Archive for the ‘Meetings’ Category

Last week I was doing some consulting work here in Dallas and attended a strategy and planning meeting for an upcoming event. While the majority of people attending the meeting were Dallas locals, two individuals had flown in from out of state for a 3-hour meeting.

As the meeting concluded, one of the executives commented that it was nice having the out-of-towners fly in to attend the meeting in person. Then they exchanged comments about hating conference calls and meeting over the phone, complaining how it just wasn’t the same. This my friend, is Sludge.

Sure, virtual meetings aren’t quite the same as face-to-face contact, but I couldn’t help but wonder, when are we going to let go of our old, outdated beliefs about how work happens?! Consider the expense and the environmental impact of flying people into town, renting a car, staying overnight at a hotel for a 3-hour meeting. And did I mention the other consultants and I had to fight rush-hour traffic, sitting on the highway for about an hour each way to commute into Dallas?

This may sound harsh, but meetings aren’t about enjoying the company of your coworkers in person and they aren’t about using your preferred communication method. Meetings are—or at least should be—about accomplishing a specific result. There should be a clear outcome for each meeting you attend and the meeting should be accomplished in the medium (in-person, conference call, webinar, etc) that makes the most sense. And p.s. a status update doesn’t warrant a meeting.

In our meeting last week we had specific outcomes and results we needed to answer by the end of the meeting. And we did. But we could have reached the same conclusions by meeting virtually, saving everyone time, money, and lessening our impact on the environment.

What do you think? Are in-person meetings essential? If so, when? What difference would it make in your life and your organization if you attended fewer in-person meetings?

People hate meetings, don’t they? There’s nothing worse than sitting in a meeting wondering why the meeting is taking place and why you were asked to be there! In a survey I recently conducted I asked people about their experiences with meetings. Here’s an overview of what I found:

• 25 percent were frustrated by meeting outcomes (e.g., unproductive, nothing accomplished, leave without action items), 
• 40 percent were frustrated by meeting content and structure (e.g., lack of direction, unclear purpose, inefficient),
• And 15 percent felt meetings were generally a waste of time! 

Overall, that’s 80 percent of people that are annoyed and frustrated in any given meeting! If the majority of meeting goers are annoyed and frustrated, why aren’t we doing anything to change them?!

When working with clients to reorient their business around results, one of the first things I encourage them to do is make all meetings optional because it has an immediate and profound impact on everyone in the small business.

When you make all meetings optional, you give power to every individual in your organization—from entry-level admin to top executive—the right and responsibility to turn down a meeting invite if it lacks a clear agenda, if they can deliver information in advance, or if there is no clear reason why their attendance is warranted. 

How do you know if a meeting should be scheduled and who should be invited? 

Ask yourself the following questions before you schedule your next meeting:

• Ask questions about the Purpose & Objective:

What are the results you’re trying to drive? What’s the goal you need to achieve? 

• Ask questions about People:

How does this meeting, at this time, with these people drive those results? Who really needs to be in this meeting? Do they need to be physically present? If not, provide the call in number or link to web-based conference.

• Ask questions about Necessity & Means: 

Does this meeting need to take place or can we resolve it via email or a quick phone call? Is a meeting the best way to handle this/produce this result?

How do you know if you should accept or decline a meeting invite?

Ask yourself three simple questions before putting a meeting on your calendar: 

1. Do you know the purpose of this meeting? 
2. Do you have an agenda? 
3. Do you know your role?

If it makes sense for you to attend—you have a results-oriented role to play—accept the invite. If you can’t figure out the purpose of the meeting or your role, ask for clarification. If you find the meeting is purely to monitor progress or share information, recommend an email be sent instead. Finally, if your presence isn’t truly needed or required, decline the invite and spend your time on something else. 

Making meetings optional doesn’t mean you quit having meetings. It doesn’t mean you’ll never have to attend another meeting in your life. But it does mean that if you’re regularly attending a mandatory meeting that isn’t producing results, it’s time to speak up. It means that if you’re the one holding meetings and requiring attendance, it’s time to reexamine your meeting process and assumptions. Because when meetings are done well, with the right people in attendance, they can be an excellent way to quickly and efficiently accomplish an important outcome.

What meetings are you attending that are unnecessary? Would making meetings optional have a positive impact at your company? Leave a comment below and share your thoughts.

This is the first story in what I hope becomes a regular feature here on the WorkStyle Design blog. Outdated beliefs about how and where we work are causing undue stress, frustration, and conflict in millions of small businesses around the globe. By sharing this story I hope many of you will realize you’re not alone, and at the same time, see the urgent need to change the way we’re working. 

Here’s a crazy—but true—story about a real small business that a colleague shared with me. Read on and see if any of it sounds familiar…

Boss Man was out-of-town visiting a client and called to check in at the office at 3:45 p.m. on a Friday afternoon and no one answered his call. Unbeknownst to him at the time, his small group of employees had all finished their work early and had headed home for the day. 

