I don’t know how many people I have heard at different levels of any given organization complaining about meetings. And I don’t know how it is possible that despite this we are spending between 20 and 50% of our working time in meetings.

A study by Mroz et al. features a very useful checklist to make the best out of meetings – thanks to Ethan Mollick for sharing it.

Start with considering if the meeting is necessary or not – information sharing and updates are not valid reasons to have a meeting -, as well as who should be present – being a fly on the wall is a huge waste of time. Then have an agenda (and stick to it), avoid complaining (as in nothing ever works or this issue cannot be fixed), and follow up with a request for feedback, from which you commit to take ideas to improve future meetings.

We all want to get better at meetings. Who is taking the first step?