If you ever feel pressured to speak up during meetings, a woman on TikTok has just the trick. Joanna Briggs (@whatmatterscic), the founder of youth career developmental organization What Matters CIC, shared her tips on how to “professionally avoid participating” in meetings.
The viral TikTok, which has amassed almost 400,000 views by Thursday, shows Briggs demonstrating the phrases while in a mock virtual meeting.
@whatmatterscic Nothing further to add #pov #fyp #whatmatterscic #careertok #careerhumor #meetingsbelike ♬ original sound – What Matters CIC
Some of these phrases include, “Don’t worry at all. I’m here to learn,” “I actually couldn’t add more value to that. You hit the nail on the head, brilliant,” and “no further comments from me.”
She has other sneaky tactics up her sleeve, such as recommending that workers offer to take the meeting minutes or fake a technical computer issue so that they can turn off their cameras.
Briggs’ tips are especially pertinent in this changing technological landscape. Virtual meetings grew from 48 percent to 77 percent from 2020 to 2022. But while most meetings have shifted from the conference room to Zoom or Microsoft Teams, the attitude around them is generally the same. Many workers still feel like the majority of meetings are useless.
A 2022 study by Otter.ai and University of North Carolina psychologist Steven Rogelberg found that most workers find one third of meetings to be unnecessary. This impacts companies from a productivity and financial perspective– the study concludes, “Companies pay an average of $80K per professional employee to attend meetings each year and $25K (31%) is to attend meetings deemed ‘unnecessary,.”
Commenters appreciated Briggs’ professional and common sense approach to avoid participating in meetings.
“Nothing from my end / don’t worry at all I’m here to learn” are my most favourite lines of all time,” one user wrote.
“The way corporate world act IS an art of its own,” another shared. “My disingenuous self IS thriving.”
A commenter who’s new to their job shared that these tips will give introverted or new employees something to say. “Yes, but as someone new who doesn’t know what to say I’ve been encouraged to at least get my voice out there in meetings,” they wrote. “This is low key helpful.”
But the tips don’t apply to everyone, like one woman who distains taking notes. “I would rather be forced to lead a meeting than take the minutes,” they wrote.
Another shared that they don’t want employers catching wind of these tricks. “Shhh!!! Don’t let them know our secrets!! I’m just trying to coast this employment thing until retirement!”
The Daily Dot reached out to Briggs via email.
