Is it really necessary?

Having fewer (but better) meetings is key! (Allen & Economy, 2012)

Holding meeting after meeting for every topic that arises will cause employee frustration and “lost productivity of all the people attending” (Guffey, Rhodes, & Rogin, 2011, p. 52); both of which are equally detrimental to the company.

Make sure to arrange a meeting only when absolutely necessary. Consider the reason for calling a meeting and whether using other methods of delivering the message would be more efficient. Some of which may include:

• Email
• Text message
• Memo
• Letter
• One-on-one discussion
• Telephone conference call

By achieving your goal through a more efficient way, you will successfully reduce the number of meetings held and can focus on improving the quality and productivity of the meetings that are justifiably called.

You should also consider if all the resources (including people) are available for the meeting. If not, subsequent meetings may have to be called, resulting in double the efforts. “If you cannot get all the people in the room who need to be there and are qualified and empowered to make decisions” (Irons, 2006), reschedule the meeting for a time when all necessary resources are available.

Another common cause for employee frustration is the regularly scheduled daily, weekly or monthly meeting. Don’t meet just to meet! This results in negative productivity by pulling employees away from their work without validation.

References:

 

Allen, K., & Economy, P. (2012). Conducting effective business meetings. Retrieved from Dummies.com: http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/conducting-effective-business-meetings.html

Guffey, M. E., Rhodes, K., & Rogin, P. (2011). Business communication: process and product (6th Canadian ed.). Toronto, ON: Nelson Education Ltd.

Irons, K. R. (2006, October 2). Is this meeting necessary? or are you attending too many pointless meetings? Retrieved from Yahoo Voices: http://voices.yahoo.com/is-meeting-necessary-attending-too-84655.html