Even though one person had been designated to stay behind to cover their assess answer the phones in case Boss Man called, she too decided to head out for the day. So the phone rang and rang and eventually went to voicemail. 

Boss Man was furious and to get to the bottom of the situation, called two employees who had a history of not answering their cell phones. He now had even more reason to be upset—it was “impossible” to get a hold of anyone in his company on a Friday afternoon (Note: he didn’t actually need anything, he was just calling to check-in).

Now, Boss Man decided the only thing to do was to schedule a full day of meetings on Monday to deal with the problem. And when Boss Man meets with his employees, he does it one-on-one because he knows if all the employees are in a meeting together, no one would be working. And that’s just what happened. Monday was spent in back-to-back meetings, where the employees got a stern talking to, and no one got any real work done.

This is just a small snippet of life in this small business, but it paints a pretty clear picture of the outdated beliefs that are running rampant and causing problems for employees and business owners alike. Let’s take a closer look at some of those outdated beliefs:

Outdated Belief #1: Leadership is all about control. 

The boss in this situation buys into the old “Command & Control” model of leadership. If he’s not in the office, he has to check in to maintain some feeling of control over his employees. 

Command and control leaders believe their team needs close supervision, rigid boundaries, and precise direction in order to produce results. The problem with this model, and it was pretty clear in this example, is that the boss doesn’t trust his people. I know many of the employees in this business personally and they know they aren’t trusted—and they resent their boss and don’t trust him either. Not exactly an ideal work environment.

This style of leadership leads to treating your employees like children. But your team isn’t a group of children. They are adults and you can trust them to act like adults. 

Leadership isn’t about control; it’s about collaboration. Leaders need to support their team’s process of producing results, not stand in the way.

Outdated Belief #2: Time matters more than results.

The employees in this example felt the need to sneak around and leave “early” even though they had all finished their work. It’s time to stop measuring performance by the clock. How much time you put in does not determine the quality of results you produce. Time doesn’t equal results. 

The team suffers when the boss has a “butt-in-the-seat” mentality.  Just because someone is at their desk, doesn’t mean they’re working. Why force people to sit in an office until 5:00 p.m. if they’ve already finished all the work that needs to be done that week? 

What’s really more important? The time you physically spend at work or the results you produce? Results are more important than time. Reward people by giving them control over their time and they will continue to produce the results you desire.

Outdated Belief #3: You can solve anything with a meeting (especially a day full of meetings)!

In this example, the boss knows meetings keep people from working (which is why he only meets with people one-on-one—so everyone else can keep working). However, he still insists on having them to solve problems. 

His crazy solution to the problem at hand was a day full of meetings (meetings that aren’t focused on producing a result, rather focused on exerting his control) wastes an entire day of his time! He didn’t do anything for the business that day because he was obsessed with controlling his employees. Was that really the best use of his time? 

Meetings should be the exception rather than the rule. Meetings are often just an exercise in exerting influence and power. Save your time and energy by making all meetings optional. That way, only the people who truly need to be there to produce a business result are in attendance. 

Did you see yourself or someone you know in this story? Are you hanging onto any of the outdated beliefs highlighted here?

And if you have a story about your work environment that highlights outdated beliefs about work or leadership, let me know. I’d love to share your story in this new regular feature.

David Duprey, The Associated Press

Sunday morning, while reading the Dallas Morning News, I came across an article about “walking conference rooms.” Yes, you read that right. Treadmills and elliptical machines replacing conference tables and chairs. The full story is online here if you’re interested. I’m all for exercising, but I think the concept is completely ridiculous.

Generally speaking, what are 2 things that virtually everyone dislikes? Exercise and meetings, right? So how about combining two of the most tortuous activities into one exciting event? Please, I beg you, just say no!

On their own, both can be good, but combine them together and you have an absurd use of time. On the plus side, the article says workers get to burn calories and wear comfortable clothes. On the negative side, you sweat in front of your colleagues and breathe heavily through the presentation you’re delivering.

Our brains work best when we’re focused on one task. Contrary to popular belief, multitasking isn’t always a good thing. Focused attention increases productivity. Doing one thing at one time works well. I’ve also read that reading or watching TV while working out actually decreases the number of calories you burn because you aren’t intently focused on your workout.

Instead of spending money to move cardio equipment into your conference rooms, why don’t you train your people to run effective meetings? Then, instead of sitting through an hour-long unproductive meeting –or worse, an hour-long meeting/cardio session—you can have an effectively run 15-minute meeting and then let everyone choose how they’d like to spend their newly found 45-minutes. If it’s by going to the gym for a workout, good for them! 

I applaud companies that are looking for ways to create healthier environments for their teams and who encourage exercising, but forcing a workout on your employees during a meeting is definitely not the answer! Instead, create a productive work environment focused on results and give employees control over their schedule so they can fit in exercise as they see fit. Schedule control and a results-only orientation are two things that definitely mix!