Productivity expert shares 6 ways to reduce useless meetings

Endless meetings are a constant mental drain — some 65% of employees say that frequent meetings stop them from focusing on and completing their tasks, and nearly half are overwhelmed by how many meetings they attend.

In addition to crushing productivity, unnecessary meetings can eat up to $100 million per year for large companies!

We asked business productivity expert, Viktor Grekov, CEO of OKR Software company Oboard how companies can save money on wasted meetings and improve productivity.  As an OKR (Objectives and Key Results) specialist who has helped giants such as Volkswagen, Panasonic, and Pfizer master OKRs to boost business productivity, for the tips he shares with top businesses and the Top OKR practices he recommends to eliminate unnecessary meetings.

These ‘insider tricks’ will reduce meetings and improve productivity for ANY company, large and small:

1. Be “SMART” when setting goals. Establishing clear and focused Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) can render many of the meetings in your calendar needless. When your goals are well-defined, team members will understand the expectations and priorities without the need for frequent check-ins. However, to avoid uncertainty (and the need for a face-to-face), any goal you set should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound, or in other words — SMART.

Don’t have OKRs set up yet? Consider your current mission, then set some specific and measurable goals that will provide clarity and keep your team on course.

2. Let technology handle progress tracking. A third of workers have attended a meeting that they think could have been an email… and they’re probably right. How much time is wasted providing status updates in meetings that could be communicated through automated progress emails or a digital collaboration tool? By implementing a tracking system for your OKRs, your team will have more time to focus on addressing roadblocks, adjusting strategies, and achieving progress.

Don’t have OKRs set up yet? Rather than sparing time in every meeting, establish a weekly or bi-weekly cadence for members to share updates, accomplishments, and challenges. This maintains a culture of transparency (without the cost of productivity).

3. Set the goal, not the steps. Remember, each member of your team has the credentials to do their job. They don’t need you to micromanage… They need you to lead. It’s best to take an outcome-oriented approach over a task-based one, emphasizing the desired goal rather than the steps they should take to achieve it. With a little trust, you will find that they’re perfectly capable of delivering results without the need for daily meetings and constant monitoring.

Don’t have OKRs set up yet? Rather than individual tasks, assign a desired outcome and let your team get on with it. By offering trust and flexibility, your team will show its talent without the need for endless oversight.

4. Foster transparency in communication. OKRs shouldn’t be siloed — After all, the entire company should share the same primary goal. Open communication and understanding are crucial, but that doesn’t require a calendar full of meetings between different teams and departments. Rather, it needs everyone to be on the same page and understand each other’s functions (which can be achieved just as well through shared documentation, regular email updates, or a dedicated collaboration platform).

Don’t have OKRs set up yet? Set up a shared document or communication channel for project updates, milestones, and challenges. This will keep all departments well informed without requiring yet another meeting.

5. Encourage asynchronous communication. Constantly pausing progress on an important task to attend another needless meeting or answer another trivial email is a real drain on productivity. However, this is easily avoided by adopting an async mindset, where colleagues are encouraged to communicate and collaborate at their own time and pace through email, text or video messages. With fewer interruptions, this approach allows teams to focus on the task at hand and achieve deep thought, while enabling greater collaboration between colleagues in different time zones.

Don’t have OKRs set up yet? OKRs aren’t critical to the async workflow — All you really need is a corporate messenger or email platform in place.

6. Set time aside for troubleshooting. All that time saved can be better spent on proactive workshops focused on developing and achieving specific OKRs. Rather than spending five minutes at the end of every meeting discussing a problem (which ultimately leads nowhere), set aside a few hours each week to bring teams together and hyper-focus on the problem at hand.

Don’t have OKRs set up yet? Identify a potential challenge ahead, set a time among relevant colleagues, and encourage collaborative discussion. By proactively brainstorming solutions and devising an action plan ahead of time, any issues that arise are rapidly resolved.

These tips will help employees get out of back-to-back-to-back meetings, regain their precious time and actually get some work done.