Meetings & The New Office Space
Posted on 30th March 2021 at 09:31
As we plan our return to work one of the key elements of the office function will be to host meetings so the question is how can we plan and maximise that function.
So, here are some pointers to assist with that process.
When is the best time and day to hold a meeting?
Early Morning: Having a meeting early in the morning can be good if you’d like to get it over quickly. Early mornings are best for a short 15-minute stand-up meeting or a quick check in with the team.
Mid-Morning: Mid-morning meetings tend to be more effective because team members have had the time to settle in, are alert, haven’t been bogged down, and there is an opportunity to prepare. Flexibility also tends to jump up around 10 or 11 in the morning.
Lunchtime/Lunch break: Mealtimes tend to directly affect meeting times. If you choose to hold a meeting during a mealtime, you should consider providing food.
Afternoon: Starting at 3 p.m., team members are much more likely to accept meetings than early in the morning. They’ll be more energised and have had time to reflect and prepare for the meeting.
Late Afternoon/Evening: In late afternoon meetings, team members might just watch the clock tick and think about when the day is going to end.
Along with the time option you need to consider which day will work best. Mondays and Fridays are usually the least effective days to hold meetings because as people look at three-day weekends. Mondays can also be a weekend mode day and Friday’s people are thinking about the weekend. For productivity and participation reasons, you should generally try to hold meetings on the middle three days of the work-week.
How long should a meeting be?
The average meeting time is between 31 and 60 minutes. Is that the right amount of time?
A lot of the research says NO.
Research shows that people have short attention spans. For the first 15 minutes of a meeting some 91% of people are paying attention. Once people hit the next 15 minutes heading into the half hour mark, the number of people paying attention drops off to 84%. From there, the numbers drastically diminish as meetings go beyond 30 minutes. Around 73% will be paying attention if you extend to a 45-minute meeting and once over that it gets down to 64%.
Managing your meeting time is critical, with a precise agenda and clear objectives, will prevent you from over running your time.
Who should I invite?
Deciding who to include can be tough but too many managers default to including everyone. In an effort to not make anyone feel left out, they unknowingly decrease the quality of the meeting.
Research by Stanford University, looked at group size and concluded that the most productive meetings contain only five to eight people. Why? There is a tipping point beyond which the quality of the conversation begins to erode.
To make sure you have the right people in the room, you have to know specifically what you’re going to address. Have a clear agenda and make sure you’ve allotted each topic of discussion enough time. From there, ask yourself: Who must be present for the discussion to yield results? For who would you cancel the meeting if they could not attend? Start with this core group.
Looking at your space.
At Blue Goose we are currently engaging with a number of clients who are looking at their office space and thinking about how it needs re-shaping, less permanent desks and more meeting space.
As a part of that solution and in a previous blog, New Smart Technology that can be used in the Office, we covered how you can maximise the facilities you already have.
A number of our clients already have meeting rooms and those now need to be more flexible, accessible and adaptable, so we are looking at furniture and space.
We are also looking at Meeting Room v Meeting Spaces. With the question around whether you need a closed door scenario to hold a meeting or are you looking at that 15-minute punchy meeting with a limited agenda.
Whatever your requirements Blue Goose Interiors are in an ideal position to assist you with the planning and delivery of your space to enable your team to maximise their meeting needs, so contact us today.
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