Meetings: The Biggest Waste, or Best Use, of Your Time? Five vital steps for moving from Waste to Best

Which of these quotes do you most identify with when it comes to meetings?

• If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved, and never will achieve, its full potential, that word would be ‘meetings.’ – Dave Barry
• None of us, including me, ever do great things. But we can all do small things, with great love, and together we can do something wonderful. – Mother Teresa
• People who enjoy meetings should not be in charge of anything. – Thomas Sowell
• Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much – Helen Keller
• Meetings are indispensable when you don’t want to do anything. – John Kenneth Galbraith
• Many ideas grow better when transplanted into another mind than the one where they sprang up.  – Oliver Wendell Holmes

If you were immediately drawn to the negative quotes, you’re not alone.

• 71% – meetings are unproductive and inefficient.
• 64% – say meetings come at the expense of deep thinking.
• 62% – meetings miss opportunities to bring the team closer together.

So, how do we turn meetings from the biggest waste of your time into the best use of your time. Here are five steps to take.

1. Meeting Agreement – Yes, you heard me correctly. You must take the time and effort to define the why and how for all your scheduled meetings. Yes, I said all. Each and every one of them. If it’s not worth defining the why and how, then why meet at all? Include the meeting cadence, types of topics, and who’s responsible for the different roles.
2. Meeting Notes – More than the resulting To-Do list, it includes summaries of topics, decisions, lists of discussed plusses, and minuses. Take time to figure out how you want each meeting to run and then compare it to how they actually work.
3. Meeting Goals – These can be Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), Objectives and Key Results (OKRs), or whatever measurements you want to use. But you must measure.
4. Meeting Agreements – Look at your list of personal and organizational goals to see how you’re doing. Are you on track to achieving them or have you been sidetracked? Diverted?
5. Meeting Kudos – Be sure to recognize, reward and record moments and achievements from the group. These morsels of praise can encourage like nothing else I know.

Now, I’m all in when it comes to being led by the Spirit. But there is also planning. God says that He has a plan for us[1]. How did Nehemiah know that the wall was only half done without a plan that had its total height[2]? God took the time to meet with His people[3]. The whole purpose of the Tabernacle was for God to meet with His people[4]. If Jesus is with us[5], isn’t that a meeting?

Might I make the radical suggestion that a meeting should not be thought of as a waste of time. But an opportunity to celebrate and connect with people who are made in the image of God. They are someone that Christ came and died for.

And like any celebration, it goes much better if there is preparation and planning.

[1] Jeremiah 29:11

[2] Nehemiah 4:6

[3] Exodus 19:17

[4] Exodus 25:22

[5] Matthew 28:20

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Chet Gladkowski is the Founder of GLAD Associates, Inc. (a) and author of “Have Yourself a Merry COVID-Christmas”(b). He has also launched National Day of Hope(c). His latest books, Hope is Like Steamed Crabs (d) and Hope is Like Barbeque Ribs (e) are available through Amazon.

1. https://chetglad.org/
2. https://www.amazon.com/Have-Yourself-Merry-COVID-Christmas/dp/B08J1WLXNS
3. https://www.nationaldayofhope.net/
4. https://www.amazon.com/Hope-Like-Steamed-Crabs-Gladkowski-ebook/dp/B09GWBMK3Q
5. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09PZ9LVFS