We all dread the work meetings
Work meetings are part of business culture. If a decision is needed, you must setup a meeting. When the group needs to discuss work, you must setup a meeting. Often, for too many obstacles and hurdles for the work, you must setup a meeting. Business includes a culture of meetings. But too many meetings is all too often of a problem.
Meetings can be useful, when they stay on point and solve problems. However, meetings often to not do these things.
Meetings need to leverage the purpose behind them. Getting together to discuss and make decisions. When that doesn’t happen, meetings are a failure
A culture of meetings and too many meetings is a problem though because they take people away from doing the work. Especially the top priority work.
What is the problem with the work meetings themselves?
Essentially, the problem with work meetings is that the people in the meeting often to not discuss the real issues. People do not want to cause conflict and do not want to open themselves up to criticism. Rather than push ideas forward thru collaborative discussion, people often keep the status quo and meetings then do not solve the real issues.
In order to have more productive meetings, the leaders of meetings need to keep them on track. They also need to build up healthy discussions with conflicting ideas. When you can get to the root of the conflict and actually discuss constructively, you can have productive meetings.
But all too often, team members will avoid that at all costs. And leaders will not steer in the direction to have those types of conversations. Leaders can fight this by making the meetings more engaging and promote a culture of constructive criticism. Where it is a safe environment to share ideas, even if contrary to popular opinion. Make the meetings at work a collaborative session.
Death by Meetings gets into these ideas and how to fix meetings at work
Death by Meetings is a favorite text of mine. It really dives into meeting culture and how or why meetings are a waste of time. But then it gets into ideas of how to solve your work meetings problems, so that the work meetings themselves can be more productive.
I just finished reading my new copy of Death by Meetings and it is already a new favorite on my bookshelf. For those that have too many meetings and for those that think meetings are a waste of time, here is a book that can help you to do something about it.
Ideas such as keeping the meetings engaging but also having clear purpose communicated and understood for the meetings. Fix your meetings at work today!
Check out Death By Meeting today, and fix your work meetings
Of course, if using my links here to Amazon, I will get a small referral. I believe in transparency on this and must call it out. But I would not recommend this product of Death By Meeting if I did not think it was a good option and the best choice for a text on helping meetings at work to improve.
Fixing when you have too many meetings or find that your meetings are wasting time. Meeting culture can be difficult to change, but is well worth the rewards when it can be improved. This is one of my favorite books on the bookcase. I constantly use it to develop more productive meetings, while learning about myself.
Additional reading that helps improve work meetings
