WEBVTT - 50 not 60

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

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<v Speaker 1>Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

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<v Speaker 1>Today's tip is to schedule meetings for fifty minutes, not sixty.

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<v Speaker 1>That way, people can get where they're going and more

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<v Speaker 1>meetings can start on time. As I have studied corporate

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<v Speaker 1>schedules over the years, I have been fascinated to see

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<v Speaker 1>how most organizations, or at least most individual people, have

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<v Speaker 1>some sort of default length for their meetings. Some places

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<v Speaker 1>set the default at thirty minutes, but sixty minutes tends

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<v Speaker 1>to be the most common. Because people wind up in

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<v Speaker 1>a lot of meetings, many of these meetings get scheduled

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<v Speaker 1>back to back. This is a problem because if you

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<v Speaker 1>are in a meeting that runs from nine to ten

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<v Speaker 1>and another one that runs from ten to eleven, you

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<v Speaker 1>are expected to be in two different meetings at precisely

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<v Speaker 1>ten am. If the meetings are in different places, this

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<v Speaker 1>is a physical impossibility. But even if both meetings are

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<v Speaker 1>by video conference, and even if the first ends precisely

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<v Speaker 1>on time, you will still be a minute late to

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<v Speaker 1>the second because it takes a non zero amount of

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<v Speaker 1>time to log in. You also won't have time to

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<v Speaker 1>use the restroom or make any notes about follow ups

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<v Speaker 1>from the first meeting, which means those two dous may

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<v Speaker 1>fade to the back of your mind until they urgently

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<v Speaker 1>boil back up. And of course, many meetings do not

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<v Speaker 1>end on time. That makes people even later for all

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<v Speaker 1>subsequent meetings, so all meetings after the first starting a

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<v Speaker 1>discombobulated way, as you just side whether to wait for

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<v Speaker 1>the latecomers or shift the agenda accordingly. Fortunately, this is

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<v Speaker 1>a comparatively easy problem to solve. Indeed, it is a

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<v Speaker 1>problem that most high schools have solved. You need to

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<v Speaker 1>create a passing period between scheduled events so people can

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<v Speaker 1>get from one commitment to another. If you are in

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<v Speaker 1>a leadership role at your organization, one obvious way to

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<v Speaker 1>do this is to set the norm of having meetings

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<v Speaker 1>start on the hour and end at ten minutes until

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<v Speaker 1>the hour. That is, they are all fifty minutes long

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<v Speaker 1>instead of sixty minutes long. That way, even participants with

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<v Speaker 1>back to back meetings aren't inevitably late for all of

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<v Speaker 1>their meetings of the day except the first. You can

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<v Speaker 1>even encourage staff to adjust their outlook settings to shorten

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<v Speaker 1>the duration of all events so that meetings default to

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<v Speaker 1>a specific amount of time before the hour. A few

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<v Speaker 1>organizations choose a corollary to this idea, that is, all

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<v Speaker 1>meetings start ten minutes after the hour and end on

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<v Speaker 1>the hour. That can also work, but it is slightly

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<v Speaker 1>less intuitive to explain to people outside the organization. So

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<v Speaker 1>I like on the hour and ending ten minutes till now.

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<v Speaker 1>It is true that fifty minutes is less than sixty minutes,

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<v Speaker 1>and if you were accustomed to filling every single one

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<v Speaker 1>of those sixty minutes efficiently in all of your meetings,

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<v Speaker 1>then you may have to rethink things. But in my experience,

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<v Speaker 1>there are very few corporate meetings that were scheduled for

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<v Speaker 1>sixty minutes but that could not take fifty Indeed, since

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<v Speaker 1>many meetings start late because of latecomers from previous as meetings,

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<v Speaker 1>the material may often be taken closer to fifty minutes. Anyway,

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<v Speaker 1>as people get antsy once the clock strikes the hour

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<v Speaker 1>and they know they need to go to the next thing.

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<v Speaker 1>Best to acknowledge this now. If you are not in

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<v Speaker 1>a leadership role, this might be a bit harder to establish,

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<v Speaker 1>but you can certainly make it happen for any meetings

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<v Speaker 1>that are under your control. If you know people are

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<v Speaker 1>going to be late, plan on starting at five minutes

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<v Speaker 1>after the hour and then end ten minutes before. Yep,

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<v Speaker 1>that means turning your sixty minute meetings into forty five

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<v Speaker 1>minute ones. But hey, you listen to this podcast. You

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<v Speaker 1>thrive on doing things effectively. I am betting that you

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<v Speaker 1>could figure it out. Of course, in the grand scheme

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<v Speaker 1>of things, it would be better to just have fewer meetings. Ideally,

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<v Speaker 1>when a meeting happens, it is because something needs to

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<v Speaker 1>change in the world that can only result from bringing

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<v Speaker 1>those people together. The length of the meeting is determined

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<v Speaker 1>by what needs to happen, and not by some arbitrary

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<v Speaker 1>clock time. If you need twenty minutes, you set the

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<v Speaker 1>meeting for twenty minutes. If you need thirty seven point

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<v Speaker 1>five minutes, you ask for that, and everyone is going

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<v Speaker 1>to assume your agenda is incredibly well thought through. But

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<v Speaker 1>if that is not going to happen, the next best

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<v Speaker 1>solution is to shorten all meetings just a little. People

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<v Speaker 1>won't be late, they can catch their breath, they can

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<v Speaker 1>think about what just happened, and then they can start

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<v Speaker 1>the next thing. This is a fairly simple fix that

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<v Speaker 1>can have a big impact in terms of increasing focus

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<v Speaker 1>and avoiding a sense of being overwhelmed. In the meantime.

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<v Speaker 1>This is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making

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<v Speaker 1>the most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to

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<v Speaker 1>hear from you. You can send me your tips, your questions,

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<v Speaker 1>or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook

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<v Speaker 1>and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod. That's B the number four,

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<v Speaker 1>then Breakfast p o D. You can also shoot me

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<v Speaker 1>an email at Before Breakfast podcast at i heeart media

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<v Speaker 1>dot com that Before Breakfast is spelled out with all

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<v Speaker 1>the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward to staying

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<v Speaker 1>in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of I Heart Radio.

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<v Speaker 1>For more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the I

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<v Speaker 1>heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to

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<v Speaker 1>your favorite shows. Yeah m hm