Should you ban meetings?

I continue to be amazed at the distracting thinking that happens around meetings. The latest doozie I’m seeing pandered about is that meetings should be banned or ban meetings one day a week. Seriously. Ban meetings.

First, meetings are where work gets done. Meetings are where decisions get made. Meetings are where communications happens.

There is related bad thinking that work only gets done at desks by one person. Measuring productivity is too frequently rooted in the production for one person.

Yes, people need time to implement what they have agreed to do and what they are hired to do. How do they know what to do? How do you know that what they are doing is linked to what others are doing? How do you know if what individuals are doing is linked to the organisation and the organisations goals and values? How do you keep individuals aligned in their action so they aren’t working at cross purposes?

Meetings! Meetings are where it happens. Meetings are the engine of organisations.

Do not ban meetings; improve meetings!

Banning meetings, even for one day a week, impedes communications and disrupts work. Yes, there are bad meetings. We’ve all been in them. But banning them altogether because meetings are bad?

It is absolutely critical that organisations face the reality that they have bad meetings. Fix them. Train people on how to both facilitate and participate in meetings. And don’t simply run a class in your L&D department. Get help with coaching, co-facilitating with experts, advanced training, leadership training in meeting quality, and lots more. Test what is learned. Apply new techniques. Make meeting competency part of job descriptions. Do something new!

Why are we putting up with bad meetings and all the whining about bad meetings and all the wasted time and money put into bad meetings? Why? Why? Why?

We can help you understand your meeting culture and how to attack your bad meetings to help you save time, money, frustration and actually get some work done. Call us. +44 (0)20 1628 471 114 or complete our contact form. We really do want to help you.