Why are we having this meeting?

"Why are we having this meeting?"

What a GREAT question!

"Why are we having this meeting?"

I have a equally great follow up...

"Do I really have to attend?"

OMG!

We waste soooooo much time in meetings...non-productive...useless...boring...meetings.

UGH!

Everyone knows what I am talking about and everyone hates these things and yet we still have them. How many meetings have you been to where you looked around the room, the speaker had lost the audience and everyone was looking down at their phones.

We should end the meeting right there!

But we don't...

Why?

Why do we continue to do something that everyone in the organization hates and finds very little use for?

Habit

Bad Habit

An awful terrible bad habit

(I said that last line in my best Grinch narrator voice)

So, how do we fix this time waster?  By putting ourselves on the spot.  By looking into the mirror when we decide we have to hold a meeting and asking, "Why am I holding this meeting?"  If you cannot answer with anything that moves the organization forward...that develops people...that gets to a solution...

Then we should not hold the meeting.

If you answer "Because we are supposed to hold a meeting each week. It's how we've always done it."

Then we should not hold the meeting.

If you say, "Because I have to clarify the information we discussed at the last meeting and that we sent out in email last week."

Then we should not hold the meeting

Simple as that

Well...it might not be that simple because the meeting culture is ingrained in most organizations but I challenge you all to work from the inside to change this culture.  Meetings should be a last resort.  Building relationships is what moves organizations forward and very few relationships are made stronger in meetings.  Unless it's from a sense of kinship built through misery.

Now...if you have to hold a meeting - and sometimes you just have to - make sure the right people are attending the meeting.  Make sure everyone attending knows what the discussion topics will be and in  a proper amount of time for them to prepare properly.  Start the meeting on time and end it on time.  Stay on topic and be as succinct as possible.  Get everyone involved.

Those attending will love you.

But...

They'll love you even more if you stop holding so many meetings

Give it a try...let people love you

Put yourself on the spot and ask, "Why are we holding this meeting?"

Answer - "We're not!"