Meetings are absolutely unnecessary, because they suck away time and reinforces a culture of pacifism. They are a sign of many things that are wrong in a workplace. The solution is to get rid of them altogether, and find better ways to solve problems.
Meetings waste time, all the time
The reason why people attend meetings is because they’re obliged to, not because they’re keen to solve a problem. People adapt in social environments to get things done, and they can easily learn to do without meetings to get things done. So there’s no real reason why meetings should save anyone’s time, apart from really important news that someone wants to tell everyone – but what are emails for? It only seems to benefit those who set up meetings (for convenience), not to those who attend.
Things can’t get done during meetings
Only two things happen during meetings – talking and listening. Anyone caught doing anything else isn’t considered to be “part” of the meeting. Hence, since talking and listening isn’t really achieving anything, nothing gets done during that time. If I want to get something done, I speak directly with the people involved, get to the point about what I need, and track the tasks remotely. Constant meetings are a sign that people don’t understand how work gets done best, and it doesn’t appreciate the diverse ways in which people prefer to work. They’re also a sign of inadequate preparation, poor problem solving, and less-than-ideal working relationships – a few important factors required to get things done.
Meetings encourage pacifism
Studies have shown that people are willing to speak out more in smaller groups than larger ones. This is because channels of communication are multiplied with each new member in the group, which makes things more complicated and time-consuming. Hence, most people resort to silence. After awhile, it becomes a norm, and then a habit. This really destroys creative problem solving, and is the reason why I break down my groups into groups of three during brainstorming sessions.
Meetings are really social gatherings
People gather socially when they want to interact with each other on a group or personal level. This is why it’s easy to find small pockets of whispering, or a burst of laughter from a good joke. But you don’t need meetings to make that happen. It just happens anyway. This is another reason why you don’t need meetings, unless what you really want is a social gathering – then what you really ought to do is call it a social gathering, and manage the work in another way. Meetings are a sign of poor work-life balance. Better to have work done during work-time, and party after that.
Meetings are a poor way to lead
Good bosses understand people, and deal with them as individuals, not as large groups. Groups and teams only make a difference when individuals leverage on each other’s strengths, and not just the sum of common resources. Good managers deal with team members individually better than they do in groups, encouraging them to interact at peer level and create active discourse rather than a passive consensus.
References:
- Be a Good Boss
- Bored Meetings
- Stop the Meeting, I Want to Get Off!: How to Manage Your Team
- Kill meetings to get more done
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[...] Meetings Are a Bad Sign My three rules for a good meeting are: it takes a half hour or less, everyone comes away with a task, there is no follow up meeting necessary. Oh, and if it can happen off-site, I’ll give you 45 minutes. [...]