????計(jì)算過(guò)程并不復(fù)雜,，但結(jié)果卻令人吃驚。首先,，假設(shè)一家公司有20,000名領(lǐng)取薪水的職員,，其中包括許多技術(shù)精湛的人才,。之后計(jì)算出這些員工的人均年薪為100,000美元。保守估計(jì),，假如每個(gè)人每年在低效會(huì)議上花費(fèi)15%的時(shí)間,。那么公司在這方面浪費(fèi)的時(shí)間所造成的損失是多少？答案是：3億美元,。

????以上是分析公司VoloMetrix的調(diào)查結(jié)果,。這家公司的調(diào)查人員研究了二十多家美國(guó)大型公司的會(huì)議管理方式。在一家極具代表性的公司,，僅管理高層會(huì)議便已經(jīng)花去了約300,000個(gè)小時(shí),，相當(dāng)于一名高管全職工作144年。

????當(dāng)然,，我們很難估算大多數(shù)會(huì)議實(shí)現(xiàn)的成果,，但VoloMetrix研究了會(huì)議期間與會(huì)者執(zhí)行多重任務(wù)的情況。公司CEO萊恩?富勒說(shuō)：“衡量效率的方式之一是計(jì)算每一位與會(huì)者發(fā)送的電子郵件數(shù)量,，”因?yàn)榘l(fā)送電子郵件和短信“表明與會(huì)者沒(méi)有100%參與討論,，或許因?yàn)樗麄兏静恍枰獏⒓訒?huì)議?！盫oloMetrix的數(shù)據(jù)顯示,，在開(kāi)會(huì)期間，每一位與會(huì)者平均每30分鐘至少發(fā)送三封電子郵件,。而且,，這個(gè)數(shù)據(jù)還沒(méi)有統(tǒng)計(jì)與會(huì)者收到的信息。

????富勒說(shuō)：“人們往往不認(rèn)為一個(gè)人的時(shí)間有金錢(qián)價(jià)值,，或者會(huì)議會(huì)有實(shí)際成本,。但如果每個(gè)人都能更清楚和更關(guān)注時(shí)間的價(jià)值，一家公司就會(huì)提高效率,，盈利能力也會(huì)大幅提升,。”他提出了減少會(huì)議的四種方式,。

????限制多余的管理者出席,。富勒說(shuō)：“如果同一部門(mén)或職能單位內(nèi)，有兩個(gè)以上的管理級(jí)別,，這意味著有些人只是在聽(tīng)命行事,。他們不參與決策過(guò)程。因此,，真的有必要讓他們放下手頭的工作去出席會(huì)議嗎,？”他注意到，許多公司會(huì)在會(huì)議結(jié)束后發(fā)放會(huì)議記錄,，其中會(huì)詳細(xì)說(shuō)明會(huì)議的具體情況,，“發(fā)放對(duì)象甚至包括出席過(guò)會(huì)議的人”,，“那些只需要知曉情況的員工可以等到有時(shí)間的時(shí)候再去閱讀會(huì)議記錄?！?/p>

????制定會(huì)議時(shí)間預(yù)算。富勒建議：“計(jì)算出整個(gè)團(tuán)隊(duì)每周花在開(kāi)會(huì)上的時(shí)間總和,，之后有針對(duì)性地把這個(gè)時(shí)間縮減10%或20%,。這會(huì)迫使你認(rèn)真考慮哪些會(huì)議可以取消?！盫oloMetrix的一些客戶采取了富勒所謂的“極端措施”,，強(qiáng)制執(zhí)行時(shí)間限制。例如：使用在預(yù)定時(shí)間斷開(kāi)的會(huì)議專(zhuān)線,，或在會(huì)議開(kāi)始的精確時(shí)刻關(guān)閉會(huì)議室大門(mén),，禁止遲到者進(jìn)入。他說(shuō)：“通常情況下,，大家不需要采取那么極端的方式”,，將時(shí)間限制到最少?！澳阒灰嵝涯切┎蛔袷貢r(shí)間的人,，下次他們應(yīng)該做得更好?！?/p>

????The math isn’t complicated, but the results are startling. Start with a company that has 20,000 salaried employees, many of them highly skilled. Then figure that their average total compensation per person is $100,000 annually. Let’s say each one spends a very conservative 15% of his or her time every year in unproductive meetings. Total annual cost to the company of the time lost: $300 million.

????That’s what researchers at analytics firm VoloMetrix found when they studied how meetings are managed at more than two dozen big U.S. companies. In one typical organization, senior management meetings alone ate up about 300,000 hours, or the equivalent of one executive working full-time for 144 years.

????It’s hard to gauge exactly what gets accomplished in most of those confabs, of course, but VoloMetrix did look at how much multitasking goes on. “One way to measure productivity is to count how many emails each attendee sends,” notes CEO Ryan Fuller, since emailing and texting are “an indication that people aren’t 100% engaged in the discussion, perhaps because they don’t really need to be there.” The average participant now sends at least three emails for every 30 minutes of meeting time, the Volometrix data show—not counting the incoming messages that he or she is reading.

????“People often don’t think that each hour of someone’s time has a dollar value, and that there is a real cost to every meeting,” Fuller observes. “Companies could be much more productive and profitable if everyone were just a bit more aware and intentional about it.” He suggests four ways to cut meetings down to size.

????Limit redundant managers. “If there are more than two levels of management from the same department or function, it’s a sign that some people are just listening,” Fuller notes. “They’re not part of the decision-making process. So do they really need to drop what they’re doing to be there?” He notes that, in many companies, someone sends out a detailed memo afterward about what happened in the meeting anyway, “even to the people who were present,” and “anyone who just needs to stay informed can read that when they have a minute.”

????Establish a meeting time budget. “Add up the total number of hours that you and your team spend in meetings every week, and then aim to reduce that time by 10% or 20%,” Fuller suggests. “It forces you to really think about which meetings you could cut out altogether.” Some VoloMetrix clients have taken what Fuller calls “extreme measures” to enforce time limits, like using conference lines that cut off at a preset time, or conference room doors that lock at the precise moment a meeting begins, so that latecomers are shut out. “You usually don’t need to go that far” to keep the time suck to a minimum, he says. “Just keep reminding people who stretch the limits that they need to do better next time.”