Future Work/Life is my newsletter in which I explore the changing relationship between work and our personal lives. Every week, I share something I’ve written, a few things I’ve enjoyed reading, and something great to listen to. If you find it interesting, please share it!
The Writing:
Meetings are (still) broken.
When it comes to things we moan about at work, meetings remain top of the list. They’re the gift that keeps on giving. Or, more accurately, taken away - at least when it comes to the time we could be spending time on more important matters. Since we seem to need a regular reminder about how things can be different, I thought I’d revive an old favourite this morning: 9 ways to reinvent meetings.
After all, if you add it all up, every year, we waste hundreds of hours, and who knows how much money in meetings that have no structure or are just entirely unnecessary!
Here are nine ways you can radically reinvent meetings:
1. Scrap all meetings and start again
Drastic times call for drastic measures. We know that most meetings are a waste of time, but do you know which ones?
2. Meetings must be pitched
Why this meeting, at this time, with these people, for this duration?
3. Agenda of questions
If you frame the agenda as a series of questions, you’ll stay on topic and know when you’re done.
4. Narrative meetings
You’ve probably heard about Amazon's 'narrative meetings'. It’s quicker to read than for someone to present ideas. A narrative structure offers more opportunities to articulate a case supported by evidence.
5. Stop the boss speaking first
Allowing more junior staff to speak first creates psychological safety and encourages a culture of positive accountability. At the very least, let’s stop the boss from taking the stage and making their opinion known from the outset. To avoid highlighting the hierarchy altogether, one option is to just pick one person at random each time and to process around the rest of the group in one direction or another.
6. Time cushion between meetings
If you’ve still not worked out how to customise your calendar invitations to allow time between meetings, click on these links to find out how to do it for Outlook and Google.
7. Calculate the financial value
The simplest way I’ve found to demonstrate the scale of a meetings problem is to work out how much everyone's time costs and add it up.
8. Countdown timer
A countdown timer focuses the mind and keeps everyone succinct and to the point - 25 minutes means 25 minutes.
9. Hard stop
If all else fails - and some people can’t help but overrun - then just end it! Brutal, but everyone soon learns the score.
I’ve tested all of these ideas. Some have been effective at changing behaviour, and some have pissed people off. Most have had an overwhelmingly positive outcome, freed up people’s time and were worth the short-term pain.
Act now and reinvent your meetings!
The Reading:
Businesses are still grappling with how to persuade people back to the office, but as former podcast guest Dror Poleg suggests to The Times in this article focusing on the stuff in the office still misses the point that it’s time to redesign how we work:
Dror Poleg, a New York-based consultant who advises landlords on technology and innovation, joked that managers offering free alcohol to make colleagues love each other and not want to leave “might need to try MDMA next”. “If we think of the office now as a social place and not just somewhere to sit facing a screen then it makes sense to have alcohol there, but it’s somewhat lacking in imagination,” he said.
“People want flexibility in terms of time and also location. To me the future of the office and making the office appealing is less about adding more stuff to the office but thinking about the office not as a singular location but a network that enables people to be great wherever they are.
“It’s much more of a management challenge, redesigning work itself rather than redesigning an office and that is something that many companies are struggling to come to terms with.”
The reality is that people’s preferences have permanently shifted, as this LinkedIn article shows. Despite remote jobs representing 20% of all new job postings on the platform, they received 50% of applications!
“As the labor market remains tight, employers who are looking to hire may face pressure from candidates to keep or expand their remote work policies. At the same time, jobs that must be done in-person may command higher pay and better benefits.”
Of course, a greater desire to work remotely is just one of a bunch of trends that were accelerated by the pandemic and will be sticking around.
Another is the increasing number of people moving from full-time employment to ‘going solo’ as freelancers or contractors. As this Harvard Business Review article outlines, many more independent workers feel more secure than staying in their salaried jobs. The data is US-focused, but we see similar numbers in the UK as people realise other options offer better short and long-term opportunities.
One of the critical observations the authors make is about the role of technology:
Technology, and especially the internet, has made it easier to operate an independent business, or to work as an independent contractor. Platforms, software, and other services have sprung up to ease the burdens and provide support.
Plus, the more we see others do it, the more confidence that gives us:
Life is procyclical. The more people do any activity, the more others see it as viable. As self-employment has become more common, more employers are comfortable dealing with independent workers, and a larger proportion of the general public knows people who are doing it.
For any business leaders and managers out there, here are some suggestions that will help you hold on to your best people:
Provide employees with greater levels of work autonomy, control, and flexibility.
Show you value employees’ contributions.
Provide on-the-job opportunities to stretch, learn, and work in new areas.
Hire more independent workers.
For more on this, read my article from last year on the importance of the flexible workforce.
The Listening:
It’s easy to be cynical about the role of purpose in business, as I wrote in this article.
However, in this conversation with Mark Crowley, Ranjay Gulati makes a good case for why a renewed focus is required. Pursuing profits without purpose is no longer a sustainable business model.