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<\/div>\n?Few people, from the summer intern right up to the boardroom elite, like workplace meetings. Case in point: Billionaire Mark Cuban once told Inc. magazine, \u201cThe only way you\u2019re going to get me for a meeting is if you\u2019re writing me a check.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cuban is hardly alone. Tesla founder Elon Musk calls meetings a \u201cblight,\u201d and a now infamous 2015 Harris survey found that 17 percent of employees would rather watch paint dry and 8 percent would rather undergo a root canal than attend a meeting.<\/p>\n
Managers aren\u2019t wild about meetings, either, and they\u2019re the ones who usually have to run them. <\/p>\n
One way to make workplace gatherings more efficient and productive is to implement the \u201c15-minute meeting.\u201d This approach was first introduced by Berlin-based financial automation company Monite in July 2021, when the organization put in place a quarter-hour limit for managers running team meetings.<\/p>\n
Business experts say the 15-minute meeting curbs employee burnout and boosts engagement, with which many companies have been struggling since embracing hybrid or fully remote work arrangements as a result of the pandemic.<\/p>\n
\u201cFifteen-minute meetings are prime sources of efficiency,\u201d says Dannie Lynn Fountain, a Google talent sourcer and founder of Focused on People, a human resource services company in Seattle. Research shows that 65 percent of U.S. employees agree that meetings prevent them from completing their own work, while 24 billion hours are wasted each year as the result of unproductive meetings, she notes.<\/p>\n
For managers, learning how to plan for and run shorter meetings is good for business.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe 15-minute meeting allows managers to focus on key points and avoid their message becoming lost in conversation,\u201d says Michelle D. Jimenez, SHRM-SCP, director of human resources at Settlement Housing Fund in New York City. \u201cIt also allows team members to focus on those key points and not spend wasted time and dollars digging through nonessential information. This equates to higher productivity, higher return on investment and, ultimately, higher morale.\u201d<\/p>\n
Get Agile<\/p>\n
Some companies have turned to a project management framework called Scrum as a model for running shorter meetings. The framework encourages short-term collaboration to tackle project goals\u2014much like in a rugby scrum, where teammates gather shoulder to shoulder to get the ball moving in the right direction.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe 15-minute-meeting model is lifted directly from Scrum,\u201d says Angela Druckman, founder of The \u00adDruckman Co., a Seattle-based company that provides agile workplace training. Scrum \u201cis used in many industries, usually in software development or information technology.\u201d<\/p>\n
Druckman says she spends a fair amount of time in her training classes teaching people how to run an effective 15-minute meeting. <\/p>\n
Here are the tips she gives her clients:<\/p>\n
Come into the meeting knowing what you want to achieve.<\/span> \u201cMeetings are most effective when they are \u00adoutcome-oriented,\u201d Druckman says. A Scrum meeting is different from a status meeting in which participants report their progress on specific tasks to a manager. \u201cA good daily Scrum has the team members doing most of the talking\u2014and they are talking mostly to each other, not reporting to an authority figure like a project manager.\u201d<\/p>\n Keep conversations meaningful but brief.<\/span> \u201cIn the daily Scrum, each team member says what they did yesterday, what they will be working on today and any [obstacles] they are experiencing,\u201d Druckman adds. \u201cUsing these points as a framework for discussion keeps the meeting short but high-value.\u201d<\/p>\n Shut down tangential discussions.<\/span> Druckman reminds her clients that the daily Scrum may be a good place to identify issues, but not neces\u00adsarily to solve them.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen issues are identified that are important but not directly relevant to the goal of the daily Scrum, the person leading the meeting should \u2018parking lot\u2019 that topic so people can discuss it elsewhere,\u201d she says. \u201cThis is the way to keep the meeting meaningful for everyone involved.\u201d<\/p>\n Strive for Efficiency<\/p>\n Management specialists have additional ideas on how to limit meetings to 15 minutes.<\/p>\n Nettie Nitzberg is the chief learning and leadership officer at Saterman Connect, a New York City-based consultancy that specializes in management coaching, learning and leadership. She advises a two-step approach. <\/p>\n First, clarify the crucial points of the meeting: <\/p>\n The 15-minute meeting should produce what it implies\u2014shorter, sharper collaborations that define project goals and leave more time for workplace teams to meet those goals.<\/p>\n \u201cDone right, the 15-minute meeting is a critical way to ensure we\u2019re able to best use our workday to complete the tasks that ac\u00adtually move the needle,\u201d Fountain says, \u201cinstead of spending all day in meetings and having to work after hours to catch up.\u201d <\/p>\n Brian O\u2019Connell is a freelance writer based in Bucks County, Pa.<\/em><\/p>\n\n