A preferred method for balancing participation during a meeting is for the meeting leader to

As company leaders grapple with what a return to the office should look like, they should take the opportunity to think carefully about which parts of work should be done in person, which should be virtual, and which can benefit from a mix, then can design toward that ideal. The author offers six questions to ask as you plot out your team’s work plan. Given all that we’ve overcome throughout the past 15 months, it would be a shame if we didn’t take advantage of every single hard-earned pearl of wisdom around work, life, and the nexus of the two. Let’s harness our new perspectives on time, technology, and togetherness to rethink how we work — and specifically, how we gather.

Three days in the office, two working from home? Or two weeks in the office, then two at home (or some other, more alluring remote locale)? Everyone in all the time, like in 2019?

Without an efficient leader, meetings can quickly become a soul-sucking waste of time for anyone stuck in a seat around a conference table.

"Meetings take up a lot of people's time, and they are often inefficient," says Ben Dattner, PhD, an executive coach and adjunct psychology professor at New York University. "There aren't clear agendas and timetables, and they tend to ramble and not achieve their goals. The leader should be ultimately accountable for having a well-run meeting, but everyone who attends the meeting has a role to play."

U.S. employees spend an average of nine hours a week preparing for or attending team meetings, but more than a third of employees believe those meetings are a waste of time, according to a nationwide poll by Clarizen, a software company. Almost half of employees would rather do any unpleasant activity rather than sit through a meeting, including waiting in line at the DMV or watching paint dry, the poll found.

Meetings can feel like a group therapy session for a leader who must deal with vastly different personalities and potential land mines from office or university politics, Dattner says. "In a way, meetings are like a microcosm of the team dynamic," he says. "It's always an art rather than a science on how you balance being flexible and open without being disorganized or meandering."

Few psychology graduate programs offer any advice on how to lead a meeting. Here is advice gleaned from industrial-organizational psychologists, executive coaches and student leaders to help keep your next meeting from veering off the rails.

Be prepared

The Boy Scouts' motto applies to meeting facilitators, who should distribute an agenda and background materials with adequate time before the meeting. Attendees won't have time to review a 100-page document if it was emailed the night before the meeting. "Meetings fall apart when they don't have structure to them," says Richard Chambers, a doctoral candidate in industrial-organizational psychology at Louisiana Tech University who leads projects for AROS Consulting, a university-based consulting organization.

Trim the guest list

Only invite people who really need to be there because "each additional person brings additional complexity and air time," says Dattner, who writes a blog for Harvard Business Review. He likes Amazon founder Jeff Bezos's "two-pizza rule." Don't invite more people to a meeting than can be fed with two pizzas. That rule also applies to meetings where pizza isn't on the menu, Dattner says.

Start and end on time

Meetings should start on time unless there is an understandable reason to wait for latecomers, such as a snowstorm that snarls traffic, says Stephen Fabick, EdD, a clinical and consulting psychologist and business coach in Birmingham, Michigan. "If you get in the habit of starting late, you're inadvertently encouraging people to come later and later to the next meeting," he says.

Likewise, it's important to end on time. Meetings typically shouldn't last more than an hour or attention will start to wane, Fabick says. "I've certainly been part of a group where the meetings go on and on, and the morale is horrendous," he says.

Keep it moving

Meetings shouldn't be dominated by the most aggressive or talkative members, so a leader must be assertive and diplomatically redirect the conversation so everyone has a chance to be heard, Fabick says. "It's important to not be passive about running a meeting," he says. "You want to set a tone of inclusiveness and diversity of opinion but also efficiency."

A leader can ask for input from people who haven't spoken, or participants can take turns going around the table so everyone is included in the discussion, Chambers says.

Use technology wisely

Laptops and smartphones can help or hinder a meeting, depending on how they are used. Participants should not surf the Web, log onto Facebook or check email, but laptops can be useful for viewing the agenda or supporting documents during a meeting, Chambers says. Google Docs also is a convenient way to edit documents in real time so someone can keep notes and a list of action items that everyone can see during the meeting, he says.

Teleconferences

Teleconferences can be challenging because there are no visual cues or body language signals that help establish a meeting's flow. Groups should try to meet in person at least once before holding teleconferences, Fabick says. In a large teleconference, it also can be confusing to remember who is speaking, so the leader should remind people to say their name when they start speaking.

Video conferences

Meetings by Skype or Google Hangouts (up to 10 people) aren't much different from office meetings, but a facilitator should practice using the video conference program before the meeting to iron out any technical difficulties, Chambers says. There is nothing more annoying than having a meeting derailed before it starts because the audio or video feed isn't working. It's also important to have a reliable Internet connection and a well-lit space that is free of distracting clutter. A meeting leader also should have a back-up plan in case there is a technological meltdown, such as making sure he or she has phone numbers for all participants so a teleconference can be held instead.

Follow up

The job of the meeting facilitator isn't over once the meeting is finished. He or she must ensure that meeting minutes are distributed quickly and that people act on any assignments made at the meeting, Fabick says. If two or three people volunteer to complete a task, it's likely that none of them will do it, so make sure just one person is clearly assigned the task.

Don't worry. It gets easier

Chambers says it was nerve-wracking when he first led research and project team meetings at Louisiana Tech University, but it becomes less demanding with practice. "It is scary at first because it's not something we typically do. It's a new role," he says. "It's not going to feel comfortable right away, but that will depend on the relationships that you already have with everyone in the meeting."