Adopt a 50-Minute Meeting Policy, Says Harvard Business Review

Remember back to grade school, when all classes were 50 minutes long? That gave everyone 10 minutes to get to their next class on time.

It's odd, then, that the business world runs meetings on a 60 minute cycle, allowing no time to get to the next destination, catch your breath, or answer e-mail between appointments. It's a grinding, unrelenting onslaught that is squeezing the life out of your organization. And there's a better way.

In The 50 Minute Meeting, Harvard Business Review's David Silverman blames this on Microsoft Outlook and other soulless scheduling programs, which fall back on the mechanical elegance of the 60-minute clock. We've allowed ourselves to become programmed by our appointment software -- not because it's convenient for us, but because it's easier for the programmers.

The solution? Establish a policy -- or drive for one within your organization -- to adopt a 50 minute meeting policy. The last 10 minutes of each hour goes to travel and catch-up time. It's a small sacrifice to each meeting that will pay big dividends by reducing everyone's stress levels.

Photo by alancleaver_2000