If only time was not finite. If only energy was renewable.

Wait. Energy is renewable, you just suck at managing your time, your priorities and your personal boundaries.

After all, who is watching you 24/7? You can give way to guilty temptation and forego your morning workout, sneak the Reese’s peanut butter cup, and even multi-task during your conference calls. Who is going to know? Some get pleasure out of wearing the badge of exhaustion; don’t be one of them.

Since the Covid-19 Pandemic began, inclineHR has hosted a series of Energy Management workshops across multiple industries, companies, functions, and levels. We asked each group the same question: “What percentage of meetings did you attend in the last month that were critical to your success in retrospect?” In other words, was there a reasonable return on investment (ROI) for the time allocated to scheduled meetings? By anonymous polling, we collated and aggregated responses from several hundred respondents; the results were astounding! Only 1 in 3 meetings, on average, were deemed critical and worth their time.

So recently, we attempted to cross-validate these results with our followers on LinkedIn. Mind you, this was not a scientific study, but interestingly, 59% of the respondents felt like only 1 in 4 meetings were deemed critical to their success in retrospect. 28% thought that half of the meetings were a waste of time. So, in summary, 87% of the LinkedIn respondents felt like at least half of their meetings were a waste of time.

So, what now? Why do so many people attend meetings that are worthless? My hypotheses are as follows with some additional thoughts, explanations, and tell-tale signs:

1. There is a lack of courage to decline a meeting AND provide context to the meeting organizer. It is easier to “attend” a worthless meeting than to upset the apple cart and feel like you are “calling someone’s baby ugly.” Instead of just hitting the decline button, maybe next time you could pick up the phone and ask if it’s okay to share your observations and decision to reallocate your time. By the way, if you feel like you can multi-task at a meeting, you are part of the problem. Own up to it. Listen for people that say, “can you repeat the question?” on conference calls or those that NEVER have their cameras on. Managing your calendar, so that it is not managing you, is part of your job to ensure your team and organization are getting the best out of you. If you cannot be present, stop pretending and don’t be there at all.
2. With courage being the precedent to trust, neither the attendee nor the meeting organizer trust each other enough to seek out and share honest feedback with the other. Instead, a numbness sets in and you just go through the motions, notwithstanding the fact that meetings were poorly planned, lacked agendas, meaningful role clarity, or any other kind of structured follow-up. This is underscored with a “fear of missing out” (FOMO) because you don’t trust your team will have your back; hence the reason you have convinced yourself that you need to be there. Look for multiple peers in the same meeting with few speaking up as great examples of teams with endemic trust issues.
3. People confuse motion with action. Some are convinced that they are doing their jobs by attending meetings and looking the part, which sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it? You are being paid to stay engaged, partake in ideological debate, gather information and make the best decisions possible for your team. If you don’t feel a need to speak up, it means you probably could’ve skipped the meeting.
4. People are running ragged and not strategically thinking about their actual time investments. Everything is a priority which means nothing is a priority. Another meeting that could have been an email. It takes time to evaluate whether or not the right items are even on your to-do list. Begin to re-think your portfolio of time investments; if some are not paying dividends, it may be time to exit those engagements. Make 15 minutes the default for scheduled meetings. If you need more time, schedule it. Reflect on the small number of meetings that ever end early; most do not struggle with filling time with unscheduled topics du jour, even those that are not readily impactful to your immediate priorities.

Learn more at https://www.inclinehr.com/wp-content/uploads/The-Power-of-Energy-Renewal.pdf
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