Think of the meetings you attended last week. What percentage did you really need to attend? What percentage accomplished their goals? Based upon recent surveys, those percentages are all below 40 percent — which means that over 60 percent of meetings waste time.
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“Dealing with Meetings You Can't Stand — Meet Less and Do More” by Rick Brinkman.
Think of the meetings you attended last week. What percentage did you really need to attend? What percentage accomplished their goals? Based upon recent surveys, those percentages are all below 40 percent — which means that over 60 percent of meetings waste time.
Brinkman's advice deals with effectively managing the four facets of every meeting: preparation, people, process and time. But before even thinking about these four facets, he believes you must recognize the work-product reason for holding a meeting. Meetings need interaction, which will require action(s) by participants after the meeting.
Note: Meetings that only present information should be avoided. Why? If there's no post-meeting action required, people filter information and easily forget what's been said.
Given there's work that needs to be done, consider who really needs to attend. You want “doers and deciders” at the meeting.
Next, comes the agenda. Depending on the topic, one or a few people should craft it. When selecting a topic, specific items and meeting length, keep in mind the need for adequate discussion time so all doers and deciders can offer input. Provide as much lead time as possible because participants will usually have to juggle their schedules and priorities.
Because you need input from all, there must be a few minutes to “meet and greet,” a speaking order and a pre-determined speaker's time limit.
Brinkman points out that meetings aren't free. Every minute in a meeting is a minute away from other work-related tasks. He also advocates virtual meetings using Skype or other means of visual communication to minimize the time disruption for those not on-site.
