It’s Friday at work and there is calmness in the air until
the bell on your Outlook email begins to ring sounding off the start of your
marathon of all day meetings. Meetings can be a great way to share information,
connect with colleagues and obtain insight on leadership views when managed
effectively.
Yet, sometimes we may get engulfed in a deluge of meetings
that may not meet our expectations of what we think is an ideal meeting. Lucy
Murray, a professional communicator recently referred to this phenomenon as “Waste
of Time Meetings” or “WOTMs”. You may have seen the signs
of a WOTM
on the horizon recently at work.
For example, a WOTM will omit a time managed agenda
with tangible items. Instead, you will walk into a room filled with free
flowing conversation that is not actually focused on the topic identified in
the meeting invite. Any effort to redirect the conversation to the specific
topic is met with denial and smirks from those enjoying the “time out.” By the
time you look up, an hour has passed and nothing has been accomplished except
an agreement to meet the same time next week to discuss the same topic covered
in the original WOTM.
Another sign of an impending WOTM is the lack of an
agenda. That’s right; the agenda serves as your “meeting guide” which is used
to help everyone stay on track with the time. An effective agenda is supposed
to spark ideas as well as ensure the dialogue makes progress. It is courteous
to create a meeting agenda for your participants then share it before the actual
meeting so they will know in advance how the session correlates to their work
efforts. Otherwise, if a person gets a meeting invitation and it is not part of
their “What’s In It For Me” (WIIFM) purview, then they will ignore your future meeting
invitations. Also, remember not to ignore the “WIIFM Factor” when
planning your next meeting. The sessions should be planned to meet their
expectations.
Another culprit is the perception that a meeting is a WOTM
although it may be useful for participants. A “perceived WOTM” may occur
during weekly group meetings where the same people talk each week and a “cast
of hundreds” stands around listening for an hour or more. They will have little
to no opportunity to actively engage in the session which makes them wonder why
they have to be in the room in the first place. There are only so many times
you can say a meeting is for the edification of the listeners. Part of
listening includes active engagement between all participants in a meeting.
A way to combat the potential WOTM is to take a step
back and think about what you can possibly learn the next time you participate.
Then if the signs of WOTM sneak up on you like a snow
shower in D.C., take the time to talk to the organizer and tactfully share
suggestions on how to improve the next meeting.
Top 5 Tips to Avoid a WOTM
1.
Create
an agenda and stick to it (your colleagues’ time is a precious commodity)
2.
Target
your agenda to the audience to meet the “WIIFM factor”
3.
Ask
participants to share their thoughts on the topic
4.
Rotate
the weekly meeting speakers to give others the opportunity to contribute to the
process
5.
Donate
the time back to staff if you genuinely do not have a good reason for the
meeting. They will appreciate the extra time to focus on tasks.
