Bad Me
Bad Meetings & What to Do About Them
Symptoms of
The door to the meeting room opens and it’s the person who called the meeting, running 10 minutes late because the previous meeting ended late and he had to stop by his office and pick up some notes to remind him of what this meeting was
about.The folks already in the room are dis- cussing last night’s game and wondering how long the meet- ing is going to last.Only one person remembers getting the notes from the last
meeting.And he’s the only one that has a copy of the report they’re supposed to discuss.
Does this sound or feel familiar? You’re not alone.
One topic that everyone can agree on is this:meetings are often a waste of time and
money.Scary meeting statistics
abound.Software company Atlassian’s infographic states that U.S.businesses waste $37 billion a
year.Some of that meeting time may have been wasted in your organization. What is strange is why this situation isn’t on the top of any- one’s list to get fixed. If we are wasting billions,why don’t corporations make the effort to fix the problem? Perhaps it boils down to a lack of accountability.But this is something that is entirely within our control.
Here are some symptoms of bad meetings and what you can do to fix them.
1. Your meetings ramble on without a clear purpose. If there’s an agenda, no one follows it.
Good meeting practice says that a specific agenda will almost always reduce the time wasted in a meeting.A poll of 471 management leaders noted that 90 percent of those polled attributed the failure of most meetings to a lack of
76 January February 2015
advanced planning and
organization.So be sure to send out an agenda before the
meeting.Review the agenda at the beginning of the meeting and gain agreement to follow it. It’s also important to empower people to point out when the meeting veers off the
agenda.That way everyone can share the responsibility to keep things on track.
2. People are doing their own thing during the meeting: texting, talking on the phone, responding to email, carrying on unrelat- ed conversations.
One way to avoid this is to establish ground rules that every- one agrees on before the meeting
begins.These rules include removing temptation by setting limits on texting, email and phone conversations,and requiring people to lis- ten without interrupting.Even if people have agreed in advance to these rules, they may need to be reminded of the ground rules at the beginning of the meeting - or during the meeting itself if the rule breaking is particularly egre- gious. Such reminding may be done by fellow members or by the meeting leader, if there is one.
3. People show up who are not prepared. They haven’t read the report, document or spreadsheet that the meeting was about or they have not done the research they promised to do.
A well-run organization holds staff members accountable for doing their jobs and keeping their promises.But real life often falls short of how we know we should operate. Holding people accountable should be part of any set of ground rules for meetings.When you distribute the agenda in advance, state clearly the preparation that is expected of each member who will participate.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84