A recent Harvard Business Review article identified a phenomenon called “meeting hangovers” which new research shows can derail productivity well beyond the meeting itself.
A survey conducted by University of North Carolina Charlotte and other institutions found that more than 90% of employees occasionally experience these “meeting hangovers,” with over half reporting that these negative effects hurt their overall workflow and productivity.
“A meeting hangover is the idea that when we have a bad meeting, we just don’t leave it at the door. It sticks with us and it negatively affects our productivity,” said Steven Rogelberg, a professor at UNC Charlotte and author of “The Surprising Science of Meetings.”
The study found that employees often ruminate about bad meetings and feel compelled to share their frustrations with colleagues, creating what Rogelberg terms “co-rumination” that can spread negative impacts throughout an organization.
Common factors contributing to negative meeting experiences include unnecessary meetings that could have been emails, irrelevant agenda topics, poor facilitation, too many attendees, excessive length, domination by a few participants, and unclear decisions.
Rogelberg recommends several strategies to prevent meeting hangovers:
“Keep the attendee list as small as possible,” Rogelberg said. “Remember that the more the leader talks, the lower the rating of effectiveness. Thus, the meeting leader needs to talk less and facilitate more.”
Rather than organizing agendas as topics to be discussed, Rogelberg suggests structuring them as questions to be answered.
“By framing agenda items as questions, you have a better sense of who really has to be invited to the meeting,” he said. “You know when to end the meeting and if the meeting has been successful — the questions have been answered.”
This question-based approach creates an engaging challenge that draws people in, he said, adding that “if you just can’t think of any questions, it likely means you don’t need to create a meeting.”
For employees already suffering from meeting hangovers, Rogelberg suggests venting but centering on problem-focused conversations with colleagues.
“Chatting with your colleague about how to deal with the situation for the future, getting their thoughts, engaging in sense-making where you’re trying to understand, taking different perspectives on what just happened — those types of conversations increase your skills and your resilience when you do have a bad meeting,” Rogelberg said.
