Reasons for Eliminating Meetings at Work
It is inevitable for most businesses to conduct meetings. It is their way of following up on things that are going on in the company. It is also a good way to connect all members of the team. However, meetings dont always end up the way people expect them to be. Sometimes, the exact opposite happens. These are some reasons why it is counterproductive to have general meetings involving a lot of people.
Meetings waste time and money
Most people attending the meeting dont necessarily have to be there. Sometimes, they end up attending a meeting when there are other issues that concern other members of the team. They could have done a lot within the given time. Instead, they are forced to sit in a meeting that does not make sense to them. If they are paid a certain amount of money for every hour they are supposed to do their work, but they dont work because they are at a meeting, the company loses money.
They require added resources
To conduct a meeting, you need to have foods and drinks. You also need to have a meeting room. All of these things are additional resources that you are wasting because you want to have a meeting. Imagine if you have several meetings a week involving lots of people, you are spending way too much for these resources.
People feel pressured
Usually, meetings are done to assign tasks to people or make them present what they have already done in front of a large crowd. These things can be done by speaking with the people involved directly. You can do them in a less stressful environment.
People feel like they are dictated
As a leader, you need to give people the opportunity to speak up and be heard. You also need to give them the chance to extract their creative juices in coming up with something new. During meetings, you could end up telling them what to do instead of making them explore their strengths. Other members of the team may also provide unsolicited advice that could make them feel that their ideas are useless. They should feel inspired to work and let their ideas shine, but meetings could prevent them from feeling proud.
Meetings dont produce anything tangible
After meetings, there could be tons of ideas. There are new tasks assigned and new teams formed to work on something. In short, meetings result to plans. These plans dont necessarily materialize. During the next meeting, something else will come up and the previous plans are forgotten. It becomes a toxic cycle that does not bring anything useful to the table.
These are only some reasons why a lot of companies eliminate meetings. Instead of having large group meetings, you can speak with people individually. You can create group chats for discussions. You can send emails or follow up things over lunch. You can do the same thing that you can accomplish during a meeting without necessarily conducting a meeting.
Photo Attribution:
Featured and 1st image from https://unsplash.com/photos/KdeqA3aTnBY
2nd image from https://www.geekwire.com/2012/eliminating-meetings-8-ways-tackle-biggest-time-waster-business/
