A seminar session entitled Meetings, bloody meetings, started with a very good piece of advice: before calling a meeting ask if it’s really necessary.
You will, the facilitator told us, be surprised at how often the answer is no.
Most of us weren’t surprised because we’d sat through too many meetings wondering what we were doing and why we were there.
We’re not alone, a survey of finance, accounting and HR managers by recruitment specialists Robert Half found more than a quarter of the meetings they attend are a waste of time.
And the main reason they’re a waste of time is the participants lose focus and discuss anything they want, rather than the issue the meeting was called for.
But that’s not the only reason – frequently the finance, accounting, HR and executive-level managers Robert Half surveyed don’t know why the meeting was called in the first place. And they often feel people are involved who simply don’t need to be there.
It’s even worse in Switzerland and Spain where people think 38.8% and 38.4% of meetings respectively are a waste of time.
In Switzerland they are most commonly a waste of time because they include too many people who don’t need to be there, while in Spain the attendees too often don’t prepare properly for the meeting.
And there’s no point in trying to escape by heading for New Zealanders’ two favourite overseas working destinations – Australia and the United Kingdom – because companies there, too, have more pointless talkfests than Kiwi employers.
In Australia, 34.5% of meetings are deemed a waste of time, as are 32% of meetings in the UK. The main reason for the frustration in both countries is the same as in New Zealand – lack of focus.
They have better meetings, or more tolerant attendees, in Luxembourg and Dubai, where only 13.7% and 16.9%, respectively, thought meetings really should not have been called at all.
That reminds me of the quip for which I’ve always had a lot of sympathy: that the best meetings are between two people, one of whom sends an apology.
Homepaddock 
“A seminar session entitled Meetings, bloody meetings, started with a very good piece of advice: before calling a meeting ask if it’s really necessary.”
So you went to a meeting to find out whether or not to call a meeting??
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Places that tend to have low “wasted meetings” scores tend to be places where you don’t get asked, you get told. Thus meetings are not wasted. Luxembourg though seems an oddity, I wonder what their secret is unless they are closet authoritarians.
I find some meetings are a waste, mainly for the sort of reasons pointed out, lack of focus and preparation. Sometimes though, meetings are extremely valuable, and they work very well (if properly run) as a means of consultation.
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I’ve found the impromptu ‘hallway’ meeting to be the most effective.
Way back in the day, when smokers of tobacco still roamed the carpark, I had lots of meetings with people way above my pay grade without having to resort to tedium like agenda and minutes.
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I’m glad you bought that up. I see I have written in my diary to arrange a meeting with some people next week. I also have written in my diary this week to ask my boss what I am going to cover in this meeting when I arrange it and attend. Maybe I’ll just cross both those notes out.
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