Increase productivity and growth by cancelling meetings and scheduling time to think
Inspiration
Key learnings
- As a leader, you need to tackle your own “productivity paranoia” and increase the level of trust you extend to your team.
- Re-frame what you mean by productivity to increase the quality of work outputs.
- Give yourself and your employees time to think - and specifically to daydream - to unleash creative thought and improved productivity.
- Make time for daydreaming by evaluating and swapping out unnecessary meetings.
The power to work from anywhere has permanently changed the working landscape. This might not sound like big news given we’re so far on from the start of the pandemic, but the consequences of “productivity paranoia” are still being felt today. In this article, Chris Griffiths and Caragh Medlicott, authors of The Creative Thinking Handbook share their tips for building trust and creating space to think.
Productivity paranoia refers to the concern felt by leaders who worry that employees are bunking off rather than getting stuff done. This paranoia has left many managers feeling uncertain and employees feeling anxious. In fact, just 12% of leaders say they’re confident their team is being productive.
While this phenomenon points to a number of underlying issues (namely, a lack of trust from those in leadership positions), it has also resulted in micromanagement and an increasing number of meetings held over video call. While the overall duration of meetings has decreased since the pandemic, according to some studies their frequency has increased by 13%.
The problem with meetings
Meetings are not inherently bad, but micromanagement is. Productivity paranoia has led many organisations to succumb to the trap of aimless meetings which lack strategy and outcome.
While calling employees in to discuss work projects may seem like an easy way to check up on progress and ensure everyone is on-task, when they happen too often they leave less time for real, productive work and increase the likelihood of burnout.
A study by Microsoft actually showed that back-to-back meetings cause stress to build up in the brain. This is not something leaders want to inflict on the teams they are reliant upon for energised, productive work. So, what to do instead?
Click each heading to read the tips.
1
Learning to trust
Cutting down meetings will not be effective if leaders don’t also learn to tackle their productivity paranoia. Whether you’re a CEO or a manager, learning to trust the people you manage is absolutely crucial for effective work.
There’s no shortcut to learning to trust – you must extend it, in order to find it. But it doesn’t hurt to know that all research indicates that employees are actually more efficient while working from home, and that productivity has only increased over the last few years.
In 2020, remote workers were 5% more efficient than office-based ones, and in 2022 that figure rose to 9%.
2
Reframing productivity
The first step to cancelling meetings in order to boost productivity, is to understand what that word really means. Many people have a faulty understanding of productivity – thinking it means getting more done in less time. But what if you’re doing the wrong things?
True productivity is characterised by creative flair and strategy. Being able to prioritise tasks, reframe problems, and approach projects with creativity is what truly results in high-quality work.
Creativity is also strongly linked with motivation and a sense of purpose at work, as evidenced by research from McKinsey.
3
Time to think
So, how to boost creativity and clearer thinking? Well, it may sound obvious, but the simple answer is giving employees time to think. More specifically, time to daydream.
This may seem a scary prospect to managers already worried that workers are bunking off, but daydreaming has a whole host of benefits which cannot be ignored.
These include:
- Boosted creativity
- Heightened problem solving skills
- Reduced stress
- Improved memory
- Increased productivity
Carving out specific time for employees to daydream can actually help ease productivity paranoia, too.
By allowing employees to daydream at specific times of the day, you create a clear boundary about when it is appropriate to let the mind wander, and when it’s not.
Plus, with the renewed energy generated from daydream breaks, workers will be even more engaged when they return to their work.
4
Switch out your meetings
Giving regular time over for employees to daydream might sound intimidating if you’re already worried about losing working hours, but here’s where the important bit comes in: cancelling meetings.
This doesn’t mean you have to cancel every meeting, but you certainly need to assess all of them to see if they’re really serving your goals.
Ask yourself these key questions:
- Is there a clear goal or outcome for this meeting?
- Is group discussion needed in order to reach this goal?
- Have we already talked about this topic recently, and will talking about it more actually help?
If you can’t readily answer all of the above questions, then it has to go.
Be strict with yourself. If you find yourself giving vague, round-about answers then you already know the answer.
Doing this will free up time within the week.
So, what better way to use it than scheduling in daydream breaks for employees? The benefits might just surprise you.
Bringing it all together
While it might seem scary at first, taking the plunge and cancelling meetings in favour of daydream breaks is the perfect way to banish productivity paranoia and get the best out of your team.
In fact, considering the correlation between mind wandering and lessened anxiety, daydream breaks might – in themselves – make leaders feel more at ease at work.
With less meetings, and more time to think, real productivity can start to flourish.
Written by Chris Griffiths and Caragh Medlicott, authors of The Creative Thinking Handbook. Chris is also a keynote speaker, and founder of productivity and mind mapping app, ayoa.com.
Next steps...
- Audit the effectiveness of your meetings against the criteria above and start small - cancel one meeting.
- Swap another meeting for daydream time for yourself to see how it feels then extend it to your team.
- Find more advice on effective people management in our bundle.
- Learn how to give constructive feedback to your employees to address any concerns.
- If poor performance has become a disciplinary issue, read our advice on the procedures to follow.