“I was in back-to-back meetings all day yesterday and so I had to catch up at home after hours.”
“My direct reports are asking me why I am sending emails to them at midnight.”
“I have so many meetings that I have to attend, that I don’t have time to spend on my REAL work.”
I’ve heard it time and time again as an executive coach. Our days get sucked away by the constant parade of meetings we are required to attend. While meetings can be helpful to get people aligned on a project, stimulate creative solutions, and provide accountability, they can also be used to reinforce group think and avoid addressing the real issues.
Meetings are not inherently bad or good. Instead, we need to evaluate how we are using the meeting format. Only once we are clear on the purpose of a meeting, who needs to be present, and what outcomes we want to achieve, can the problem of too many meetings can be addressed.
THE PROBLEM
Once upon a time, perhaps years ago, a cross-functional team decided it was important to hold a weekly meeting. But the reason for continuing to have that meeting has not been questioned or evaluated since its inception, and so the weekly team meetings continue like clockwork. This feeds into the “too-many-meetings” culture that in turn reduces productivity.
I’ve also seen meetings held in a preemptive strike in order to avoid having a more difficult conversation. A client was telling me recently that he was being called into a meeting by another department in order to find out why a project didn’t go according to plan. Instead, this meeting could have been avoided if the team member from the other department had scheduled a one-on-one meeting with my client and had a forthright and difficult conversation from the outset (and would have avoided the feeling of him being ganged up on).
Occasionally, we use too many meetings as an excuse to appear busy or avoid doing other work because are we busy attending all these meetings. It makes us feel important that our presence is necessary. It’s also easier to sit through a snooze of a 60-minute meeting in which we are not an active participant and that is only tangentially related to our role, rather than tackle that large project that is waiting back at our desk.
POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS
- Be intentional about meetings you accept. When you receive a meeting request (verbally or email invite), I encourage you to ask two questions: (1) What is the purpose of the meeting? (2) What is my role at the meeting? If you will be a key contributor, then consider attending the meeting. However, if you are there just so you are “in the loop” or someone is making sure you don’t feel left out, you can instead request a summary of the key decisions made, or share your position on the topic in advance to the other meeting attendees so they know where you stand.
- Say no to meetings that aren’t necessary (see criteria above). You can do it. You can say “no.” I assure you that the world will not crumble. I had one client ask me, “Can I really say no?” Yes. You can. If you get push back from the person who is inviting you, ask questions to understand their position. What is their concern about you not attending? Are they fearful you are going to miss out on something? Once you find out what dynamic is really at play, you can address the issue directly instead of making assumptions.
- Be a role model. When others see that you are freeing yourself up from meetings, then they feel like they have permission to follow suit as well. You might even find that saying “no” becomes contagious in your organization. But if you wait for others to take action or give you permission, you might find yourself waiting for a while.
- Before initiating a new meeting yourself, review the criteria to make sure a meeting is really necessary. Can the matter be resolved by having a 1:1 conversation, rather than pulling a whole group of people into a meeting? If you are just sharing information, can you do it another way (email, shared documents, etc.)? Meetings should be reserved for solving problems, strategic discussions, and brainstorming — really active, engaging activities! If you are simply transmitting information, there are more effective ways to do that.
- Initiate discussion/review of regularly-scheduled meetings. If your team is constantly being bombarded with meeting requests, perhaps it’s time for a larger process-driven conversation in your organization regarding the purpose that meetings serve. Stepping back to look at this issue from a company-wide perspective can be very valuable. Consider bringing in process experts, like facilitators from your HR or Learning and Development teams, to help you be successful.
Meetings can be a valuable tool if used to unleash their full potential. By establishing criteria for determining whether to hold a meeting, you and your team be more intentional in every aspect of your work. You will also support a culture where questioning the effectiveness of our daily activities is supported and encouraged. Are we rewarding results or just staying busy?