Meetings are the security blankets of us marketing and sales folks. Whenever sales are down, what do we do? We call a meeting. Competitors launch a new brand? Call a meeting.
The thing is 80% plus of the meetings I have attended in my working life have been a waste of time. We call meetings to commiserate with each other, to stroke the ego of bosses who require it or just to be able to say to the Managing Director, “we met today on it”.
At the National Brewing Company I used to have to sit through a half-day meeting, once a week for the 5 years that I was there. Invariably, the details were the same each week with minor variations, as people reported on their week’s activities. Think of the loss of productivity, 48 weeks x 15 people x 4 hours. The only thing that saved us was when the Manager went on holiday. (and even then someone might fill in) Multiply the waste by companies across the globe.
Here’s my solution to meetings.
- No chairs allowed (make it hard to stay)
- Come in with a clear recommendation looking for a decision(don’t prepare it during the meeting)
- No food and drink (that’s called a staff party)
- Don’t invite the Managing Director (people get all gangly and act like fakes)
Meetings are over-rated.
