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by Marie Lambert, Director, Operational Excellence and Change Management, CiM Maintenance 26.05.2021

How to Increase the Efficiency of Weekly Maintenance Scheduling Meetings in 6 Simple Steps

Some studies have shown that one out of every two meetings are useless, that these meetings only require half of the participants, and that people who attend feel they have wasted 50% of their time. So how can we make our maintenance scheduling meetings more efficient?

Here are six simple and practical tips to reduce the number of meetings and their duration, improve their quality, and finally lock in your weekly schedule for the upcoming week.

1 – Setting up rules is a must

Display the rules to follow during your meeting and communicate them to participants. These rules will simplify the way meetings are organized and influence attendee behavior.

2 – Sharing information outside of meetings

Sharing information during a meeting is a waste of time! Instead, implement collaborative, communication and document sharing platforms.

3 – Inviting the proper people

Choosing the right people, those who are going to speak up and make decisions is key! Put egos aside!

4 – Having an agenda that outlines the topics of discussion

Start the meeting by reading the document out loud to facilitate concentration and discussion, page by page, slide by slide, to challenge data, assumptions and results.

5 – Getting comfortable

Find a place that encourages discussion. A room with row seating does not promote interaction. An oval table, on the other hand, fosters interaction around the center of the table, but does not promote any dynamics at its ends. Choose the ideal setting for you. A round table or square one perhaps? Maybe a smaller table would suit you best. It all depends on you!

6 – Reinventing meetings

Replication leads to recurring behaviors and old habits. This has an impact on the decision-making. Renew your approach to meetings, put an end to old practices, change formats, and feel free to modify the agenda and the meeting’s rules.

Did our tips catch your attention? Consider this then:

  • Which meetings can you cancel or decline?
  • How many attendees really need to be there?

The time you will save will help you better plan your activities and improve your methods.

Visual Planner

Visual Planner is a series of applications embedded in SAP PM and IBM Maximo that allow you to put in place a solid work week management process in accordance with worldwide industry best practices.

It was designed specifically for scheduling day-to-day maintenance work and will empower your organization to execute routine maintenance work on time, boost labor productivity and reduce maintenance costs.