Have you ever walked into a mission critical meeting? Things need to change in the business to course correct to be successful long term. You go there thinking that decisions are going to be made to drive progress. To get that many senior people in the room says that this is important, right? And then it happens. Everyone walks in, sits down and pulls out a computer, a mobile device, or both. Fingers begin pounding away on whatever the topic of the minute is. There you have it. The silent message that says we are required to be here for this meeting. The topic is not really that important.
Meetings happen in business, sometimes way too often. Study after study concludes that multi-tasking is not effective. Sitting in a meeting and doing something else degrades the effectiveness of both. Meetings should have a specific purpose – the bulk should be for action and decision making. Information should be sent in advance to allow for debate and conclusion with a path forward. Leaders should agree that the focus of the meeting is the focus, and other sidebar activities should be handled outside of the meeting. By setting the tone by example, the entire culture will change. If the meetings are not effective, that should be resolved such that meeting quantity declines and meeting quality increases. How are you driving the meeting culture in your business?
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