Although we believe that the meetings are inefficient, I cannot understand why proactive solutions are not taken on this issue. Everyone complains, but the meetings continue as they are for years and this causes "huge costs".
Calculate the cost of some meetings and you will see terrible figures, so many managers waste so many hours in one meeting! Well, calculate the alternative cost and see what happens. But there is another dimension, which I think is the most important; the energy and motivation of employees is decreasing!
You will say; you wrote it, but how long should the meetings last? I divide the meetings into two; operational meetings and strategic meetings.
Operational meetings are the meetings where the relevant people need to bring up an issue they know about and say "Does anyone have an idea how I can solve this problem?". It is possible to complete these meetings in 15 minutes, as a matter of fact, a decision will be made on an operational issue, but let's accept that in our business culture we need warm-up activities such as "how are you, how are things, let's order a tea or coffee" and so on, and let's give an extra five minutes – then operational meetings shouldn't be more than 20 minutes. Everyone should accept this and meeting should be disciplined accordingly. In fact, I recommend that those who cannot do this take a 20-minute break from using their mobile phone and computer if necessary – I hear those who say “NO IT CANNOT”, but “YES IT CAN”. Approach the job from the right perspective and put an end to this inefficiency and take action to solve it with an effective management approach.
Focus on why operational meetings are becoming unproductive; for example, when one of the participants in a well-known decision meeting suddenly asks a question, "I wonder if we should do it in this way from now on?", be careful, that short meeting suddenly turns into a 2-hour meeting. There is no result and from there we go straight to dinner. Even while going to dinner, a conversation about what we decided now comes to the fore! This is because a strategic issue suddenly comes up in an operational meeting – right? However, some parameters are needed to discuss a strategic issue!
Strategic meetings are the meetings that will affect the company's goals, cause it to review some business models or processes, and lead to doing something differently than before. There are two basic requirements for holding strategic meetings; there must be relevant decision makers at the meeting and data to support the decision must be available. Otherwise, it is likely to be a meeting that cannot be saved from subjective interpretations or turns into a power struggle. Strategic meetings should last approximately 90 minutes. If longer, two 60-minute meetings may be appropriate, provided that there is a break. As for the frequency of these meetings; in businesses that are in the process of change and transformation, it is beneficial to do it once a month, maybe every 6 weeks.
Issues that come up in operational meetings and can be considered strategic should be brought to the strategic meeting as an agenda by the meeting participants to be discussed in that meeting. Thus, while the business moves quickly in the operational world, it provides a more effective management approach for its employees, and continues to INVEST IN THE FUTURE by addressing strategic issues in the most accurate way and creates the business of tomorrow.
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