This week’s Quick List* is a companion to our Quote of the Week which is:

“Meetings are a symptom of bad organization.  The fewer the meetings the better.” Peter Drucker

A regular review of meetings is crucial for the success of any organization.  Not just the quantity of meetings but the quality as well.   Typical discoveries from such reviews include ways to save time, boost morale, productivity and overall performance.

How to conduct such a review?  Start with questions like:

• How many meetings do you attend each week?
• How many hours do they take?
• What bugs you about the meetings you attend?

We conducted a survey** last week and asked these plus a few more questions.   To date, here are the top 10 responses to the question:  “What bugs you about meetings?“

1. Inappropriate use of meetings –  This was expressed most frequently with comments such as:

• A lot of meetings are called unnecessarily when a simple email would do or a phone call between 2 people would suffice.
• Required to attend for a review of material I can read.
• “Forums” that aren’t really forums where people are expected to sit quietly, agree , and nod.
• Big huge meetings where no one does anything but listen.

2. Participation – This was #2 in terms of frequency,with comments such as:

• Minimal to zero participation by attendees.
• Poor listeners.
• People with agendas not related to the subject of the meeting.
• People not paying attention (especially using their cell phone to surf, answer emails, etc. or talking to other people).
• Asking for opinions and never using them.

3. No purpose or unclear purpose – Third in terms of frequency, expressed in a number of ways.  These three bullet points say it well:

• No clear definition in advance of what is to be accomplished.
• No clear definition of what participants are expected to be prepared to contribute.
• No clear definition of what participants should be ready to take away.

4. Lack of control – Expressed with comments such as:

• When facilitators or attendees digress from meeting topic for long periods which wastes everyone’s valuable time.
• Rambling by participants.
• Too much extraneous chatter beyond just being friendly.

5. Late starts – A big one for many people.  Some are bugged by people coming late.  Most seem more bugged by the way the leader handles it.

• Waiting til everyone arrives to start the meeting.
• Or starting on time and then repeating information as latecomers arrive.

6. No agenda.

7. Lack of preparation by leader and attendees.

One huge pet peeve:  Getting long documents to read the day or night before the meeting.

8. Ending late.

9.  Scheduling

• Scheduling at the last minute so have to rearrange your schedule to be there.
• Sometimes they are too long – hard to sit that long.

10. No results

• Nothing gets accomplished.
• No follow through.

We’ll be sharing more results from our survey later in the week.  We’d love to get your feedback too.  If you’re willing to participate, here’s a link.

Related Articles

• Quote of the Week: On Meetings, Minutes and Hours
• 10 Reasons to Stop Meeting

* This weekly feature is for managers who don’t have time or don’t want to make time to read lengthy articles or even short paragraphs. We call it a Quick List. AKA – 10 by 10 on Tuesday. 10 ( ideas or tips or questions or steps or ways to Get 2 Goal or Be a Better Manager, etc) by 10 (AM – EST) on Tuesdays. Click here if you’d like to see all Quick Lists created to date.

** The survey is open through end of today.  If you’d like to participate, here’s the link.

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