Last week, I posted a blog about being present in all thing we do. In that vein, I've learned something from my years working from home. Working through meetings is not an effective use of my time.
I know this goes against a lot of peoples actions today. I can't tell you how many people I know that work through meetings. I work in a mobile phone company. Most people divide their attention half between the meeting, and their devices. I'll admit it, I even still get caught up in it too. I have more meetings than I can handle, and I often feel like I wouldn't get any work done if I attend (mentally attend) them all.
Recently, I've also been getting feedback about how terrible our meetings can be. I have one particular meeting that tends to be completely unfocused. It's a scheduled meeting, has agenda, and nearly everyone on it divides their time. I've been frustrated with it, and one of my co-workers expressed similar feelings "There is no communication!", "No-one is listening!". Another person said "It drives me nuts when I have to repeat myself because no-one heard what I said the first time".
So I decided to try an experiment. When I'm faced with this type of meeting, not mine to drive or organize, I would force myself to be present. I force myself by taking meeting notes, and sharing them back to the invitees.
I used to hate taking notes. In college, I always felt it distracted me from the content of the lecture or meeting. I still agree with that sentiment. But only if the meeting is well attended and everyone is engaged. In a well run, well attended, and engaged meeting the information moves quickly, and it's very difficult to take notes for me. However, these meetings are neither well run, nor well attended.
Why does this help? First taking notes forces me to be present. By writing down the comments, I'm forced to engage and ask questions about what I didn't understand. There tend to be dead air times in the meetings, so there is plenty of time to write, digest, and comment. Just asking questions, can engage more people and improve the meeting.
Second, following up with the meeting notes after the meeting serves two purposes. It allows the attendees to validate your understanding of what was said or decided. I'm always surprised by how often what seemed like firm understanding on the phone, was not that at all when written down.
Scheduling meetings where everyone can attend is challenging in globally spaced work environments. I sometimes get invited to meetings at 5am or 6am, or late into the evening. I might be able to attend these on occasion, but it doesn't fit my life to do it regularly.
"How can I be expected to stay engaged if my meetings are not during business hours, and no-one shares what was discussed?" - remote worker
The meeting notes must be sent to the invitees of the meeting, not just those that attended. This has broad consequences. First, you get feedback from those who may not have been able to attend. But even more importantly, it gives the secondary members a way to be informed without attending every meeting on their schedules. This frees people up to avoid some meetings and focus on specific work items.
If you organize a meeting with people in other time zones, there is nothing more important than keeping good notes and delivering them in a timely way to everyone invited. You can't expect your meeting time to work for everyone, so make certain that you include them this way.
Finding work patterns like this is extremely important for those of us that work from home. I mentioned in Seven Ways to be Productive in Your Home, that you have to "be visible", "stay relevant", and "connect with coworkers". Being engaged in your meetings, and producing meeting notes serves those three purposes. You are visible through your engagement, and questions. You're relevant because you have made yourself a key part of the information flow. And you are connecting with your co-workers because you've saved them time by freeing them to work on other tasks.
Everybody wins! Isn't that the goal?
