We’ve all been there. Arrive early at the office, then check the ‘to do’ list and consider all the things we are going to get done today. Then the meetings start. Before we know it the day is nearly over, we’ve ticked nothing off the list and as a result of the meetings we have more to do than ever. Not the best way to manage meetings, but you’re not alone.

Studies on organizational behavior estimate we spend over half our working lives attending or managing meetings. Some studies estimate that managers and senior executives can spend up to 90% of their time in meetings. However, in an Industry Week survey of 2000 managers over 30% considered meetings a waste of time. How can we reconcile the challenges we face in the workplace to get things done with the continued expectation of attendance at meetings?

There’s lots of advice out there on how to plan and manage meetings: top tips on how to write a meeting agenda and so on. However, let us strip this back to brass tacks for a moment. Why do we have meetings anyway? The reality may surprise you as it has very little to do with business. We have meetings because we are social animals. We have a fundamental need to socialize our ideas. The power of face-to-face contact far outstrips the impact of email or other work-based media. This is because only 7% of the true meaning of communication is based on content with the other 93% based on delivery. We need to look each other in the eye and feel the response. Neuroscientists have identified that this ‘social intelligence’ is an essential component of brain development, performance and wellbeing. Social intelligence is the sum of the skills we use in our interpersonal interaction with others. In fact it is one of the reasons why we have bigger brains than other animals, are more collaborative and as such remain the most successful species on the planet.

We are physically hard wired to be social and this extends into our work lives. To manage meetings effectively we need to understand the their true purpose; to harness the collective social intelligence and creativity in the room for the common good.

So how can we effectively manage meetings using social intelligence?

1. Start with the why questions

Before you call a meeting consider the reason. Why a meeting and not a call or an email? Is there a specific reason for your intervention that requires the live communication medium of a meeting? Is there ANY other way? In doing this you accept responsibility for making sure the meeting plays its genuine role: as a catalyst for human gathering with a business context.

2. Understand your audience

Hosting a meeting is in essence an exercise in event management. Groups of people are forming to be facilitated into positive social interaction. This interaction will be heavily dependent on who is in attendance and what they understand to be the reason for being there. There is a tendency to invite as many people as possible to avoid repeat conversations in the corridor. Task your audience with spreading the post meeting word if required, but make sure all attendees are relevant to the objective of the meeting. Be ruthless about this. If you find you are struggling for good reasons to get more than 3 people in the room then don’t hold the meeting.

3. Set your objectives

This is the obvious one. However, think less about meeting content and more about meeting delivery. How are you going to utilize the social intelligence of the people in the room? Can you maximize the wisdom of the crowd as they interact and contribute? Consider what you want from them, rather than what you want to tell them. Meetings should be inherently social occasions with a framework of tangible collaborative activities to achieve rather than purely about a passive ‘tell’ agenda. If you want to tell them something, send them an email.

4. Communicate and manage expectations

To get the most out of the social aspects of meetings attendees need to be ready for them. Conference ‘architects’ do this for clients in the event management world to ensure maximum impact and outcomes for their investment. Often meetings are wasted because we are simply not very good at being meeting attendees. Work to ensure that people are very clear about why they are expected to attend and what contribution is expected of them. It’s not just about the free biscuits. Encourage them to ‘navigate’ the meeting in order to achieve desired outcomes for all. Be realistic however: it will take time to change as people are culturally tuned to attend lots of meetings for general reasons rather than a few selective meetings for specific reasons.

5. Harness the live medium when you manage meetings

Often a meeting is about one person talking and a lot of other people listening. That’s not a meeting it’s a presentation. As you have thought carefully about the reasons for the meeting, the audience and the objectives now it’s time to consider the unique aspects of the medium of live, face to face communication. By using this social interface what can you leverage that other media cannot achieve? Rapport and social commitment are important aspects of human gathering. As are the sensory aspects of live communication such as touch, sight, sound etc. These non-verbal communication cues are an essential aspect of a truly successful meeting. How can you develop a workshop style to collectively achieve objectives?

By understanding how to manage meetings effectively you will be tapping into the social intelligence of the team. Everyone will contribute from a well-prepared baseline, they will feel involved and their time will be effective, rather than perceived as wasted. The live medium of meetings will be utilized to its full extent. Collaboration and socialization of ideas and actions will be the outcome and people will support the world they helped create. I’m excited. I’m off to host a meeting.