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So you resisted your better judgment and went to that meeting after all. And just as you feared, it ran off the rails in the first five minutes and rambled on for another 90. It started with the usual awkward silence, but was soon filled by the guy from down the hall droning on and on about GAAP or something. GAASbag was more like it. You shouldn’t have been surprised. It happens way too often. In fact, I just read an article which said bad meetings are usually the result of one of three things. But when I did an unscientific poll with my colleagues and friends, we came up with 29 things.
And Here They Are, In No Special Order
1) No need for a meeting in the first place. It all could’ve been handled with an email or two. 2) Not starting on time. If people are routinely coming late to your meetings, seriously consider disinviting them. 3) Not having a real agenda. As in “I’d like to meet to talk about where we might be headed if the proposed initiatives are ever implemented.” 4) The right people aren’t in the meeting. You’re discussing Customer Service challenges, but the CS staff is too busy to leave the phones and come to the meeting. 5) The wrong people are in the meeting. In the event the meeting produces a solution, there’s no one in the room who has the authority to implement it. 6) Too many people in the meeting. This is supposed to be a meeting, not a convention. 7) The guy who won’t shut up. Need I say more? 8) The meeting leader lacks the skill to engage everyone in the discussion. This is especially true when the person holding the meeting doubles as the “guy who won’t shut up.” 9) The meeting leader is just winging it. Fifteen minutes into the meeting everyone is looking for a reason to bail. 10) People protecting their own turf. The meeting is one long stalemate where no one compromises if it affects their department. 11) Not being prepared. Just because you were conscientious enough to put the meeting on everyone’s Google Calendar a month ago, please cancel if you haven’t yet pulled together all the needed information. 12) No one knows why they are meeting. This is a big problem when you’ve read the agenda and you still don’t have any idea why you’re meeting. 13) Technical difficulties. Wasn’t IT supposed to have already set up this stupid WebShareMeeting tool? Ugh! 14) Showboating. IT actually set up that WebShareMeeting tool – and now feels compelled to demonstrate how all 31 functions work. 15) The hour-long meeting (Part 1). Ever notice that a meeting scheduled for an hour never ends after only 45 minutes? It’s a TRUE miracle of modern business scheduling. 16) The hour-long meeting (Part 2). And that you’re not surprised when the meeting lasts 90 minutes — as if everyone didn’t have something else they needed to do. 17) Electronic distractions. People are constantly checking their phones, texting, or surfing away on their laptops and tablets. Of course, you can’t blame them when the meeting leader is up there “winging it.” 18) Non-electronic distractions. When meeting attendees resort to the old-fashioned technique of whispering and giggling with each other on the side. 19) The routine meeting. “We always meet at this time every week whether we need to have a meeting or not.” 20) Trying to accomplish too much. The best meetings have one clear focal point. 21) You didn’t bring the right stuff. You forgot to bring your (notes, tools, data) to the meeting. 22) People wander off on tangents. What started as an announcement that you hired a new creative director, ended with what type of microwave to get to the replace the burned-out one in the breakroom. 23) Introducing new subjects that don’t belong in this meeting. (A variation of point No. 22 above.) 24) Lack of candor. This can happen for all the best of intentions. For example, you really just want to say that something didn’t get done well because the people responsible are awful at it — but you can’t. 25) The “Ground Hog Day” phenomenon. You seem to have the same meeting over and over, week after week, because no one was held accountable to carry out the decisions made in the last meeting. 26) No follow-up after the meeting. This is particularly true of meetings that run into lunch, run late into the day, or occur anytime on Friday. 27) Poor communication beforehand. The invite and emails to attendees before the meeting didn’t adequately outline what was expected of them during the meeting. 28) No one is really sure what was decided at the meeting, if anything. And if nothing was going to get decided, then why were you meeting in the first place? 29) And, finally, the meeting was actually a meeting about other meetings.
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Meetings – The practical alternative to work.
now that’s funny, Cheryl!
Thanks for that great article, Rich. I got home very late last night from work, and when I opened it and saw that graphic at the top … boy, did I relate, and it really made me laugh! I read an article not too long ago wherein it stated that the average employee participates in 62 meetings per month, and 31 hours of that time is considered unproductive!!
In my long business career, I learned two things from 2 different Chairmen for whom I worked. Both brilliant entrepreneurs, extremely successful, that I’ve incorporated into the way I run my own business now.
(1) Spontaneity of a walking or outside meeting. At that time, working in a major corporation, everyone was busy in their offices all day or at outside meetings in others’ offices or conference rooms. My boss, of course, had regular meetings with his executive staff and when you least expected it, when everyone was gathered around the conference room table, and of course depending on the weather, he’d arrive and say, “Pack up your things; let’s get outta here.” And, they’d talk and walk along Madison Avenue; or, head over to one of the near Manhattan hotels and talk over coffee in the lobby, etc. The point: It was spontaneous, and it charged everyone up, especially because people did work long hours in a fast-paced industry and the unpredictability and the fresh air worked wonders. I even remember a time when he had only 3 others of his team in town for a particular meeting, they walked up a couple blocks to Central Park South, and he hailed a horse-carriage and convened the meeting that way (he couldn’t have done that if the whole team was present). (In my own business, when having planned in advance to order in lunch for a meeting with the managers of my Brooklyn or Long Island office–I travel in from NJ–a few times we’ve taken the brown bag lunches, headed by car to the local boardwalks, and sat on a bench and ate, chatted and took notes. Another time or two, we headed out to a local Barnes & Noble, and sat in the cafe and had a meeting over coffee there.)
(2) Bringing in fresh eyeballs and new ears. Sometimes, when working on a new project (the other Chairman I worked for was involved in many start-ups, and had the same loyal, trusted and very talented people around him for years), he could ‘see’ where he wanted to end up, was dead set on getting there, but you know how it is when you deliberate and deliberate and great ideas or problem-solving suggestions are thrown out for discussion but in your gut you’re not ‘feeling it.’ At those times, he would bring in someone outside of his executive staff, someone having nothing to do with the project at hand, someone to bring in a fresh set of eyes (and ears). He would always choose someone smart and savvy, someone he trusted to hold things confidential, and bring them in to listen and to feel free to ask questions as the meeting proceeded. And, through their questions, oftentimes new viewpoints and opportunities would be brought to light to discuss another way of doing things and getting to the objective. (In my own business, I have on a couple of occasions, asked a client to sit in on a meeting with my staff; someone who had successfully finished the program, someone who had referred other clients to us and who I trusted to give impartial advice and suggestions.)
Anyway, that’s my two cents worth. Again, I really enjoyed the article and will definitely share it.