At Cemex, we are always looking to improve the way we work. In our last WE’X Survey, we identified that one of the main areas of opportunity we experience at work is to be more agile in our daily processes.  For this reason, we launched our Effective Meetings Initiative.

This initiative seeks to improve our work-life balance by making better use of the time we invest in meetings.  For better understanding, we divided them into seven recommendations or codes to follow before, during, and after our meetings. In this article, we will explain the first code: Make your meetings valuable.

The first thing you must ask yourself is, “Why am I calling a meeting? Does this objective need a meeting?”.

Nowadays, meetings are essential for collaboration, decision-making, and innovation. However, not every discussion needs to be a formal meeting. Questioning whether a meeting is necessary and exploring alternative communication channels can save time and boost productivity.

For example, if you want to distribute information, provide status updates, or answer quick questions, emails can be highly efficient, or even Teams.

Sharing documents on platforms like OneDrive or OneNote allows for real-time collaboration without needing meetings. These tools enable multiple users to edit and comment simultaneously, making them ideal for project updates and document reviews.

We invite you to periodically review whether meetings are achieving their objectives and adjust strategies as needed. Evaluating the results of meetings and making continuous improvements ensures that they remain valuable and productive.

By questioning the necessity of meetings and exploring alternative communication channels, you can transform the way your team collaborates and makes decisions, leading to greater efficiency and productivity.

Have you been using these alternative tools? Join us in our new People & Culture Viva Engage Community so we can interact and share more ways to create a productive culture.

Coming next! Make your meetings valuable.