As you find yourself headed back to the office, your time efficiency may change. When I work with leadership teams or individual leaders, one of their biggest frustrations is managing time. There are a multitude of books, articles and resources on how to be more efficient in managing your time.

Do you ever complain about having so many meetings? In the past couple of years, Zoom (an online virtual meeting tool) has recorded over 3.3 trillion annual meeting minutes. This number will decrease as you get back into the office and meet with your team members in person. What meetings do you have on a regular basis? How have you tried to make them more efficient, creative and impactful?

One of the best ways to be efficient in meeting with your project teams, for status reports, is to engage in stand-up status meetings. Some of the benefits are:

– Saves time with fewer meetings
– Strengthens the team’s concept of common goals
– Reduces roadblocks
– Promotes transparency and teamwork
– Improves collaboration and communication
– Measures progress
– Increases accountability

The first time I experienced a stand-up meeting was on a project where I was in charge of the creation of a new product. This product needed web development and the webmaster and his team utilized this process of meetings. It was so effective. Everyone reported on their status and shared wins and challenges.

This type of meeting may not apply to every type of scenario in your day. For instance, holding an employee review meeting will be more impactful if you are sitting down and showing open body language that indicates you are listening and interested in what is being said. Whenever you have the chance to stand, you are increasing your energy by simply getting up.

Even if you are not the leader, make a suggestion to implement this tool. You will be glad you did and minutes will be saved to your day!