I need advice on how to deal with this same problem at work. I work fully remotely, and my coworkers spend at least the first 30 minutes of every meeting chatting, discussing the news, and just making small talk. I'm fine with it for 5-10 minutes, but it's making every meeting longer than it needs to be and I don't know how to complain without sounding like the boring stick in the mud or the snowflake who can't handle discussion at work. What should I do?

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30 minutes is a lot! Personally, if it exceeds 5 minutes, I just say, “hey guys, I have a hard stop at 2:00 (or whatever time) since I have another meeting.” And then at that point we begin discussing work lol.

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Can you just start showing up around twenty minutes late? Who is the meeting host? You could also ask them to limit the chat time at the beginning if you feel comfortable. It's an awkward situation, but you shouldn't have to wait through all of that before starting work

Can you ask for a tasky type person to keep ya’ll attentive and on task. We had to do that at our meetings at the school or they would go on all morning and into the afternoon.

Do you have an agenda typed up for each meeting or do you just wing it as you go? If you have a typed agenda, then as soon as you get a chance to talk, say "OK, so for Item 1 on the agenda we're going to make a decision on the XYZ client file. How does each of you feel about taking them on as clients?" In other words, don't let the conversation get derailed before the meeting even starts. If someone starts talking first and they're discussing last night's hockey score, as soon as you get a chance to get your voice in there, you go straight to the Agenda conversation and just ignore the hockey comment. It might shock some of them but after a few meetings they will "get it" - that this meeting is about the items on the Agenda - nothing else. If they want to hang around at the END of the meeting and talk about last night's hockey score, that's fine. You can sign off and get back to your work - let them waste their own time, not yours.

Can you take your headset off until 20-30 min after the start time of the meeting?

I often multi-task during meetings. Particularly video meetings where people cannot see everything you are doing. I find I have a lot more patience for all the time-wasting behavior during meetings if I can keep busy doing something else at the same time. I sign letters, review proposals and even check my email during meertings.

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