4 Ways to Reduce “Meeting Fatigue” at Your Workplace
I just can't tell you how often I hear the phrase “this could of been an email” when discussing the causes of burnout and workplace stress in my workshops.
It then comes at no surprise that professionals who are working with others know (and sometimes dread) excessively coordinating and participating in meetings.
It’s true that there are many valid and important reasons for meeting with the people that you work with. Yet with the increased access of video meetings and digital communication, many professionals have seen an uptick in the frequency of meetings, but are not necessarily reaping the benefits of meeting more often. According to an article by Discovery ABA Therapy, only 11% of meetings are actually productive and are causing companies in the United States in particular to lose a whooping $37 billion each year. Yikes.
Not to mention that participating in multiple unnecessary and/or unproductive meetings for extended periods of time could have a negative impact on the individual work performance of a professional, as their participation in meetings could leave less time for them to complete their assigned work outside of meetings and increase the chance that they are working outside of business hours to catch up — making “work-life balance” nearly impossible.
So after reading this study and this study on the impact of meeting fatigue, it begs the question: what are some alternatives to meeting that could truly help reduce burnout?
If you too are curious about how to meet less and reduce the “meeting fatigue” you see at your workplace, consider trying out these 4 ideas:
Record a video
Videos could be a great alternative to coordinating time to meet with your team. Consider filming a video when one party needs a tutorial, a quick training or a brief explanation of a project instead of planning a time to meet. This option also offers a chance for your coworkers to replay parts of the video if they need to and learn at their own pace.
Develop a "Frequently Asked Questions" (FAQ) page
Have you noticed that you are pulled into meetings to answer the same questions, over and over again? It could be time to create a "Frequently Asked Questions" page. Consider rounding up repeated questions that you or your department receives and create a sheet, video or audio sound byte that effectively answers these questions without needing to schedule a meeting to answer them.
Write out a Standing Operating Procedure (SOP)
Similarly to a FAQ sheet, another option you can swap for a meeting is writing out the steps to a project that can be used over and over again. To replace time meeting, developing a Standing Operating Procedure (SOP) can help teach and instruct others on how to complete a particular task. Regardless of your role or seniority, SOPs are true investments that can be utilized for years to come for your organization.
Create a survey
Need to get the team's opinions on a particular topic? Want to get everyone's feedback on a certain project? Need to debrief after an event, but everyone is recovering from hosting it? Create and distribute a survey! Depending on the information that you're looking for, create a survey that has questions that have multiple choice options, open-ended fields and/or include a poll to gather the data you need.
Exploring alternatives to getting the work done could not only reduce meeting fatigue, but it could increase productivity, enhance self-sufficiency and boost staff morale all at the same time. If you’re noticing your workplace is experiencing fatigue from meeting too often, consider giving the alternatives above a try.
Which alternative to meeting would you want to try first?
For more ideas, strategies and recommendations to prevent and recover from occupational burnout, request my burnout recovery and restorative self-care workshops developed for hard-working professionals by clicking here.
