Linked: How long your meetings should last
So 25 minutes work best, at least according to the article below. I can see that, actually. But, the one thing that irks me, and causes 25-minute meetings to go over every single time is this:
“Part of the problem with meetings is that we don’t think enough about them, says Donna McGeorge, author of The 25 Minute Meeting: Half the Time, Double the Impact.
“People aren’t conscious about them,” she says. “It’s become a default way of operating. When a problem emerges, that first instinct is to go to a meeting. People aren’t prepared, and then they feel obliged to invite a cast of thousands to it.””
We simply don’t spend enough time asking people to think about the meeting beforehand. How many times do you get invited to a meeting with only a very basic idea of what the meeting is about, let alone what you should bring to it?
We aren’t strategic about meetings. We don’t plan for the meeting enough, we schedule the meeting in order to plan. We should start planning before the meeting, and figure out what we want from the other folks before we invite them, and tell them. Those of us who think more creatively by ourselves ahead of meeting with others will also bring much more to the meeting when you share the agenda and expectations ahead of time too.
If you take anything away from this, remember that it’s OK to not invite everyone to every meeting, and it’s OK to use all of the other tools we have to collaborate instead of having a meeting.
Your calendar will thank you.
https://www.fastcompany.com/90746163/this-is-exactly-how-long-your-meetings-should-last
