Meetings in MENA workplaces often have agendas distributed in advance, according to 80 per cent of respondents, and tend to start on scheduled time (according to 88 per cent). 52 per cent of respondents claim that their meetings will normally end on time, too. This is likely influenced by the fact that three quarters of respondents (76 per cent) say that people behave appropriately during meetings, allowing them to reach consensus on key decisions.
According to 73 per cent, meetings within their company remain focused and on the right track. Further to this, 45 per cent of respondents strongly agree that the right people are often present in the meetings they attend, with another 31 per cent ‘somewhat agreeing’ with the same, leading to an easier decision-making process.
In fact, 78 per cent of respondents claim that meetings are a great way to get the company to come to a good decision, and 72 per cent believe that meetings are always helpful and an effective use of time.
According to 79 per cent of respondents, key decisions are recorded and shared with meeting attendees at the end of the session, while another 79 per cent state that action items recorded during meetings have people assigned to them, who are then held responsible for carrying them out. This shows that MENA professionals record and follow-up with the execution of key decisions made during meetings.
Six out of 10 (62 per cent) respondents believe that everyone at their company contributes during meetings, even remote employees, who, according to 81 per cent, actively participate in meetings.
“The results of this Bayt.com poll show that meetings are, indeed, a good use of company time to not only make key decisions, but to ensure engagement across all employees, too. That is great. To make meetings even more effective, what we recommend is to always distribute a meeting agenda in advance, start the meeting on time, and finish the meeting on time. It is also important to invite only the right people, and to create an action list from discussion points and hold people responsible for it. This establishes meetings as a key contact point for all staff, and therefore an important part of regular corporate culture.” said Suhail Al-Masri, VP of Sales, Bayt.com.
Data for the Bayt.com ‘Meetings in the MENA Workplace’ poll was collected online from August 12-September 16 2014, with 3,380 respondents from UAE, KSA, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Algeria, Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia.
