If you are working, there is a good chance you are part of the up to 56 million meetings taking place today. And as the new infographic from Cincinnati Bell Inc. (CBTS) indicates, you also might be part of the 76 percent that thinks they are unnecessary meetings.
This brings us to the title of the CBTS infographic, “How to Master Meetings.” Being able to master meetings in today’s collaborative workforce is extremely important. Small and large businesses alike are holding more meetings because of the readily available technology, remote work, and easy access to global resources. But how do you master meetings?
First, let’s take a look at some of the problems CBTS pointed out.
With 11.8 hours spent in preparing and attending status meetings in a 40 hour week, there is a lot of room for improvement. Because as it stands now, the yearly cost of ineffective meetings to the US economy is $70 to $283 billion.
So what makes an ineffective meeting? When it comes to in-person meetings, pet peeves such as not staying on topic, repetition, and people taking calls irks 59, 58, and 51 percent of participants respectively. And if the people attending the meeting are peeved, it won’t go well, making it less effective.
Other behaviors that are just as bothersome are eating lunch, check personal emails, responding to work emails, and performing other tasks while on mute in conference calls.
This, of course, can lead to ineffective communication, and the infographic points that out too. Only nine percent of employees leave a meeting with a clear understanding of what to do next all the time. More than a third or 34 percent say some of the time, 10 percent rarely, and two percent never. If two percent of the people attending a meeting leave completely clueless, it is a big problem
What Can You Do for More Effective Meetings?
Getting the right technology is a start because 83 percent depend on it to collaborate. Meetings can be more engaging. Plus the right technology will lower the stress associated with connectivity problems, incompatibility, technology failure and unnecessary complication.
Some of the other recommendations CBTS makes are to make the best of the resources you have, upgrade your technology (if possible) and train your employees to use the same program and tools.
You can take a look at the rest of the data on the CBTS infographic below.
Images: CBTS
This article, “There May Be 56 Million Business Meetings in America Today (INFOGRAPHIC)” was first published on Small Business Trends