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Meeting Participation Matrix when you need haelp with Meeting Overload

Help with meeting overload

The Meeting Participation Matrix

Estimated reading time: 7 minutes
Dates, dates, dates

We've all been there: we spend a large part of our daily working time in meetings. And often enough we realise afterwards that our own contribution to the appointment goal was negligible or that key participants were missing. This results in follow-up appointments, wasted time and frustration.

In this article, we would like to introduce a tool that can help to reduce meeting overload by choosing the right participants and at the same time organise efficient and effective meetings.

disadvantages of Meeting Overloads

The disadvantages of meeting overload

Especially since March 2020 and the increase in working from home, the number of online meetings has increased enormously and with it the question of whether there are ways to reduce meeting overload in addition to deadline stress. This is because many employees are often involved in a veritable meeting marathon day after day without a break between individual appointments, often only having time to devote to their ‘actual work’ in the late afternoon.

In addition, it can happen that the purpose of attending certain appointments is not obvious and that not all appointments always have a clear goal or agenda. In short, many employees perceive (too many) appointments as a waste of time. This was confirmed by a study conducted by Doodle back in 2019, which stated that 38% of all employees in Germany see time wasted on meetings as the biggest unresolved cost factor in their organisation. Furthermore, according to Doodle, the German economy loses around 65 billion euros per year due to 4.7 billion hours of wasted time.

In addition to wasted time and high costs, other disadvantages of too many meetings or appointments with the wrong group of participants are obvious:

  • Lack of focus: If individual work phases are interrupted several times a day by meetings (with a different content focus), additional time must be invested to finish topics that have already been started.
  • Large groups can be intimidating: In meetings with large groups of participants, individuals may feel more insecure about openly expressing their opinions or asking questions.
  • Increasing frustration: If too many participants are involved and actively participating in meetings, this can significantly reduce the chance of making a contribution or reaching a consensus.
  • Lack of added value: Participants become spectators instead of active contributors.
Meeting Participation Matrix

The Meeting Participation Matrix

This raises the logical question of how to ensure that the number of superfluous meetings is reduced. It should also be ensured that the participants invited to a meeting create added value and that the meeting is also structured effectively and efficiently.

To this end, we at LEITWERK Consulting have developed a helpful overview in the form of the ‘Meeting Participation Matrix’, which analyses the list of participants for an appointment, workshop, etc. in a structured manner. This can support complex committee management in the project environment, for example, and can help to reduce the meeting overload and deadline stress of individuals.

The Meeting Participation Matrix can be used by both inviting and invited parties. The abscissa reflects the added value that a participant derives from the meeting. The ordinate, on the other hand, shows the added value that the participant brings to the meeting. This representation results in a four-field matrix that can be used to categorise meeting participants as follows.

Categorisation of the meeting participants

  • Icon Information.

    The informant

    A person who, on the one hand, has special knowledge or information regarding the topics to be discussed but, on the other hand, finds little added value for themselves in attending the meeting. This person can be added to the meeting for a short time (by prior arrangement) to answer any questions that arise and share relevant information.

  • Icon The key person

    The key participant

    They create added value for the meeting and at the same time generate added value for themselves. Key people are useful meeting participants.

  • Icon: Person who creates higher added value with other activities

    Person who creates higher added value with other activities

    It is not necessary to invite a person who is not directly involved in the topics being discussed. This person adds more value by doing something other than attending the meeting. This saves this person wasting time.

  • Icon The information collector

    The information collector

    He/she adds little or no value to the meeting, but gains (relevant) information from the meeting for him/herself. This person can be informed afterwards about the most important points in writing, e.g. in the form of minutes.

key participants
Icon: Identifying the key meeting participants

Identifying the key meeting participants

In a nutshell: Key people are the participants we can and should focus on in meetings to ensure an efficient and effective process and thus counteract meeting overload. The following questions are helpful in identifying key people for meetings:

  • Is the person directly affected by the content that will be discussed or decided during the meeting?
  • Does the person have something important to contribute or a relevant update to provide?
  • Does the person need to implement things that have been discussed or decided quickly or does he or she need them to make a decision?

MORE TIPS & TRICKS FOR EFFICIENT MEETINGS

With the help of the ‘Meeting Participation Matrix’ presented here, participant lists for appointments, votes, workshops, etc. can be analysed in a structured manner. In addition, the points below also contribute to efficient and effective meeting management:

Definition of a precise meeting goal

Preparation is everything, this also applies to appointments. It is essential for good meeting management to ensure that a meeting agenda including deadline(s) is created, agreed and distributed in advance and that only participants who can really make an important contribution are involved.

Time keeping and protocol

It should be decided before the meeting who will take over the moderation and thus lead through the meeting. Why? This ensures that someone has an overview of the time remaining and that all relevant agenda items can be discussed sufficiently. He/she also draws up the meeting minutes with all the key content, resolutions and decisions, which can be sent to all participants and, if necessary, to other stakeholders after the meeting.

Use of supporting media and tools

With the help of appealing media and tools (e.g. digital collaboration tools), especially for online appointment information, all participants have the opportunity to follow the content shown and to contribute and/or ask questions themselves. This can prevent important points from remaining unresolved, which in turn can lead to follow-up appointments being set up.

Our conclusion

Appointments cannot be avoided. Appointments are even very important, for example to make decisions, share information or work on results together with others. Nevertheless, in times like today, when working from home is possible almost indefinitely and offices are open again, it is particularly important to keep a close eye on the number of appointments you and others have. Because while one person only has to click on the blue ‘Join now’ button between two appointments, the other has to change rooms and leave three floors behind. In both examples, however, nobody wants to waste time on useless meetings and put other, more important work on the back burner. It is more important to treat everyone's time with respect and to increase productivity and efficiency in everyday working life.

And this is exactly what the Meeting Participation Matrix, which we presented in this blog post, is designed to help with. It can be used from the perspective of both the invitees and the inviting parties to identify the right participants for a meeting. It is available for download on this page and can be downloaded at any time - try it out and tell us about your experiences!

Do you have any questions on this topic or are you interested in a consultancy service?
Contact us!
Sebastian Karl - LEITWERK Consulting
Your contact person
Sebastian Karl
+49 89 189 235 96
sebastian.karl@leitwerk-consulting.com
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