Productivity in the office: Tips to make the most out of meetings

In a tech company, it is important to define work schemes so that projects can be adequately followed through. Teams need daily feedback on what is being developed.

While working at Smartmatic, the leading technology in electoral technology and elections development in all 5 continents, we must invest a certain amount of time in meetings that often take up time without apparent results.

However, there are habits that can be applied to make these meetings more productive.  

First, it is important to define the agenda to understand the goals for the meeting, and see whether it is absolutely indispensable. One can even write up a list to assign the proper time to individual steps, such as taking actions in the project, voting on a decision, etc.  What is important is having a plan before going into the meeting.

After doing this, one needs to take into account the time allotted for the meeting. Some specialists consider 15 mins to be the right length, so that employees don’t burn out, and decisions aren’t made only to end the meeting.  Every minute can result in greater workplace productivity, if it is well managed. 

With the time and the agenda already defined, one needs to call in the attendees.  It’s advisable to keep the numbers under 10, although this varies from company to company.  Once the number of attendees is known, it’s easier to control the points in the agenda.  If you bring only the most interested parties, the meeting will be more productive. 

Having an agenda, a defined duration and an attendance list, the only thing missing is the content. Although sometimes it is necessary to make meetings more dynamic with animated, attractive presentations, these can sometimes turn into a distraction. If you need more focus, a precise, concise summary of the agenda should be made available to all to debate and discuss. 

The above are just some tips that can be applied to improve our daily office meetings.   Dynamism, focus and organization can be key when it comes to increasing productivity in meetings, which are fundamental for teams to communicate with one another, in order to guarantee successful projects that meet the company’s global objectives.