Read This Before Our Next Meeting: How We Can Get More Done

by Al Pittampalli

But alas, our traditional meetings kill game-changing ideas. When a revolutionary idea is brought into our meetings (and many have been), no one takes ownership. The bystander effect takes over.

The committee adopts the decision, the idea gets watered down, the corners are cut off, and the result is a safe (or no) decision, creating little change and little hope for a better future.

The legendary management consutant Peter Drucker tells us that meetings are by definition a concession to deficient organization. We either meet or work. We can’t do both at the same time.

Unlike meetings, conversations are not weapons of mass interruption.

THE MODERN MEETING doesn’t make decisions. Leaders do. THE MODERN MEETING has two primary functions: conflict and coordination. THE MODERN MEETING moves fast and ends on schedule. THE MODERN MEETING limits the number of attendees. THE MODERN MEETING rejects the unprepared. THE MODERN MEETING produces committed action plans. THE MODERN MEETING refuses to be informational. Reading memos is mandatory. THE MODERN MEETING works only alongside a culture of brainstorming.

Keep meetings as brief as possible and set a firm end time. Every minute that you are sitting with five or seven of our key people is a minute that’s costing us a fortune. Spend it wisely.

In the Modern Meeting, the decision is king. All hail the king.