There are very few people who actually enjoy attending meetings. Even though they’re often designed to help a team work collaboratively, map out important strategies, and execute ideas — which are all good things — they can often veer into time-wasting territory. Indeed, the National Statistics Council reports that almost 40% of employee time is spent sitting in meetings. Steven Rogelberg, at the University of North Carolina, conducted a study that showed over 70% of senior managers thought the meetings their organization had were unproductive and inefficient and Interaction Associates reports that around 70% of those in meetings say they multitask during the meeting. So what’s the point? If no one wants to go and people aren’t paying attention, why have meetings? Despite their bad rap, meetings really can be an effective tool for communication and collaboration and chatbots might be a step towards finding good meeting solutions.
Streamlining Meetings
When calling a meeting, consider if everyone on your staff needs to be there. Is this a meeting that’s actually most useful for upper-level management? Will assistants or mid-level employees add something useful to the conversation? Similarly, there are often top-level executives who don’t need to be in every single meeting or weigh in on every little thing — it’s a waste of their time and your business’s.
Have a set agenda — and if you can, consider distributing it ahead of time, so that people can review, and prepare any questions or concerns in advance. Stick to the agenda and try to not get off track.
And stay up to date with your tech, to help things along. A chatbot for your site or business, for example, can help schedule meetings or dial people in; UC management tools and other software solutions can make sure everyone is connected and knows what’s going on.
How a Chatbot for Your Site Can Help in Unexpected WaysÂ
Chatbots are excellent at gathering data. A chatbot for your site can help drive awareness for your brand, but also collect customer feedback — both positive and negative — which can inform marketing and publicity meetings, but also long-term strategy. If you can see at a glance what’s specifically working (or not working), you already have bullet points built in for your meeting, instead of expounding theoretically on what might be effective or ineffective.
Chatbots can also help network and introduce people at events or larger meetings, pairing people effectively. This promotes more engagement and face-to-face time, versus time spent staring and swiping at a screen. Networking, as studies have shown, can bring important leads and deals to your business.
And, chatbots can help summarize and distribute meeting information as a back-up after the meeting is done. No one will have to spend time sending out notes or collecting the information; it’ll be done automatically and accurately and get sent to team members immediately. This can help people stay on track, identify goals, and follow up when necessary.
How to Stay On Top of Things With UC ManagementÂ
Unified communications pull a variety of communication tools together (voice, e-mail, messaging, conferencing, and so on) and integrate them for your business. It automatically makes your business more efficient, empowers your employees and ensures that everyone stays on the same page, even if your offices are spread across the globe. Meetings can be easily scheduled — no more telephone tag! — and team members interfaced in no matter where they are or what they have access to.
It also helps improve your collaboration, incorporate consumer feedback, and neatly provide reports and assessments. It relieves other staff members of those duties, ensuring that they can focus their attention elsewhere. In short, UC management is an important tool in today’s modern workplace, and one that more and more businesses are increasingly taking advantage of.
Whether it’s a chatbot for your site or further exploration into unified communications, there are a host of ways your business can be further improved and made more efficient. Explore these options today to maximize your performance.