In far too many organizations, the stream of meetings is endless.
They occur back-to-back and all day long. Instead of getting things done, people gather to discuss getting things done.
For every meeting that rightly serves to inform, update, and engage, there are other meetings where the primary purpose is to signal commitment, busyness, and status.
When leaders don’t take a hard stand against these unnecessary meetings, they propagate like weeds and can take over a culture.
Unknowingly, in many organizations, showcasing and discussing results becomes a substitute for productivity. This happens when talking about an issue begins to feel like making progress, and people lean into this perception.
Consequently, visibility and contribution in meetings become a highly prized and precious commodity. People who want to get ahead and prove their value naturally propose more meetings where they can showcase their talents.
Not surprisingly, organizations that place a premium on reputations and relationships for promotion decisions usually watch meetings mushroom.
The same is also true for organizations that fail to clarify decision rights. When people are unsure who owns a decision, they schedule a meeting to clarify it, usually without resolution. When everyone learns they are responsible, meetings become the default forum to discuss decisions without making them.
As John Kenneth Galbraith liked to say, “Meetings are indispensable when you don’t want to do anything.”
Leaders who lack trust in the team to execute independently also help meetings to multiply.
To make themselves comfortable, these leaders call meetings to check in. Just so they can learn what everyone is really doing. The more they learn, the more likely it is for them to schedule another meeting, just so they can be sure.
There are many good reasons to have a meeting, but reputation management, unclear decision-makers, and a lack of trust in high-performing team members aren’t among them.
Meetings are time bandits that should be avoided whenever they can be. The unnecessary meetings that occur in any organization are hugely expensive (just think of the compensation, travel, and resource costs of everyone in the room) and undermine productivity.
Good leaders insist that every meeting be justified with a purpose, an agenda, and a decision goal. They examine recurring and standing meetings to determine if the reason they were created still exists. If not, they retire them.
It’s up to the leaders in the organization to draw a hard line between the necessary and unnecessary meetings on the books. Good leaders work hard to eradicate meetings whenever they can.
As economist and philosopher Thomas Sowell was fond of saying, “People who enjoy meetings should not be in charge of anything.”
What meetings can you cancel? How many unnecessary meetings happen every day in your organization?
The costs, real and unrealized, are enormous. Let’s not meet to discuss it.
A Daily Dispatch from the Front Lines of Leadership.
