There has been an enormous increase in the number of meetings for employees since the beginning of the pandemic. 250% increase to be exact!

This increase has led to longer hours of work at times since employees have to continue their work after the meetings. And this inevitably has led to an increase in “multitasking” in meetings and a reduction in being usefully present in a meeting. 

Contrary to what many believe in the benefits of multitasking, there is significant scientific research that debunks the myth of multitasking. For majority of the people multitasking not only does not lead to increases in their productivity, but it actually reduces the efficiency since our brain’s ability to focus on the detailed steps of different tasks become so limited that the tasks at hand can take longer to do, and error-rates in each task tend to increase. 

The negative impacts of multitasking in meetings

Multitasking in meetings, although totally understandable because of the amount of meetings, can lead to miscommunication and misunderstandings among employees. Just a couple of examples shared with us: someone presents an important report that some people are not paying full attention to and later those same people follow up in another email for what they think is a clarification but was actually something already covered, or a manager who asks for brainstorming on an issue and only a few people speak because most are doing something else on the side. 

It’s clear from research and data from our own work, multitasking in team meetings often leads to tensions and conflict among individuals in the long term. People will forgive a bit of multitasking and lack of attention to a report being presented, the trouble comes when these patterns of behaviours repeat themselves and an employee feels every time they present their ideas there’s a good chance they’ll be essentially dismissed. Multitasking can often lead to feelings of disrespect and resentment, but because it’s hard to prove and often not against policy, people stay quiet about it. 

How to address the negative impacts of multitasking in meetings

One of the ways to address this is to clearly define the nature of your meetings through setting boundaries and getting everyone’s buy-in to follow such boundaries. 

What do I mean by define the nature of each meeting:

Ask yourself these simple yet important questions:

1. What is the purpose of this meeting? 

2. How would you know that your meeting was successful?

Purpose is your compass. Without direction, meetings meander, end when the clock runs out, achieve little and frustrate many.

Purpose goes beyond the agenda items of each meeting. Although agenda items certainly help guide and structure the meeting, the purpose of a meeting must be more specific and clear. Of course you want to get your work done, but why is it important to get this work done in this particular manner at this particular moment? What deadlines are looming and why are those deadlines important? 

Paint the picture of a successful meeting. How would you know that the meeting itself was successful? What information is pertinent for the team to leave the meeting with? 

Prior to the widespread use of online meetings, there was a sense of what behavioural norms were appropriate or not in meetings. In the past, someone using their phone would likely require that person to explain why they are not focusing on that meeting. 

Recreate a set of norms that you expect from your employees and ask them what norms they would like to see. Consider these questions for yourself and ask your employees to engage with these in order to run more efficient and effective meetings:

• What are your expectations of how people are in a meeting? Cameras on or off? Being fully present, taking notes, contributing through chat or speaking up?

• Check-ins are more important for online meetings. How will you check-in with your team and how much time can you allow for that?

• What should people do or say if they have to multi-task? What is the expectation if someone cannot be fully present during a presentation?

• Ask your team what would they like to see in their online meetings? What are some of the things that are working for the team when it comes to the meetings and what are some of the issues that can still be worked through?

All of these questions are connected with meeting frequency. If people have 5 hours of meetings per day, there will likely be a huge resistance to an expectation of cameras always being on. We have to choose between quantity and quality of meetings.

The way forward to a productive meeting

Regardless of what you choose to do, allocate time to check-in with your team and revisit the new guidelines. Since certain body and emotional cues are diminished in online meetings, we must make time to connect with our employees to reduce isolation and misunderstandings. 

Looking for support? Parable is here to support. We are an agency that begins with the story and the humanity of the people of that story. We approach conflict with tried and tested methods that allow us to understand each other, to be able to see and hear the other and make one another feel seen and heard. Book a free consultation here to learn how we can support your organization and employees best.