How to plan and schedule recurring meetings
Posted: Mon Jan 06, 2025 4:54 am
We've all been to meetings that pop up out of the blue, throw our day into disarray, and leave everyone wondering what just happened.
According to Microsoft’s annual 2022 Work Trend Index report , the average Teams user has experienced a staggering 252% increase in weekly meeting time from 2020, and the number of weekly meetings has also increased by 153%.
While increasing meeting frequency can sometimes feel overwhelming, regular meetings are important for maintaining consistent communication and aligning teams.
Regular meetings are an effective way to achieve this. Let’s look at best practices for planning and scheduling regular meetings to maximize their impact.
What are periodic meetings?
Recurring meetings are pre-scheduled, repetitive meetings held weekly, monthly, or quarterly. These regular intervals ensure ongoing communication, helping your team members effectively communicate their ideas, progress, and issues at the right time.
An example of a regular meeting is a catch-up meeting, where each participant briefly reports on their current work. A successful catch-up provides important information to the team leader and establishes clear timelines for completing the project.
Fun fact : The average length of a belgium number data catch-up meeting is about 15 minutes — short enough to keep everyone focused, but long enough to align the team. However, shortening the catch-up even further can increase team engagement by encouraging concise, less tangent updates.
Importance of regular meetings
When managed effectively, regular meetings can boost productivity and improve decision making. Businesses can benefit from regular meetings, which help clarify goals and address current challenges.
Here's how:
Coherence and responsibility
Regular meetings maintain constant communication and accountability, whether your team is working in the office or remotely. By their very nature, these meetings require attendees to come prepared, share up-to-date information, and actively participate in discussions.
Tracking progress
Team members can easily keep track of long-term projects and timelines to review ongoing work, discuss project progress, and address any issues. The structured nature of regular meetings establishes a rhythm, ensuring that all participants know when and where to meet. This is especially beneficial when managing large teams or complex projects.
Team building
Regular meetings help develop a sense of camaraderie and mutual understanding, which is essential to creating a productive and collaborative environment. They allow team members to solve challenges together, seek help, and celebrate milestones.
**Also read 10 Best Online Meeting Tools for Teams (Free and Paid)
Best practices for productive periodic meetings
While regular meetings are beneficial, they can also cause problems if not organized properly.
For example, if you cancel a recurring meeting without advance notice, attendees may waste time waiting for the meeting to take place.
To avoid these types of situations, we recommend adopting these best practices for productive meetings :
Set clear goals
Any regular meetings you schedule should have clear objectives. This way, people can figure out how to prepare for the meeting . Failing to clearly state the goals of a meeting can be unproductive and waste time that would be better spent on specific tasks.
This also helps to focus discussions, ensuring that participants understand and are working towards the desired outcomes. With everyone's ideas on the table, the direction to take to achieve the goals can be decided.
Choosing the right frequency and duration
Did you know? According to Microsoft’s annual 2023 Work Trend Index report, ineffective meetings are considered the leading cause of productivity loss , with too many meetings ranking third.
That's why it's so important to choose the right frequency and duration of meetings: a good balance can help avoid unnecessary interruptions and keep follow-up productivity high.
According to Microsoft’s annual 2022 Work Trend Index report , the average Teams user has experienced a staggering 252% increase in weekly meeting time from 2020, and the number of weekly meetings has also increased by 153%.
While increasing meeting frequency can sometimes feel overwhelming, regular meetings are important for maintaining consistent communication and aligning teams.
Regular meetings are an effective way to achieve this. Let’s look at best practices for planning and scheduling regular meetings to maximize their impact.
What are periodic meetings?
Recurring meetings are pre-scheduled, repetitive meetings held weekly, monthly, or quarterly. These regular intervals ensure ongoing communication, helping your team members effectively communicate their ideas, progress, and issues at the right time.
An example of a regular meeting is a catch-up meeting, where each participant briefly reports on their current work. A successful catch-up provides important information to the team leader and establishes clear timelines for completing the project.
Fun fact : The average length of a belgium number data catch-up meeting is about 15 minutes — short enough to keep everyone focused, but long enough to align the team. However, shortening the catch-up even further can increase team engagement by encouraging concise, less tangent updates.
Importance of regular meetings
When managed effectively, regular meetings can boost productivity and improve decision making. Businesses can benefit from regular meetings, which help clarify goals and address current challenges.
Here's how:
Coherence and responsibility
Regular meetings maintain constant communication and accountability, whether your team is working in the office or remotely. By their very nature, these meetings require attendees to come prepared, share up-to-date information, and actively participate in discussions.
Tracking progress
Team members can easily keep track of long-term projects and timelines to review ongoing work, discuss project progress, and address any issues. The structured nature of regular meetings establishes a rhythm, ensuring that all participants know when and where to meet. This is especially beneficial when managing large teams or complex projects.
Team building
Regular meetings help develop a sense of camaraderie and mutual understanding, which is essential to creating a productive and collaborative environment. They allow team members to solve challenges together, seek help, and celebrate milestones.
**Also read 10 Best Online Meeting Tools for Teams (Free and Paid)
Best practices for productive periodic meetings
While regular meetings are beneficial, they can also cause problems if not organized properly.
For example, if you cancel a recurring meeting without advance notice, attendees may waste time waiting for the meeting to take place.
To avoid these types of situations, we recommend adopting these best practices for productive meetings :
Set clear goals
Any regular meetings you schedule should have clear objectives. This way, people can figure out how to prepare for the meeting . Failing to clearly state the goals of a meeting can be unproductive and waste time that would be better spent on specific tasks.
This also helps to focus discussions, ensuring that participants understand and are working towards the desired outcomes. With everyone's ideas on the table, the direction to take to achieve the goals can be decided.
Choosing the right frequency and duration
Did you know? According to Microsoft’s annual 2023 Work Trend Index report, ineffective meetings are considered the leading cause of productivity loss , with too many meetings ranking third.
That's why it's so important to choose the right frequency and duration of meetings: a good balance can help avoid unnecessary interruptions and keep follow-up productivity high.