Ensuring productivity in modern meetings with Foxleigh Commercial Performance – London Business News | Londonlovesbusiness.com

What if I told you that as a business, your senior-most staff are operating on less than a 3.5-day week? Managers and senior employees are measured to spend up to 50% of their time in meetings, and yet it is also reported that up to 71% of these meetings are considered unproductive. That means most managers are working until Thursday morning – assuming they pack all their productivity into the first part of the week! In this article, we discuss the impact on organisations in the UK with Foxleigh Commercial Performance.

The new Labour government have stated that productivity in the UK must be addressed.  Low productivity is a long-standing issue for the economy, and the gap between productivity per hour worked in the UK versus France, Germany, and the US doubled between 2018 and 2022 from 9% to 18%.  The UK is not getting the most out of the time we spend at work and given the shift towards flexible working practices and shorter working hours, this must be a concern for industry leaders.

Given that meetings are such a large part of the time spent at work, addressing the lack of quality in them should be a priority, and indeed, there isn’t a shortage of research and ideas to address this endemic issue. Foxleigh Commercial Performance is tackling this issue head-on with clients seeking ways to get the best from their teams and create a positive working culture.

Humans are a social species, and solitude can be difficult. When we are at our best, we operate in teams; showing our ability to cooperate in large groups is what sets us apart. Meetings will always be a part of the workplace, and despite efforts that organisations can put into reducing un-productive gatherings, they have not always been successful. Ultimately, we will always be drawn to one another to talk and connect.

Therefore, the best course of action is to accept the importance of meetings and focus energy on making them positive experiences for everyone involved. CEO of Foxleigh, Chris Webber, advises their mantra is to “make it better than coffee. The time that colleagues and customers spend with us is precious. They could be doing other things including enjoying a latte or cappuccino. If someone leaves a meeting wishing they’d rather have gone to Costa instead of joining, we have failed. “

All energy at Foxleigh goes into seeing the world through the eyes of clients attending a meeting. There are a few types of meetings, though they appear in different guises. The main categories are as follows: –

• Reporting meetings where progress is shared
• Problem-solving discussions to find an answer to a challenge
• Collaboration opportunities to work together & influence meetings that try to reach a decision.

Each of these requires a different structure and yet frequently, teams default to the same format and the same length of time – usually in increments of 30 minutes.  Foxleigh instead, put energy into defining the type of meeting and then creating the correct structure, impacting the value of experience.

More vital is how to charm meeting attendees! Foxleigh has recently launched its “Meetings Excellence Workshop”, which provides a practical opportunity to learn and develop skills through case studies and exercises. Through these workshops they explore the nuances of decision-making and the importance of emotions, placing participants in a challenging case study where they evolve a business challenge through various stages. Firstly, participants identify and create an opportunity with a business partner. Next, they design a proposal and then finally manage issues and questions. Foxleigh’s use of real-life scenarios and trained actors raises the intensity of the experience, and the enrichment of the programme with a section on storytelling and video feedback has already demonstrated the value.

Meetings are here to stay, and the collective challenge is ensuring that each is a positive experience. The only way to do that is to educate, inspire and involve participants. If all meetings were as enriching as coffee with a friend can be, then the UK would be leading the world in productivity, and that is Foxleigh’s mission. For more information visit www.foxleigh.net or email [email protected].