Meetings, Meetings, Meetings!

Whoopee! I get to go to a meeting all afternoon! We'll sit around, we'll talk, we might make some big decisions, and then, of course, we won't follow it up. I'm so excited … NOT!

Sound familiar? One of the biggest wastes of time, in business today, is what's referred to as a meeting. We label everything a meeting. Consequently the term meeting gets a bum rap that it doesn't really deserve.

If we called our sessions what they truly are we might go into them with a different attitude. It's a brainstorming session. It's a discussion group. It's a focus group. Let's call things what they really are, gatherings of people in an effort to develop something.

While the term meeting may fit some of our sessions, most gatherings are not truly meetings. Why aren't they meetings? We don't have agendas, we don't keep adequate minutes and, all too frequently, we don't know what we want to achieve in the end. A meeting is designed to be a gathering of people who want to present information, discuss the information, make decisions, and take action that is followed up.

Where do we go wrong with meetings?

• Inadequate planning
  
• Improper advance notice to participants
  
• Wrong people attending the meeting
  
• Focus on hidden agendas rather than action items
  
• Incompetent chairperson
  
• Disengaged participants
  
• No action items identified
  
• No follow-up
  
• Other … add your items here
  

An unfortunate truth is that many meetings are called because the person responsible for a decision or developing a plan doesn't want to take the responsibility alone for that decision or plan. Shared responsibility equals shared blame. Take the concept of blame out of the equation and a lot fewer meetings would be called and more decisions made in the offices where they should be made.

So what can you do about it? Make a change in your workplace and only attend the meetings that you truly need to attend, only call the meetings that you truly need to call, and spend far more time planning the meeting than you ever will conducting the meeting.

Remember, even though you called the meeting, if you aren't a good chairperson ask someone else to do it. It's far more important to have a well-run, well-controlled, well-organized meeting that reaches concrete decisions than it is to get the personal ego boost from chairing a meeting.

Ask for help. There will be someone in your office or in your sphere of acquaintances who can help you organize effective meetings. Meetings are made in the planning stage. Your peers will thank you and so will your management team.

Have a great meeting!