How Effective are Your Meetings?

Most people I know spend more time in meetings than they'd care to admit. It seems like folks "at the bottom" detest meetings even though they have few of them and those "at the top" detest them partly as a result of having too many. You just can't win!

Here's an example of MSNBC's take on meetings called "Meetings Make Us Dumber Study Shows". It's a decent enough take on how groupthink can cloud out meeting creativity but I think that there's a better approach.

Pat Lencioni (a.k.a. THE MAN!) wrote Death by Meeting, a clever fable about a young CEO who runs meetings like a trainwreck.  Says Lencioni,

 

Imagine hearing a surgeon saying to a nurse before
surgery, "If I didn't have to operate on people, I might actually like this
job." Or a symphony conductor preparing for a performance: "If it weren't for
these concerts, I would enjoy my work more." Or even a professional baseball
player: "I'd love my job if I didn't have to play in these games."

But there is hope. By taking a contrarian, nontraditional
view of meetings, and following a few specific guidelines that have nothing to
do with video-conferencing, interactive software or Robert's Rules of Order, we
can transform what is now painful and tedious into something productive,
compelling, and even energizing. In the process, we can also differentiate
ourselves from our competitors who continue to waste time, energy and enthusiasm
lamenting the drudgery of meetings.

Pretty simple stuff and he's right. As you navigate your meetings for the rest of the week, consider Lencioni's advice and transform them from drudgery into something dramatic.