How to Eliminate Unnecessary Meetings

The first step in eliminating unnecessary meetings is to take out your diary and look at the meetings that you have to go to during the next month and those that you have been to during the past month. How many of those were or are really necessary? Be honest, how many meetings were for the following reasons:

- the meeting is always held once a week/month/year
- to discuss a previous meeting
- to get people together
- to provide information
- to tell people what to do
- as a power ploy
- as a preliminary meeting.

Let's take a look at some of these. A lot of meetings are held because they've always been held. If you've inherited any of these regular meetings you should decide whether you actually need to continue attending or running them. If they do nothing except generate paper or are simply a talking shop, consider whether you could use the time more productively. Before you commit yourself to any regular meeting, find out exactly what the purpose is. Only go if it will be useful for your work. If attendance by someone from your office is required, consider sending a member of your staff. Alternatively, if reading the minutes can keep you abreast of current events, ask for them to be sent to you. There is no law that says just because meetings are there you have to go to them.

You might be the culprit by instituting meetings that others have to attend. Before you do so, ask yourself whether you can always spare the time to get to them; if not, why should other people? Can you deal with the subject any other way - if you can, do so, don't organise regular meetings.

If your boss considers your attendance at certain meetings vital, then go to those but eliminate as many of the others as you can. Talk to your boss about the role of the meeting and discuss whether you need to attend each time.

Some meetings are arranged just to discuss the previous meeting. You know the kind - 'we just need to finish off discussing this - we need another meeting'. Why do you need to finish talking about it? Probably because the meeting was not run well enough for the discussion to take place within the time allowed. In that case you do not need those kinds of meetings. You need to ensure that meetings are efficiently run.

Many meetings seem to be organized just so that people get together and have a chance to socialize. If this seems to be the case, suggest other better ways of doing this - perhaps a dinner once a month.

If the meeting is the only time that participants can get together informally, allow a 20-minute 'social' break. But put it into the agenda and call time on it promptly.

If meetings are called to provide information, they are often duplicating other ways of doing so. Perhaps sending people written information, a promotional video or giving them a call would be a better and more efficient use of the time.

Meetings also exist for telling people what to do. The boss wants to tell you what to do and wants everyone else to hear. It can have a useful effect of introducing peer pressure, but more often just wastes time.

Meetings are notorious for the power struggles that go on in them. Georgette may call a meeting simply to prove that she has the power to do so and to show off her new project proposal. If you are not into power games, admire her proposal in a ten-minute chat and leave the meeting to its own devices.

Preliminary meetings are the quintessential waste of time. Either the subject is important enough to discuss and deal with now, or it isn't. A meeting to prepare for a meeting is a waste of time.

Don't let these meetings eat into your day. If you can't eliminate them, at least get out of attending them.

Don't go to meetings
If you can't stop unnecessary meetings, then avoid them. Here are some useful ploys to get out of attending meetings:

- send a member of your staff
- ask for a copy of the minutes
- send written comments for distribution
- ask for the meeting's secretary to send you a one-paragraph summary of action points
- be committed elsewhere.

Another reason for not going to meetings is because you have nothing to contribute. Why sit through a meeting if you have nothing to say? If this is the case, reading the minutes afterwards might give you all the information that you need.