Medieval Solutions Don’t Work for Modern Meetings

The modern meeting is broken, yet we see a 153% increase in meetings over the last two years. We’re piling bad meetings on top of bad meetings, with the hope that things will magically change using medieval solutions like “No Meeting Mondays”.  

In the last week, several studies brought light into the disconnect between employees and managers as it relates to productivity and its impact on the number of meetings that we attend:

• 85% of managers worry they can’t tell if employees are getting enough work done, while 87% of employees say they are productive
• The CEO of Microsoft stating that, productivity paranoia results in actions like spying on employees
• The concept of productivity theater, where employees prioritize actions that look like they are working versus actual work
• 1 in 3 employees accepting and sitting in on meetings where they know they should be a participant 

These studies confirm the results in Read’s State of Virtual Meetings, where 1 in 5 meetings were considered bad based on the engagement and sentiment of meeting participants. 

While these studies identify the problem, the solutions they provide are medieval and pre-date this new hybrid world. Proposed solutions include having an agenda sent out before the meeting, taking notes during the meeting, sharing the notes after the meeting, and “No Meeting Mondays”. These tips have existed for decades, but they haven’t prevented the problem of meeting fatigue. 

Modern meetings need modern solutions where:

• Analytics are applied to meetings to identify opportunities to improve meeting quality. 
• AI is used for good, by identifying opportunities for employees to opt-out of a meeting, letting them focus on core work versus productivity theater. 
• Automation where the process of better meetings doesn’t create more work, rather it eliminates it.
• Privacy is foundational to encourage participation from all employees.

Time is our most valuable resource, regardless of a personal and professional setting. It is technology's job to help us free up our time and use it more wisely. In the same way that the physical map changed into Google Maps, making it easier and faster to get from point A to point B, technology will do the same with meetings.

When analytics and AI are applied to meetings using Read, the results are immediate:

• 13% increase in meeting starting and ending on time
• 22% decrease in participants in a meeting
• 23 meeting hours a month that could either be improved or declined

The time is now to apply a modern solution to your company’s meeting problem by trying out Read for free on your next video conference call.  

‍

‍