As small business teams become more remote and work together virtually, there are going to be more meetings.
The best collaboration software can’t replace actually talking to your co-workers.
There’s a problem with this trend, however. It’s likely your employees dread meetings and even believe they’re a big waste of time. This doesn’t mean they have to be. It’s on the small business leader conducting the meetings to make them productive.
According to recent survey data released by wireless presentation specialists Barco, a person will spend more than 8 hours a week in meetings. That equals about 11 weeks a year.
Meeting Statistics
Here are some highlights of the Barco survey of 500 senior business professionals in the U.S.:
59% of Employees Less Engaged Due to Number of Meetings
This is plain and simple. A whole day of a work week spent in meetings is taking its toll. The Barco survey found these over-caucused employees are less effective and engaged in those meetings, too.
41% Say Tech Problems Cause Engagement Problems
Bad connections, lag and faulty software can lead to meeting nightmares. A presentation that took one employee hours to prepare could lose its impact if half the team is having a hard time seeing it.
Further, 67% of those responding to Barco say tech problems in a meeting get them irritated and nearly as many (64%) expect things to go wrong technologically during a meeting.
69% Routinely Suffer Interruptions
When you have a meeting of your small business team and something goes haywire with the software or the meeting is interrupted in some other way, realize you’re not alone. Interruptions in meetings are par for this course, according to Barco. Nearly 7 in 10 responding to the company’s survey said they were impacted by interruptions during a meeting.
25% of your Employees Are Easily Distracted
Even being able to hear a meeting participant eating in the background is enough to distract some. If you have a work-from-home team getting together, you certainly know how many small distractions there are: pets, someone at the front door, a phone call, others in the house making noise … the list goes on.
These little things are big distractions for some. And if you’ve got a small team, losing 1 person’s interest could really put a damper on the effectiveness of the meeting.
Photo via Shutterstock
This article, “59% of Your Employees Feel Less Engaged Because of Too Many Meetings” was first published on Small Business Trends