Are Your Meetings Meaningful?

I am sure you heard the one about meetings?
“Are you lonely?
- Work on your own?
- Hate having to make decisions?
- Rather talk about it than do it?
Well, why not hold a meeting?
- You get to see other people
- You can sleep in peace
- Offload decisions
- Learn to write volumes of meaningless rhetoric
- Feel important
- Impress (or bore) your colleagues
And all in work time!”

But of course, it doesn’t have to be like that.

Are Meetings A Waste Of Time?

Why they cause frustration:
• Too many of them
• No real purpose
• Too long
• Platform for the talkative
• Few decisions come out of them
• Make straightforward issues complicated
• Often slow things down

The Potential Benefits:

Run properly they can be an effective means of:
• Communication to a group
• Meeting people face-to-face
• Improving the quality of decisions
• Getting to know people
• Drawing from a variety of different experiences
• Building teams

Some Tips To Ensure A Successful Meeting:
- Only hold meetings if they are really necessary 
- Could people be told any other way? 
- Consider the cost; meetings aren’t cheap – time away from job, salaries of those attending. 
- If they are needed, then plan for them 
- What do you want to achieve? 
- What are you going to discuss? 
- What decisions will need to be made/actions taken? 
- Who needs to be there? How are you going to tell them what it’s about and why they are invited? 
- How long can you allocate to the meeting?

Remember, if you fail to prepare, then prepare for your meeting to fail.
 
End Result? A Successful Meeting And All In Work Time!