I hate meetings!

Let me be more specific - I hate meetings or parts of meetings which are useless. Which, unfortunately for the way business is conducted in America, is most of them.

I had meetings last night from 5:00 PM to 8:15 or so. The quality, necessary content probably could have been done in 30 minutes. The rest was formatted and useless. Its not the fault of the "meeting callers," - its what they've done and what they'll continue to do. That doesn't mean I have to like it.

Patrick Lencioni of the Table Group, previously mentioned in this blog in relation to his "Three Signs of a Miserable Job" book, has another great business book called, "Death By Meeting." In it, he asks the question, "Which would you rather attend - a movie or a business meeting?" Obviously, we know what answer he expects. The reason, he says, that we would rather go to a movie is that is has conflict, protagonists and antagonists, and an exciting conclusion. Meetings don't. They are uninspiring recitations of formulaic crap - usually.

PL says we need to create healthy conflict in meetings. How much more fun would my meeting become if one member said to another, "You know, Jack, I think you are wrong and here is why". Jack, knowing this person respects and admires him, accepts the comments and comes back with his viewpoint. There is conflict, yet the underlying respect and admiration make it healthy, not the emotional drama that some meetings turn into (see Lencioni's "The Five Dysfunctions of a Team" to learn about healthy and unhealthy teams).

How do you change meetings? I don't know or I would sure have tried it by now. I think I need to re-read "Death by Meeting" and institute what PL talks about in the back. Or else I will have a minor stroke if subjected to such a series of meetings in the future!