A simple “No” that can save 37 Billions.
“Thinking is saying “No”
Alain
Type « useless meetings » or « time wasted in meetings » on a search engine and you will immediately get all the basics recommendations to run a meeting, even cost calculators and of course all the software solutions to share ideas and documents in an online meeting.
Despite available solutions, almost for free, poor meetings remain the number one waste for organization. According to “the Muse”, using 2013 data, the cost of unproductive meetings reaches 37 Billion dollars.
How to explain such a cost, when all solutions are available? The problem might not come from our lack of discipline, but from our lack of decision.
Indeed, among the half dozen articles I read on the question, I did find only once the advice that I am giving : say no to useless meetings. Unfortunately, this article, published by Asana, does not tell how to do so.
Here is my answer to this question:
Systematically deny any invitation to a meeting that does not indicate its agenda and objective.
I do not find it very comfortable, but it remains polite and educative. It is saving me a lot of time, meanwhile influencing gradually my environment to run meetings that are more effective.
Say no to unprepared meetings: switch to five star meetings and save millions for your organization.
To grant me this right, I compel myself to conclude my own meetings with the 5 stars test: 1 star won for every yes to the following questions :
1- Was the meeting prepared ?
2- Did we discuss (ie disagree, argue)?
3- Did we make decisions?
4- Are the next steps clear?
5- Did we start and finish on time?
This self-discipline makes me stronger in my decision to deny systematically meetings without objective or agenda. If there is no objective, or agenda, it means that the meeting was not prepared. You can be sure that you will waste your time. You do not have time to be wasted, neither the other participants. It is easy to explain your rule of the game to the host: There is nothing personal.
Gradually, you will observe changes around you. Meetings will start and finish on time, be more focused and a team dynamic will soon appear, in a positive humor. External participants will relay this method to their own meetings, and influence further your organization.
It is very simple, but needs a systematic approach. If you keep on denying invitation to useless meetings and challenging the quality of the meetings you are part of, you will free up a lot of time in 2021, for you and for others. In the end, you will contribute to reduce these 37 Billions of waste within your teams and organization.
This illustrates what I explain in another article about resolutions : adopt simple principles that works as preset decisions. As soon as you put your principles into action, improvements are infinite.
100% of the time is easier than 98% of the time.
Clayton Christensen
For instance, you can decide to increase your self-discipline and plan only 30 minute long meetings. Attention decreases after 25 minutes, and you can use the 30 minutes saved to schedule the actions that were decided or to send documents and minutes. Actually, 30 minutes meetings grew by 22% since Covid time lockdown.
By checking the engagement of attendees, you will escape the absurdity of investment related meetings described in the Peter prescription : In a meeting about a new plant investment, the overall building worth millions takes 5 minutes of the meeting, the choice over a new type of bicycles shed, 20 minutes and finally where to install coffee machines 50 minutes. In a long meeting, the time dedicated to topics may not be proportionate to their importance, but instead to the capacity of participants to understand them. Consequently, time is spent on topics upon which anyone can have an argument. Discussion time is increasing in proportion of the competence is decreasing.
Alain, the early 20th century French philosopher once said: thinking is saying no. Inversely, by saying no, you will save time to think. We will develop that later.
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