Review Finds Balanced Speaking and Listening Key to Better Workplace Meetings
Review says effective meetings need balanced speaking and listening, with leaders often talking too much.
The review, assembled by a team of researchers, draws on a growing archive of meeting data made available through better written recording and online meeting calls. It found that meeting leaders and bosses can misjudge how well a meeting went: just because they think it went well does not mean it actually did. "Often, leaders talk the most, which is also why they often think their meetings are pretty good," said Nale Lehmann-Willenbrock, an industrial and organizational psychologist and director of the Center for Better Work at the University of Hamburg in Germany. She was one of the review's contributors.
According to the review, meetings need structure so that all attendees feel they can contribute. Lehmann-Willenbrock said a warmup phase can help. "For more introverted participants and more quiet participants, this warmup phase is really helpful because it helps them make more active contributions inside the meeting," she said.
Ava Scott, a cognitive scientist at the University of Copenhagen, noted that a lack of structure "makes a lot of meetings feel very purposeless." The review also found that meetings that are going nowhere should be abandoned. TechRadar reported that the research defines a meeting as a gathering with a goal or structure.
The review says improved minuting and recording of team huddles and the storage of video conference calls give meeting science an opportunity to show how to conduct constructive, productive meetings that are memorable for the right reasons, rather than forgettable. The findings suggest structure and aims can improve the image of team or departmental meetings, though they do not necessarily mean the boss will stop talking.
Editor's Summary The review, published in the 2026 Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, says balanced speaking and listening are central to successful meetings. It also warns that leaders often overestimate meeting quality and says structure, warmup phases and clear aims can help participants contribute. According to TechRadar, the review draws on more than three decades of meeting science.