Meetings, meetings, meetings…

Do you love to hold meetings? Do you love to attend meetings? A lot of leaders makes the mistake of conducting regular meetings too often that team members no longer appreciate them. Generally, team meetings are held once or twice a week with every team member present and discussion points for people’s tasks are covered.

Meetings for everyone is a waste of time

I always get irritated when the manager or team lead always hold regular team meetings and go through each and everyone’s tasks for which I have no concern at the moment or for the duration of the project. Leaders do not realize that meetings should only be held for the person concerned and if necessary, instead of conducting this gathering only to waste team member’s time. The focus of members working on their respective tasks is disrupted and the hours spent on these assemblies add up to the duration of the project.

Why are meetings held?

Usually meetings are held to give feedback and to inform people how the team is progressing in the project. Also, it gives the leader a sense of control of the project especially when everyone on the room reports and gets his approval.

What should be done if regular meetings are not held

Go straight to the person. I would not need everyone else to listen if I need updates from certain people. What I do is to require individual status reports accomplished only for five minutes submitted to me on a daily basis. This gives me visibility of the project and allows me to act on certain concerns immediately without disrupting people who have no concern of the situation. For team accomplishments, I would use the email to communicate to each member of the team the status of the project which is easily and conveniently read by everyone without any disruption of focus. I would assume that every team member is responsible enough to read every email sent especially when it is project related.

When to hold meetings?

I use team meetings for significant project milestone achievements where everyone is given the chance to report on their respective tasks and accomplishments as well as share what they feel is beneficial for the team. This is usually scheduled once a month or one and a half at the most.

Conclusion

Be smart in conducting team meetings and make sure you are able to maximize each person’s time to bring great productivity to your group.