“Meetings should be great — they’re opportunities for a group of people sitting together around a table to directly communicate. That should be a good thing. And it is, but only if treated as a rare delicacy.”
— Jason Fried
Unsuck Your Meetings
Part 3: Is This Meeting Necessary?
Despite what your experience may lead you to believe, meetings don’t have to be epic struggles to maintain consciousness. They can be energizing, purposeful, effective, informative…and yes, even fun.
Every meeting has the potential to be either a nightmare of endless yammering and lost opportunities, or a dream of purposeful conversation and clear outcomes.
But first we must ask an important question: “Do we really have to have meetings?”
The answer is “No”…unless of course you want to stimulate conversation, share ideas, create innovation, make decisions, and get better results.
It’s worth examining the typical reasons we have meetings. Some are good, and some are bad. But too often we meet because, well, you know, that’s what we do. Meetings have become standard operating procedure in organizations, part of the landscape like paper clips and copiers. But just as you shouldn’t use a paper clip to fasten your diploma to the cubicle wall, or photocopy your butt, meetings are not the answer to all business issues.
I’ll start with the bad reasons for having meetings:[1]
- Because you always have. This is a bad reason because:
You’ve always had meetings, they always stink, and you don’t like them. Q.E.D.[2]
Unexamined habits are where improvement opportunities hide.
- To avoid taking real action. This is a bad reason because:
If everyone knows what needs to be done, a meeting can often be a handy and effective method to avoid making the decision.
- To discuss isolated problems. This is a bad reason because:
Why put people who are not connected to the problem through that torture? Go where the problem is and have a conversation.
- To convey one-way information. This is a bad reason because:
If you don’t want a conversation, comments, questions, or new ideas, write the information down and send it out. This is why email was invented.[3]
- To review the past. This is a bad reason because:
Again, this can be done in written form. Save the meeting for discussions of the future.
No one likes to sit through a series of status reports, unless it’s their own. Yet again, written is better.
Now that we’ve had our fun, what are the good reasons?
Have a meeting when you want to:
- Stimulate conversation, understanding, and new ideas.
- Create innovation, creativity, and energy.
- Create a plan with multiple inputs.
- Inspire people.
- Get specific results.
- Ask and answer questions.
- Reach a decision that requires clarity, consensus, and/or agreement.
- Provide in-depth learning opportunities.
- Celebrate successes.
When done for the right reasons, meetings can be important communication tools.[4]
But even then, they must be done right to ensure they have real value. In Part 4 of Unsuck Your Meetings I’ll at long last suggest how you can achieve the promise of that title.
[1]Because they’re more fun.
[2]Quod erat demonstrandum…I think Latin adds a bit of gravitas to any article, don’t you?
[3] Not, as many believe, for sending cartoons, memes, and cute cat pictures.
[4] For Analogy Fans: A meeting is like electricity. Used wisely, it can operate power tools, fry eggs, and run a Tesla. Used foolishly, it can electrocute everyone in the company.
Listen to “Unsuck Your Meetings, Part 3” on audio:
Ronn Lehmann advises organizations and leaders on the human factors that determine their culture. Lehmann developed the Cultural Audit Process, which is designed to provide an outside perspective of an organization’s culture: what’s important, what’s rewarded and punished, what the rules are, and how people “show up.”
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