Time Management – How to control the meetings?

I was speaking to a colleague and he said he was spending way too much time on meetings. I could see he was getting stressed and due to long meetings he was ending up spending long hours in office work.

If time is within your control then where was he messing up?

Spending more than 9-10 hours at work is not advisable! I wondered how I could help him.

After talking with him, I realised he was doing two big mistakes in time management:

• Micromanaging 
• Endless meetings which go on and on

For meetings, it’s best that you set the agenda beforehand. While sending the meeting invite, write down the agenda with the associated timestamp.

Say, for example, you are an account manager and you are scheduled to meet with a client and project manager on a particular escalation issue. This is how you can send the meeting invite:

Escalation Meeting: Project X

Players:

• Project Manager
• Account manager
• Lead developer
• Client contact

Duration: 30 minutes

Agenda:

• Problem statement: client (5 to 10 minutes)
• Counter argument: Project manager/lead developer (5 minutes)
• Proposed middle path: account manager (5 minutes)
• Acceptance or counter-arguments: client/project manager (5-10 minutes)
• Final agreement or part agreement: 5 minutes
• Wrap up or next meeting schedule: 5 minutes

The person who is sending the meeting invite should control the time. Human beings’ minds at a stretch won’t be focused for more than 50 minutes. So don’t drag any meeting beyond that.

Recently someone in my Twitter connections wrote that he got off a call with a client after a 6-hour meeting and he is pumped. Don’t take such comments on social media at face value. Because most people are wearing a mask on social media. You can’t be pumped after a marathon meeting of 6 hours. It’s insane. 

I try to keep meetings within a window of 40 minutes. If it goes beyond 40 minutes then it’s mostly big group meetings where there are a lot of questions that needed to be answered. I feel bad when a meeting goes beyond 45 minutes because after that a big percentage of people won’t get any value – will be distracted hence I try to keep my points as short as possible.

After a meeting is completed, it’s important for the person who initiated the meeting that he sends an MoM to all participants. This then gets baselined for future meetings if and when it’s required.

Learn to say NO to meetings if you are already filled for the day. People will understand as long as you give the next available date for the meeting. If you are transparent then people will bend too. People get angry when you play around. Many times clients get irritated because as account or project managers many people start taking them for granted. Don’t avoid them. Be upfront informing them that you are busy today and schedule a time tomorrow. Do not force yourself into another meeting when your body and mind need rest. Nothing is more important than your physical and mental health.

I advise you to maintain a diary. You can create a timetable for yourself for the next day before shutting for the day. Don’t keep more than 3 meetings in one day. You are misusing your time if you are doing it. Because you need to prepare for meetings too. And if you are having 4-5 meetings in a day – then the last couple of meetings you will be present only physically.

Keep one hour of buffer every day. So if you are planning for 9 hours, your diary should be optimised to 8 hours. One hour should be kept for unknown occurrences. 

This is a simple model to follow and it’s easy to follow if you maintain the diary and make sure you meet the objectives. Don’t think too far ahead. Take one day at a time.

Time is precious. Don’t waste it. Your family needs you. And they need you in full self. When you are with family they should be given 100% priority!

What’s the process that you are following?

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