How to choose the right people for meetings

In the often frenetic churn of the modern workplace meetings have become the default fix for almost any business challenge After all why send a quick email when an extended meeting will do Yet research consistently shows that bloated attendee lists are one of the primary culprits behind unproductive meetings wasted work hours and employee frustration We have a meeting at in the morning scheduled for an hour and at five to someone inevitably asks a question that s already been answered or asks something that is totally irrelevant to what we were just talking about it extends the meeting for another or minutes and I just sit there and boil says Jean Baker a customer system manager in Los Angeles And the worst part is that it s usually from someone who really shouldn t be there in the first place Baker s frustration is shared by countless Adam Grant organizational psychologist and professor at the Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania says long meetings can impact an employee s performance The cost of a meeting isn t just the time spent in the meeting itself but the collective hours taken away from productive work wrote Grant in his LinkedIn newsletter Every unnecessary participant multiplies that cost Which colleagues should you think twice about before inviting them to a meeting Here s a practical guide to assembling the guest list Coworkers with no defined role Perhaps the most of common meeting mistake is including people with no specific contribution These passive participants can include crew members who are invited to keep them in the loop but won t be providing input representatives from tangentially related departments who don t need real-time information and senior staff included out of pecking-order concerns rather than an actual need Instead of adding these observers to your meeting consider sending them a brief summary afterward or sharing meeting notes in a collaborative document The unprepared specialists Technical experts figures analysts and subject matter specialists can provide invaluable insights but only when they come with relevant information When specialists haven t had time to gather and analyze the necessary records beforehand their presence often leads to delayed decisions or follow-up meetings Be clear about what expertise you need and ensure specialists have adequate time to prepare before the meeting If they can t prepare in time it s better to postpone than proceed with unprepared participants The meeting multitaskers With remote and hybrid work normalized the multitasking meeting attendee has become ubiquitous These participants typically have their cameras off rarely contribute and are focused elsewhere While multitasking might seem efficient research from the University of California suggests it reduces productivity by up to For meeting organizers this means being selective about who truly necessities to participate actively versus who might benefit more from reading a recap Tribune News Provision