Why I Hate Meetings

I remember a time when every time I suggested we have a meeting, bodies would cringe. In retrospect I don't blame them. Most meetings are wholly ineffective. But when you examine the purpose of meetings and the distinction between a great meeting and a frustrating meeting, it quickly becomes apparent how important they are, but more importantly how to make every meeting a powerful one.

Most people become frustrated with meetings because they tend to be a “bitch” session, an opportunity for people to share what's not working. Often meetings lack structure or intended results prior to the meeting. Instead they're meant as a session to “figure it out”. While on occasion these meetings may be necessary, they are not productive and often lead to frustration.

There are two types of powerful meetings. (1) The first is check-in meetings; that is, meetings on a regular basis (once a week in our office) where you check in with everyone else to see how the firm or individuals are doing as compared to the goals and standards that have been set. This type of meeting is to ensure accountability is essential for long-term personal and firm success. (2) The second powerful meeting is a discovery meeting. In a discovery meeting you bring different perspectives together from key individuals that you think are important in making a critical decision. The significance of making these meetings successful is that you must have a controlled agenda as to time and parameters around each part of the meeting that provide for:

1) brain dump time; a time where all can shoot out ideas without judgment!
2) refinement time; when all of the issues raised are refined to identify the most important and relevant ones, and then
3) strategic time; when the participants strategize a solution to the core objective for the meeting that was potentially not even conceived prior to the beginning of the meeting.

Check-in meetings and discovery meetings, when managed and facilitated properly, can be very empowering and lead to major breakthroughs in firm operations and individual growth.

So the next time you have a meeting don't cringe, make it a powerful one.

Dave Zumpano, Estate Planning Attorney, Just Like You!