It seems to some that much of management’s time is spent in meetings. Meeting for this and that seems to be a popular management activity. Organisations tend to perceive management meetings as vital for everyone to get together and talk. But how much productivity occurs during and as a result of these meetings? Some regard meetings as a waste of valuable time and that they do very little for the personal development of the individual or the company.

Meetings lack focus:
People flutter around from topic to topic. People’s personal and political agendas come into play, and everybody wants their ‘air time’. A meeting quickly descends into a melting pot of comments, ideas and opinions, with little consideration to overall strategy and goals.

People may as well not turn up:
Most attendees to meetings are completely unprepared for them: they’ve not bothered to read the agenda (if there is one); they don’t have the information with them they need; and they’ve only scribbled some notes whilst watching TV, which will form the basis of their mini-presentation they’ve had weeks to think about.

Meetings are just a waste of time:
Think about your last couple of meetings. How much time was actually spent discussing and acting on valuable information and reaching useful decisions? – Less than 50% typically. If those hundreds of man hours a year were used to work on key goals and objectives, how much more money would your company make?

Employee motivation is a hot topic on many management training courses today. The skills and attributes that have led individuals to climb up the corporate ladder, are not necessarily the same skills and attributes needed to get the best out of their teams.

Some managers are afraid of actually rewarding their subordinates, rather than just not knowing how to go about it. All too often one their biggest psychological obstacles are that they worry that it has to involve money, which senior management might disapprove of.

However, much research has been undertaken which suggests that in order for individuals to feel rewarded by their employees; they don’t necessarily have to receive a financial benefit. Here are some examples of ways in which you can reward your employees without giving them a pay rise:

• One to One verbal thanks. It’s amazing how far a sincere word of thanks or expression of gratitude can go in motivating people.

• Written thanks. Give some praise and positivity on paper – people value what is written, it feels real, and makes it formally genuine. (NB: e-mail doesn’t count!)

• Group thanks. Give praise in front of other colleagues or public. This is guaranteed to have a strong and long lasting motivational impact.

We live in an informational and technological age. Teenagers are growing up texting, instant messaging and VOIP chatting with their siblings in the next room. We don’t go to book shops anymore, we shop at Amazon, and even that’s getting old hat. If it’s not blogged or Facebook’ed, nobody knows what’s going on in the terribly important minutiae of our lives. People do not interact with each other face to face anymore.

Thank the stars for the good old fashioned meeting - real people, meeting in a real place and discussing real things. Sure, the internet has revolutionised our lives; sure, it’s given us opportunities to share valuable data and keep in touch with each other; but it’s not a panacea.

Many of us will remember the hype about video conferencing and how it was going to revolutionise the way we do business. It was no longer going to be necessary to travel long distances and lose valuable time out of your schedule to meet in the same office.
Well in video conferencing terms the picture quality and camera technology is improving, the bandwidth is better than ever, the audio capability is sharp as a pin.

But still colleagues and potential business partners travel all across the country and across the globe to meet and greet. They press the flesh, they look into each others eyes and they get a sense of character. The old sales training course adage is that ‘people buy from people’. In meetings, people meet with people; it’s what makes us human.

Any successful manager, entrepreneur or business person works hard. Workers in Great Britain put in an average of 1652 hours per year, compared to 1309 hours in The Netherlands, but less than the average of 1777 hours by workers in the United States (Source: OECD).

And it’s no wonder these figures are growing; as the thirst for a good standard of living and economic growth in difficult times increases, employees are putting more and more time into their work.

But where does that leave us in terms of our personal development outside of our employment? Having a suitable work / life balance ethic is not only healthy for the individual, but for their organisation and society a whole.

Some managers mistakenly presume that an employee that arrives for their contractual start time, and leaves promptly in the early evening are not as committed as those that come in to the office at the crack of dawn, and leave well into the dark night.

It’s important to look at the employee’s contribution to the organisation whilst they are working and consider that perhaps their personal/familial commitments or even personal preference in limiting their additional time in the office is to be respected. Employees should be challenged and judged by their results, not just their effort.

Working long hours and spending little time outside of the office might be good for the company in the short term, but in the long term can have disastrous effects on stress levels, general health, relationships and ultimately productivity.

That’s why managers and employees alike should consider it an essential part of their personal development to seek a good work / life balance. Here are some thoughts that may help those seeking to put some time aside to get things into perspective:

Identify your values:
Consider what’s important in your life that you are not getting enough of. Think about the things you value but don’t experience enough of. This might be spending time with friends, family or your spouse. It could also mean putting some time back into the community and helping others in a way that will bring you non financial fulfilment.

Consider your health:
Stop and think about your level of fitness. Are you as fit now as you were a few years ago? This is not just a physical question, some investment in your psychological health is just as important as your cardio-vascular workout.

In general terms most people argue that they need to work long hours to earn more money. Yet anecdotal evidence suggests that uplifts in material wealth do not have a long term beneficial effect on one’s quality of life.