When to Kill a Meeting

I love meetings and I hate meetings.  Meetings can have a very important role when a problem needs to be solved or when vision needs to be cast.  However, meetings can make me crazy.  If they are unproductive or little is resolved, I feel like sticking a pen in my eye.

Since beginning my new world of responsibility in January, the biggest change is the number of MEETINGS. And granted, a large percentage are meetings I called.   But there are new teams to get to know and new problems to solve and lots of vision to cast.

Today I killed a meeting for Sunday. Here are some reasons why I might kill a meeting:

–  People are meeting-ed out. I recognized today that if I was tired, my teams probably were too.  Sometimes  it is healthier to just let your people have their time back.

–  If there’s nothing of value to say. If I can communicate all I need to say in an email, why waste everyone’s time?  Send the email and if needed include a bribe for people to read it.

–  For your own sanity. Don’t be a lazy leader, but also if you over-commit yourself you aren’t going to be good for anyone.  Bouncing from meeting to meeting leaves little time for thinking, dreaming, and loving your family.

What are some reasons you choose to kill a meeting?


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