Business growth beyond sales and marketing - Accelerate Business Group

Let's knock-off a few meetings.

Thumbing through the August 2006 edition of Nation Geographic my eye caught a small entry I found interesting.

The number of meetings that American workers attended more than doubled in the last half of the 20th century, poorly run meetings strain workers' health, especially that of those who dislike meetings, while many people complain about meetings, a large number secretly enjoy the confabs and derive a sense of well-being from the interaction.

Put me in the I Hate Meetings For The Purpose Of Meeting category.

I've been there and it's a safe bet you have too - attending a weekly meeting that seemingly has no other purpose than to meet, an incredible waste of time, energy, and effort. Especially at executive levels of business, your day, week, and work life is one big meeting. It's debatable how many are valuable and how much more work could be produced simply by eliminating unnecessary meetings.

I suspect we would be far more productive if our meeting time were cut in half. Without doubt there are valuable meetings, but they are far and few in-between. Some meetings take place because the responsible person or organization fails to make a decision on their own. Others take place because of the ego of the host.

Several weekly meetings I used to attend in my Corporate Life were time spent listening to two managers having a dialogue they could have had on their own or through email. In many cases I've witnessed business decisions delayed because the meeting is next week.

The point isn't that you shouldn't have meetings. The point is you should only have meetings with a purpose. And those that attend should do so in support of that purpose.

If you want me to attend so I know what's going on, send me the minutes instead.

I really can't stand the meeting because we always meet meetings.

What do you think? Do you find value in most of the meetings you attend? Could you attend less meetings and be equally or more productive? Any meeting horror stories to share?