Necessary vs. Unnecessary Meetings - Spark Hire

Necessary vs. Unnecessary Meetings - Spark HireDont waste time. Maximize efficiency. Thats parte of your job description so you want to make sure youre not doing anything counter-productive. While there are obvious things you should avoid (like filling the workplace with bouncy balls to brighten peoples day), there are also times when the things that seem like theyre helping can lead to an unnecessary waste of time.Everyone loves using meetings as a way to reach all employees at once. However, you have to make sure youarentgoing stir crazy with them. Calling in a meeting to explain that the company is being sold and what that could mean for the current employees is acceptable, but you may want to think twice about calling everyone in to explain how to use the new phones. Chances are they work the saatkorn as any other phone. A better solution would be to send out a mass email with priority guidelines for using the phones and an invitation for anyone whodoesntknow how to use them to c ome in and ask you. That way youll waste a few minutes on a small percentage of employees instead of an hour on a larger group.You have to do the math sometimes, figure how many man hours you stand to lose or gain by taking this or that road. While for newer HR professionals this may be an exercise in trial and error, more experienced employeesshouldntfind it too difficult to figure out.Necessary meetings include large changes to the company, reminders about important organized events, info seminar on the use of a new complicated technology, etc. Meetings are okay along those lines because chances are a lot of people will have questions about the topics. Small things like birthday reminders belong in emails because people probably wont respond to those en masse and flood your email.While you are always thinking up new ways to improve employee effectiveness, remember that you have to always be increasing your effectiveness as well. If your methodsarentworking then the people upstairs will start to notice. The pathway to hell is paved with good intentions, as they say, so if something seems unnecessary then dont be the eager beaver and try to get everyone involved. Putting in excessive effort in unnecessary areas actually deters efficiency, so pump the brakes every once in a while and cancel a meeting or two from the planner.Do you ever take part in unnecessary meetings? Tell us about it below.IMAGE Courtesy of Flickr byVictor1558