Why Your Company Needs a Meeting Policy?

Who likes policies?

Rules?

Enforcement?

No one, right? Well, can you imagine what driving would look like without any rules? Not a pretty image, right? So, maybe sometimes rules are good?

Data shows that 80% of drivers think they are above average. This is unlikely and kind of shows how we can be victims of our own perceptions. The issue of rules triggers a similar emotion - I would like everyone to follow the rules, but I don’t like it when I have to follow them.

So let’s talk about meeting policies also known as meeting codex, etiquette or manifesto. If each of us only had meetings with himself, we wouldn’t need them. However, when my meetings starts affecting others it’s actually the place where having some rules starts making sense.

So let's talk about meeting policies, also known as meeting codex, etiquette, or manifesto. If each of us only had meetings with himself, we wouldn't need them. However, when my meetings start affecting others, it's actually the place where having some rules starts making sense.

In the past, inviting a meeting was hard. I had to tell my colleagues that I wanted to talk to them, find a time that works for everyone, figure out a place to meet, etc. This naturally created some friction that was compounded by the number of people I was inviting. In today’s corporate world, however, I can invite another employee to a meeting and it would just appear in their calendar, and they can do the same to me. This means that I no longer have to justify the meeting to anyone else I’m inviting. In most companies, an employee is able to see each other employee’s availability, and with the normalization of video conference-based meetings, I don’t have to worry about a room anymore. So, the number of meetings would grow, right?

And it really has. There are multiple surveys showing that the meeting volume per employee went up by over 50% in the past 2-3 years. The result? Less time for task execution, fewer customer calls, fewer lines of code, and fewer designs. Basically, slower companies.

So, how can a meeting policy help? One side of it is the company side. Some rules about meetings can decrease their volume and also make the ones you have far more productive. These actually go hand in hand as one of the main reasons employees give for not preparing their meetings well enough is being stuck in another meeting.

But it doesn’t end there. When surveying employees, meetings consistently come up as an obstacle to productivity. Specifically, the top talent in the company, the 20% of the people who do 80% of the work, really suffer in inefficient meetings. In reality, the situation in most companies is that if you do a survey among employees asking if there should be more rules around meetings or less, the majority of employees would vote for having more rules.

So, to wrap this up, there are a few reasons to have a meeting policy:

1. It gives employees needed guidance for having better meetings.

2. It brings back some of the needed friction in setting up a meeting - requiring the process to be more mindful.

3. It gives your top talent the feeling that you are trying to protect their time and are aware of their pains.

However, be cautious as setting up a meeting policy that everyone will disregard is the last thing you want to do. We can also offer some tips on this matter, but that will be the subject of another blog post.