Instigator Blog - Latest Comments in 7 Ways To Avoid Pointless Meetings

Re: 7 Ways To Avoid Pointless Meetings

YourNameHerre — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 16:50:04 -0000

I thought this was gonna tell how to avoid going to pointless meetings.

Re: 7 Ways To Avoid Pointless Meetings

Cindy — Mon, 21 May 2007 03:03:50 -0000

I just hate those meetings where the topic just diverted into no where and people just argue with each other over pointless things... Great article!

Re: 7 Ways To Avoid Pointless Meetings

Tim Morasle — Thu, 08 Mar 2007 16:36:14 -0000

sorry, link didn't work

http://www.meetingsense.com

Re: 7 Ways To Avoid Pointless Meetings

Tim Morasle — Thu, 08 Mar 2007 16:35:37 -0000

Nice note about meetings. I've been in so many pointless meetings... used to drive me nuts.

Good point about the documentation. I use a software called meetings sense (http://www.meetingsense.com) which has automated the whole process. It also gives the option of setting a firm agenda to stop the soapboxers in their tracks :)

Re: 7 Ways To Avoid Pointless Meetings

Ben Yoskovitz — Sun, 25 Feb 2007 20:57:23 -0000

Binnur - thanks for the link and commenting. I agree with you that setting up roles and decision making processes helps - although we all know how things can collapse quickly!

Re: 7 Ways To Avoid Pointless Meetings

Binnur Al-Kazily — Sun, 25 Feb 2007 19:51:12 -0000

Great tips, thank you! Managing the meetings with purpose and establishing a decision making process upfront with clearly identified and agreed roles has worked for me. I have talked more about those tools in my post:

http://blog.kitetail.com/20...

Re: 7 Ways To Avoid Pointless Meetings

Ben Yoskovitz — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 21:06:15 -0000

Ha! Engtech - that's a great post. Laptop Larry is a bastard...but so are most of the others too...hhhmmm...

Re: 7 Ways To Avoid Pointless Meetings

engtech — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 16:41:48 -0000

Thought you might like this post that sums up the kind of people who inhabit meetings:

http://www.randsinrepose.co...

Re: 7 Ways To Avoid Pointless Meetings

Dave — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 23:05:55 -0000

I knew I was in trouble when I found myself in meetings about meetings or in other meetings where I sat for most of it wondering what the meeting was about.

This issue is the number one source of pain and sense of being out of control for my executive clients.

Re: 7 Ways To Avoid Pointless Meetings

Ben Yoskovitz — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 13:50:08 -0000

Dawud - I agree.

The point is really - "Too many chiefs never works." You need people who are participating not all trying to lead.

Re: 7 Ways To Avoid Pointless Meetings

Dawud Miracle — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 12:04:40 -0000

Nice post, Ben. I would add that it's important that somone in charge act as a moderator for the meeting to keep it on task. I take on this role with every client meeting I have. And when we go off topic, I know that I'm the one responsible for bring it back.

I've played this role in strategic planning and organizational development meetings for larger organizations where you might have 20 principles in the meeting - all wanting to be heard. At that point, it's vital to have someone as moderator. And it should be known who that person is and their responsibilities before the meeting begins.

Re: 7 Ways To Avoid Pointless Meetings

Robyn McMaster — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 09:36:46 -0000

Ben, I've discovered that many come to meetings with agendas to crawl to the top at the expense of others. A different approach in coming to meetings is to lift up others who contribute great ideas rather than attempting to lift up oneself. What a difference it can make to your already great approaches for a successful committee meeting.

Re: 7 Ways To Avoid Pointless Meetings

Ben Yoskovitz — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 07:12:42 -0000

Jon - shame on you for loving boring meetings! *laugh*

Michael - I understand what you're saying. For me, it depends on the team. If they can handle the flexibility - more importantly if the leader of the meeting can handle the flexibility and control the meeting - it can work very well to have a looser agenda. If not, you get either chaos or atrophy.

Ann - interesting tip. I'll give it a try next time. Maybe you command a bit more attention + focus while standing and it's harder to type on your BlackBerry under the desk while standing...

Re: 7 Ways To Avoid Pointless Meetings

Ann — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 23:49:50 -0000

If you can, stand up during the meeting. For some reason, this seems to speed them up, even if you arent next to a door.

Re: 7 Ways To Avoid Pointless Meetings

Guest — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 23:43:12 -0000

Great advice. I do think though that #5 should have some margin to bend. Some of the best thought-inspiring meetings I've been in have had a broad, over-arching agenda, but enough room for people to speak their mind and brainstorm. Few things are worse than staff who are unable to speak their minds because of a strict adherence to an agenda. Let staff open up and sidetrack once in awhile, then when it becomes counter-productive, pull everyone back to the center.

Re: 7 Ways To Avoid Pointless Meetings

Jon Symons — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 22:15:52 -0000

#8 - Don't expand the meeting to fill the timeslot.
Good tips, but I have to say that when I had a job, I loved boring meetings :)

Re: 7 Ways To Avoid Pointless Meetings

manager y specialty — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 22:14:19 -0000

Sounds like a very manager x type approach. They're dumb and won't pay attention or care about meetings. So, we're going to impose how it's done.
Which is necessary for some people, but u might want to put in the caveat that it's not applicable to all management situations.

Re: 7 Ways To Avoid Pointless Meetings

Andrew Flusche — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 21:59:40 -0000

Ben,

This is a great post! Sometimes I feel like half of my waking hours are devoted to avoiding meetings. So little gets done there. The worst is when you're telecommuting and people want to drag you into the office for a "necessary" meeting. Fun!

Take care,
Andrew

Re: 7 Ways To Avoid Pointless Meetings

Ben Yoskovitz — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 15:04:04 -0000

Lorna - that's great. So, so, so true...

Re: 7 Ways To Avoid Pointless Meetings

lornadoone — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 15:00:05 -0000

I saw this yesterday and thought I would share: http://despair.com/meetings....

Re: 7 Ways To Avoid Pointless Meetings

Brandon Hopkins — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 14:41:19 -0000

I would add that you can try having a "stand up" meeting. This is a meeting where nobody sits. It minimizes idleness and makes people motivated to end the meeting quicker!