Mired in the Monday Meeting

We need to GTD ASAP. We read books like The 4-Hour Workweek. We may even consider “wasting time” as the eighth deadly sin. We want to be productive with our time, yet the modern meeting is a minute-sucking menace of many a Monday morning.

In my experience, these are the thoughts held by most attendees prior to a meeting:

• “Why are we meeting?”
• “We’re meeting again?”
• “Am I supposed to have something prepared?”
• “Don’t they know how much work I have to get done?”
• “I don’t even know why I’m supposed to be here.”

Their unspoken assumptions can be distilled to one sentence: “My time is better spent elsewhere.”

This is one of the problems with the “modern meeting,” a term used by Al Pittampalli in his book, Read This Before Our Next Meeting. In this short manifesto about the modern meeting revolution, Pittampalli declares war on these “weapons of mass interruption.” In the video below, Pittampalli says that modern meetings are hindered by the fact that they are: 

• too long
• occur too often
• involve unprepared attendees
• involve uninterested attendees
• involve late-comers

Watch Al Pittampalli's The Modern Meetings Revolution.

In other words, meetings interrupt our ability to do real work.

"Meetings need to be less like the endless commercial breaks during a football game, and more like pit stops at the Daytona 500… Quick, high-energy transactions to refuel, to change the tires, to allow the driver to do the work better and faster – that’s the type of meeting that people will walk away from with a continued sense of urgency and energized with a feeling of aliveness.” – Al Pittampalli, Read This Before Our Next Meeting

In Regards to Church Staff Meetings
Pittampalli goes on to say, “We might finally have time to do what’s important, not just what’s urgent.” Church leaders may have difficulty in differentiating what’s important from what’s urgent, especially since Sundays occur every seventh day. If your plans revolve around a weekly schedule, it’s likely that everything is always urgent, which actually makes nothing urgent. You may be pressured by the urgent at the expense of the important.

Church leaders would do well to ask themselves these questions before calling yet another meeting:

• Do I want my team to work on what’s important or what’s urgent?
• Where is their time best spent?
• Is there a decision that needs to be debated?
• Is there a decision that requires complex collaboration?
• Are those who I’m asking to meet with critical to the outcome of the meeting?
• Am I calling this meeting to relay information that could be sent via email, memo, or delivered one-on-one?
• What will change following this meeting?

What About Your Current Meetings?
Do they consistently last longer than scheduled? Do they devolve into little more than a sales pitch to the already converted, or a social hour for the uninterested? Do they cause your team members to slowly file out of the room, wondering what, exactly, was just accomplished?

In essence, do your meetings have meaning?

Poll Your People
If you’re unsure of the answers to these questions, consider conducting an anonymous survey of those on your staff who endure attend your meetings. Depending on how in touch you are with those you lead and serve, you may be surprised at the results. In the meantime, consider reading Read This Before Our Next Meeting before your next meeting. It might help you avoid getting mired in the Monday meeting.

Originally posted August 22, 2011