4 Elements of More Productive Office Meetings [INFOGRAPHIC]

Raise your hand if you're guilty of calling a meeting to discuss the exact line items of the previous meeting. How about asking questions that could have been addressed via text, phone or email, or to simply talk about a bigger meeting that will happen soon? If you were able to slowly nod yes to any of those questions, you could be pushing your top agents into the arms of another brokerage.

According to information shared in TED talks by David Grady and Jason Fried, meetings can be a waste of time and money when they lack effectiveness and efficiency. Here are the facts:

• There are more than 3 billion meetings per year
• 40-50% of working hours are spent in meetings
• On average 7.8 out of the 23 hours spent in meetings are wasted (practically 2 months gone to waste!)
• Meetings costs the United States $37 billion a year
• 90% of meeting attendees admit to daydreaming in meetings
• 73% admit to doing other work in meetings

Most shocking of all, research from New York consulting firm Communispond, Inc. shows that 75% of people have received no formal training on how to conduct a meeting. If your brokerage falls into that 75%, then you're all but dropping your agent off at another firm's doorsteps. So what can you do? Adopt these four elements to ensure your next meeting rocks!