AMS - Effective Meetings

Meetings

A typical manager spends 40% of their time in meetings.

30% to 60% of this time is wasted.

Improving The Quality OF Your Meetings

Wayne J. Hunicke, President
Advantage Management Systems, Inc.

The Problem

We visit companies all the time, helping them identify performance and profit improvement opportunities. Discovery sessions are held with managers, supervisors and a number of hourly employees. We typically find over 100 areas of concern, with key items wasting 1/3 of the company's time and dollar expenses. One of the most common complaints is about the effectiveness of meetings.

A typical manager spends at least 40% of their time (21 work-weeks) in meetings each year. Our interviews indicate that 30% to 60% of this time is nonproductive. Causes include lack of training for those who lead meetings and lack of guidelines on how to maximize use of participants' time. Here's what you can do to improve the quality of your meetings.

The Solution

DEFINITION: A meeting is a gathering of people for a specific business purpose.

In order to be effective, you need a clearly established purpose or outcome, the right people, and a process for conducting the meeting effectively.