From the course: Time Management Tips

Meetings and conversations that run long

From the course: Time Management Tips

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Meetings and conversations that run long

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- Ever find yourself in this situation? You're in a meeting, you look at the clock, and you realize that you're either out of time or you're almost out of time. I certainly have. What should you do when that occurs? And more importantly, how can you say something without seeming rude or caring about the clock more than you care about the person? Establish the expectation in advance, especially if you know you're going into a meeting with someone who goes longer than he or she should. Beforehand, let them know, "Hey, I've got a meeting at 11:30, "so we need to wrap things up by 11:25" or something like that. Fix the expectation that not only do you have a hard stop, but you'll also have enough time to transition to something else. Oh, and by the way, if you're not in the habit of scheduling meetings under the full hour or under the full half hour, I recommend you start doing that. My coaching calls are 50 minutes. That allows me time to transition to the next meeting in case things run long. But even in spite of our best efforts in setting the expectation in advance, long meetings are bound to happen. So what then? First, say something. You don't need to overthink it. Simply pointing out the time is often enough. "Hey, I noticed we're running out of time, may be enough." If you see a particular need to be diplomatic, you might add, "What you have to say is important to me "but I'm worried I'm not going to be able to hear it all "because we're almost out of time." Then, if necessary, offer to schedule another meeting if it's going to take a significant amount of time to do that. But many times people just lack awareness of time, and pointing it out will help them get on track. One thing that I like to do, especially in a professional context, is simply say, "It looks like we're out of time." Let's wrap things up by stating the action items that each of us is going to do. I try to do this a few minutes before the end of the meeting time because it's going to take a moment for people to state what they're going to do. Find the approach that's right for you, but whatever you do, don't allow your meetings to run long. We want to establish a pattern that we respect everyone's time, our own, the person we're talking to, and whoever we're about to talk to right after this meeting.

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