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Meetings aren’t bad. We are bad at using meetings.
There is a lot of talk about the villainous meeting, aka the productivity killer. Some companies and teams go so far as to eliminate them or block them. Rally against the meeting! Fewer meetings, more work!
Why? Because there is a pervasive belief that meetings do not increase productivity. There is a belief that meetings are not work. And in a productivity-driven society, if you are at work and you are not working, that is bad.
I would argue against the point that meetings are not work, but I will take a different route here, instead. A lot of time and effort has already been dedicated to the argument that meetings should be shorter, less often, more efficient, etc. And yet we still have the same issues.
I think the conversation has been focused on the wrong culprit.
Here’s what I mean.
Meetings are not good or bad
Generally speaking, meetings are tools for communication. That’s all. By themselves, they are neither good nor bad, productive nor unproductive. They just exist. Like pieces of paper. Meetings mean nothing until they are used.
It stands to reason then that meetings are not bad. Rather, we’re bad at using them.
When a dysfunctional team or an ineffective communicator holds meetings, it’s likely that they are not productive, and people attending those meetings say things like “I hate meetings,” “Meetings waste my time,” etc. Unfortunately, this is an attribution error.
The issue here is not meetings, but how they are used.
Focus on the problems, not the meetings
The question isn’t, “Do we need meetings?” And it’s not, “Should we meet less often?” At least, those shouldn’t be the questions. The issue isn’t about meetings, so the questions shouldn’t be, either.
The issues are usually around productivity or teamwork or communication, so ask questions about those things instead.
Helpful questions you could ask as a team are:
- “How we can we work better together?”
- “How can we ensure everyone is aware of what is going on?”
