It’s was no great shock when the journal Group Dynamics: Theory, Research and Practice revealed this week, what we’d known all along: managers spend most of their days in meetings, meetings are getting longer and more frequent.
A test of 37 volunteers found that the more time they spent in meetings, the more tired and stressed they got, according to the Times report.
So just when you thought that all the technology wizardry at your fingertips would negate the pain of having to attend another pointless and dull-numbing meeting of minds you’re informed that it is crucial, in fact make that vital that you attend.
The euphroia felt by the steady release of endorphins triggered by a brainstorming session, is a novelty that only the truly motivated can understand. For Joe average the time spent in meetings isn’t quite as fruitful. Infact we’re probably all dreaming we were doing something else and lets face it you’re only human so just how much of it are you supposed to take in?
Here’s our top ten list of things to keep your mind active whilst the boss drones on at you:
- 1. Observations on just how badly your boss is dressed.
- 2. Serious consideration of applying to style-tyrants, Trinny and Susannah’s What Not to Wear.
- 3. What the reaction would be if you took the fashion plunge, would the public humiliation result in you clearing your desk sooner then planned?
- 4. If you were fired what you’d do with all that free time.
- 5. Talking of free time, what exactly are the plans for the weekend, as if you hadn’t got it all mapped out already.
- 6. Cartography aside; how exactly are you going to cut that commute down so you can have a further 10 minutes in bed each day.
- 7. Ten minutes a day, that’s 50 minutes a week – which is ahem almost an hour – time enough to get your hair cut, natter with some friends, make that gym resolution come true.
- 8. Spinning classes would be good – but isn’t it just a bit pointless I mean you don’t actually get anywhere do you, what’s the point of that?
- 9. So forget the gym, what about a night class? It could be the only way out of the meeting drudgery think the Good Life, growing your own vegetables and knitting your own jumpers.
- 10. But if you didn’t have any disposable income then you couldn’t afford a TV and you’d miss out on watching the utter humiliation of your boss in that 360 mirror with the wardrobe mistresses and that would just be too much to bear or should that be wear?
We’d like to hear about your top meeting day-dreams, the longest meeting you’ve ever been in, how you survived and the most pointless ones you’ve attended.