I have lots of meetings in my world. Over the years of business, non-profit leadership, elected office, and ministry, I’ve probably attended several thousand meetings. Along the way, I’ve developed some strong opinions.
I thought I’d share a few.
Here are 10 strong opinions I have about meetings:
- If all the decisions are already determined – don’t call a meeting – send me an email. Don’t waste my time.
- If you’re meeting at a time when people are naturally hungry – feed us. And, pay for it.
- If we don’t have an agenda – if it’s simply on the calendar, but there is really nothing to discuss – well, I don’t mean to seem rude, but what are we doing here?
- If every new idea is going to be shot down – would skeet-shooting be a better use of our time?
- If we keep doing this the same way every time, won’t someone – someone like me – eventually get bored.
- If we are only going to talk about it – but never really do anything about it – isn’t this really just a social event?
- If one person dominates all the conversation – let’s skip the meeting and schedule a speech.
- If everyone is invited – nothing is getting accomplished today – let’s have a party.
- If it’s past time for most people to go home – let’s postpone – you’ve lost our full attention.
- If no one is taking notes – will we even remember any of this tomorrow?
Just a few of my thoughts about meetings. I’m not opposed to them at all. I think they are vital to healthy organizations. Let’s just keep getting better at them.
