Many individuals who work in corporate and office settings must often devote significant portions of their daily schedules to what, for some, have become rather unloved occurrences: meetings. The average employee spends approximately 37 percent of his or her time in meetings each week, while that number almost doubles (72 percent) for individuals at the executive level.
There are plenty of memes and mugs with quips about how a meeting could have been an email, and there are certainly individuals with whom those intended pieces of humor resonate. Dallas-area resident Rachel Balthrop Mendoza, an assistant city manager, said she doesn’t believe that coming together for discussions is always needed.
“I am staunchly against meetings that could be emails,” she said. “I do have some control over this at my office, and my boss is not the type to meet for the sake of having a meeting, either. I’ve definitely been a part of unnecessary meetings before in previous jobs, but with the right office culture and communication, I believe they can be minimized.”
Dallas-area resident Becca Finke, an environmental and land manager, said she finds herself in meetings on a regular basis, though she doesn’t think it’s always necessary for individuals to gather in person or virtually to communicate what she feels could be summed up in a more concise way.
“For me, many work meetings could be emails because they often lack the need for real-time discussion,” she said. “My meetings are mostly information sharing. If a meeting is just providing updates, a well-structured email can do the same thing without taking up everyone’s time.”
There are individuals, though, who attend several meetings each day but do not necessarily see them as inefficient uses of people’s time. Dallas resident Mike Hart, a VP of finance, recognizes that there are situations in which it’s more effective for employees to participate in in-person or virtual interactions rather than communicating solely through writing.
“Work meetings are necessary when direct interaction is needed to solve nuanced problems, brainstorm, or make decisions that involve multiple people or departments,” he said. “Additionally, meetings with external customers, vendors, and partners are valuable for problem solving or building rapport. In my opinion, one of the best uses of meetings is to negotiate terms with a vendor or customer, as doing so over email can feel too impersonal. Emails are better-suited for distributing information, handling straightforward requests, or issuing directives.”
And, as Hart pointed out, even emails can often be more daunting than accepting a meeting request.
“Many meetings exist in the corporate world to ensure alignment among stakeholders and to maintain company culture,” he said. “Email overload and fatigue are real issues, and reading through pages of email threads is often less productive than a quick meeting that provides clarity and sets a clear outcome.”
While frequency of meetings and how much time one spends taking part in them is contingent upon the individual’s role, it’s not highly uncommon for a person’s calendar to be filled with several blocks of time taken up. For many individuals in the corporate world, this is to be expected.
“Firstly, it’s the culture of visibility,” Finke said. “If you’re in a meeting and being seen, then you’re ‘working.’ Many companies equate meetings to productivity. Secondly, for my industry, we often need collaboration across the United States, and the only way to collaborate with teams across the U.S. is through video meeting platforms.”
While some companies have been cutting down the number of required meetings, Balthrop Mendoza said she believes that there are likely plenty of environments in which individuals are simply maintaining somewhat of a status quo in regard to continuing their standard practices.
“I’m sure ‘we’ve always done it this way’ is par for the course in a lot of offices,” she said. “Sometimes it does just make sense to get all parties in a room to talk through things, though, and this can foster creativity and learning from one another, too. I just think it needs to come from a place of necessity over routine.”
Regardless of whether or not she thinks that a meeting is necessary at the time, though, Balthrop Mendoza makes sure that she constantly exudes a desire to be present where she is.
“I absolutely must maintain professionalism during all of my meetings,” she said. “Formality is what can change, though, given the context. For example, I have a role in all City Council meetings for the city where I work. Professionalism and decorum will always be at the forefront for those. But our internal staff meetings, on the other hand, are far less formal. We can report on what’s going on and collaborate while still having fun and remaining professional.”
One concern many employees have pertaining to meetings is the time it takes away from them being able to complete everything they need to as part of their job responsibilities. As a result, work-related multitasking occurs in approximately 30 percent of all virtual meetings. Hart, however, said he ensures that he is attentive, fully engaged, and not giving off any negative vibes during meetings, whether they are in in-person settings or held virtually.
“I maintain a professional yet lighthearted attitude to foster good working relationships with colleagues, partners, and customers,” he said. “In Teams meetings, I always have my camera on, and I hope it’s not obvious if I’m put off. I also make an effort to be polite and professional because I respect both the people and their time.”
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