No More Wasted Time at Business Meetings

I just attended a meeting--and probably not the last meeting--that ended up being an incredible waste of my time. It’s sad that there are people in business who lack the understanding of what it takes to schedule and facilitate a productive meeting. This column will be my attempt to help you avoid meetings that waste your time.

Know when the meeting will start and stop.

At least I got an agenda and a start time for this time waster meeting. Have you been to meetings that dragged on and on? Part of the reason is that there’s no end time. Beware of meeting agendas with no start and stop time. I emailed the meeting planner beforehand and asked for the expected meeting end. At least he had to consider that before the meeting started.

I’m also wary of meetings that don't plan for the amount of time that should be devoted to each meeting agenda item. Why? Meeting organizers often try to do the equivalent of cramming 20 pounds of sausage into a five-pound casing. Sometimes you just can’t accomplish every item in the time allotted. At my last meeting, if the organizer had figured out the approximate time needed for each agenda item, he would have seen that he couldn't accomplish everything he wanted to do in the allotted time.

Only make important decisions during the meeting.

I was at a meeting where a group of 20 business professionals who had volunteered their valuable time were asked to decide whether there should be doughnuts or cookies at future meetings. Was that a good use of their time? Of course not. (And this was pointed out by one of the participants.) Who would have thought that the doughnut/cookie issue was an appropriate discussion item? Only someone who hadn't thought about what the purpose of a meeting is.

The purpose of a meeting is to provide real-time discussions that allows key people to learn quickly and form opinions so they can make important decisions. That’s why having an agenda is so important. When you plan your agenda, every item must pass this test and answer the following questions:

• Why should I put this topic on the agenda?
• What outcome do I want after the discussion?
• What do I want meeting participants to contribute?

You should not include an agenda item unless you have these questions answered. And of course, you must have good answers to the questions. I still wonder what could possibly be the right doughnut/cookie answer.

Determine which tasks can be accomplished before the meeting.

I’ve attended meetings where there were pages and pages of documents that needed to be read and then discussed—all at the meeting. What a waste of time. Had the organizer thought through what was the best use of time, it would have been to have the participants read the documents prior to the meeting and bring their comments with them. The discussion would have been about the comments and a decision could have been made after the discussion. Instead, the wasted meeting time included people reading the documents and then sitting and waiting while others finished reading.

I wish these examples were fiction. They’re not. Unfortunately, there are people in positions of authority who lack leadership, strategic, and organizational skills. I shudder when I think of what their lack of critical thinking skills means for their families and friends. I cringe when I think about the unfortunates who work for them and with them.

Feel free to send this post to the organizer of the next meeting that raises red flags for you. You might have one less meeting that wastes your time.