, in fact– for any number of reasons: lack of preparation, ineffective facilitation, having the wrong people in the room, not having a clear purpose, just to name a few. This is as true in one-hour meetings as it is in 15-minute meetings, so undergoing a sincere audit of all your meetings will be beneficial in helping you reclaim some of your time. Starting with the one-hour meeting makes sense because so many meetings are scheduled for an hour that do not need to be an hour if they need to be scheduled at all. Saying goodbye to the one-hour meeting is a great place to start toward making your work time more efficient and enjoyable.
THE PROBLEM WITH THE ONE-HOUR MEETING
Meetings have been a part of working life as long as there has been working life. Bad meetings have been a part of working life as long as there have been meetings. Unfortunately, since the pandemic and the increase in working from home, it has only gotten worse. During this time, meetings have increased both in frequency and duration at approximately 20% each. Although working virtually has increased efficiency in many ways, the dreaded one-hour meeting has retained and even strengthened its hold.
Because so many meetings default to 60 minutes, and because there are so many meetings throughout our days, we often find ourselves caught in the dreaded trap of back-to-back (and potentially back-to-back-to-back-to-back) meetings. This leaves us no time to think about what just transpired and then adequately prepare for what is to come. Not to mention taking care of our human functions of bathroom breaks, another cup of water, or a good old-fashioned stretch.
The Microsoft Human Factors Lab recently released some research on what hapens to our brains and bodies when we have back-to-back meetings (in the case of the research, 4 back-to-back meetings) versus having a ‘microbreak’ of 2-10 minutes in between each one. This graphic captures the results. It was a small study sample to be sure and more research needs to be done, but research on stress has repeatedly shown that breaks are good for our health and well-being, and of course, our stress levels. They also increase work quality and productivity.
A further problem with one-hour meetings (as with all meetings) is that they are too often used as simple status updates. With all the technology we have, there are countless other ways to share status updates without having a meeting. The main purpose of meetings should be to discuss that which cannot simply be done over email. The focus should be on what necessarily must take place in a meeting: problem-solving, decision-making, discussion, professional growth, and team building.
With the average manager spending 40-60% of their time in meetings we must make sure that we are using that time well. If this time is valuable, then again, there is nothing inherently wrong with having a lot of meetings- even 60-minute ones. But most of the meetings we have can be made more efficient, shorter in time, and reduced in frequency.
HOW TO GET RID OF THE ONE-HOUR MEETING
- Be prepared. Did you know that on average nearly 11 minutes of every meeting is completely wasted time? That does not mean there is chit chat or informal discussion going on (which can be quite valuable). It means that the copies are not made, or the tech is not set up or someone forgot the key to the conference room. Like a total waste of time. In every single meeting. This really adds up. Ensuring that everything is organized and ready to go will help to pare down your meeting time significantly.
- Have an agenda. The other thing we know but don’t always follow is having an agenda. Having an agenda can decrease meeting time by up to 80% (!) yet only ~ 1/3 of meetings use an agenda.
- Share updates outside the meeting. Find a way to share status updates before and/or after the meeting rather than spending the time during the meeting discussing what can easily be shared in an email or somewhere else in the virtual universe. Use the time in a valuable way to include problem-solving, decision-making, professional growth, and team building.
- Have the right people in the room. Often a meeting can’t move forward because the people who have the information and/or authority to make the decision are not there. Or there are too many people in the room who have too many questions because they do not know enough to contribute effectively.
- Let others know how to prepare. Plan appropriately and be clear with others in the meeting about what they should do to prepare appropriately so they can participate effectively. Too often we hear something for the first time in a meeting and then are expected to comment on it in a thoughtful way and make a decision when we have not had time to really think about it.
- Make your meetings shorter. Start reducing some of your 60-minute meetings to 45 minutes. Assess the impact in terms of value. If the value of the meeting increases or stays the same, then start meeting for 45 minutes instead. Continue experimenting with shorter and shorter times and find that sweet spot that works best.
- Be willing to end the meeting early if you have accomplished what you have set out to accomplish. You do not need to fill the time just because you have blocked it off. In fact, you should not fill the time just because you have blocked it off.
Meetings are inherently neutral. Their value comes from how you plan, facilitate, and follow up on them. 60-minute meetings are also inherently neutral for the same reasons. You may find that some of your 60-minute meetings are perfect as 60-minute meetings, but I bet you will find others that do not need to be 60 minutes (or perhaps need to happen at all). Take a good look at your regular meetings and consider which ones can be reduced in length or frequency or eliminated altogether. When you schedule a new meeting, do so intentionally and schedule it for 45 minutes or even 30 to see if you get the same results. Each meeting is its own separate thing, but once you start breaking the habit of scheduling every meeting for an hour, I think you will be pleasantly surprised how much time you will actually save.
