This is profoundly true, and without understanding this, as you have so clearly explained, we stand the risk of experiencing another Bible writer’s statement in the book of Ecclesiasticus: 2:11 ” I then reflected on all that my hands had achieved and all the effort I had put into its achieving. What futility it all was, what chasing after the wind!”

This is a fansastic piece, that speaks so true to life and our constant efforts to ‘win the game’ so to speak when in fact all we are doing is chasing our tails.

Okay, I must confess to being one of those few people who absolutely love meetings. The PowerPoint presentations, lunch ordered in, danishes in the morning – what’s not to like? Sure, too many meetings is not very productive, but I still loved them.

Unfortunately, having work pile up while you’re in the meeting was never fun. It is nice that someone on your team got the brilliant idea to actually look at the meetings you were having in an objective way. Too many times we rely on the same people to get our initiatives accomplished because we know that they will get them done correctly.

What we miss is that they end up being overworked, under appreciated, and under supported. We usually find this out after they “suddenly” leave for another job, and it takes several people to pick up the slack from their leaving. Too many times we just chalk it up to them being poor at delegating and keep our blinders on.

Keeping better track of who is on your initiatives and maintaining a balanced allocation of your labor force not only helps prevent this kind of burnout, but it also helps you discover new talent in your organization. It’s a great idea, and i am glad you shared it with us.

Brad

Being on the more operational end of things, I also see that for everything meeting with 6 people, 10 minutes over the allotted time is equating to an hour of lost time in the course of a day. Baffling.

I will take the quote “don’t confuse activity with action” into my work week and try to herd the cats into keeping the meetings short.

Paula

Do you suppose a meeting on developing leaders, how to delegate responsibility, how to make decisions, how to expect accountability, etc. might be in order?

I would oppose autocracy or demagoguery. But there’s something to be said for real leadership. Getting mired up in too many meetings would have driven Lee Iaococca and Winston Churchill nuts. I was never especially fond of Ross Perot, but I did read somewhere that if the street has potholes, you don’t need another committee (or meeting.). Just fix the potholes. That may be an over simplification. But aren’t we guilty of the opposite extreme when so much of our time is spent in too many meaningless meetings?

i must be quite a job to keep track of what is going on, what has been done, and what needs to be done by which person.

a listing/chart…information that can be seen, as things change and progress, has got to be a very valuable and ongoing tool for this job.

a guide for the people in charge.
i love as well that meeting took place because someone was listening to feedback from workers about having too much of something, in this case, meetings.

it really is good to listen to one another.

great post.

The biggest problem I have with meetings is that they too often become a substitute for action. Meetings give the impression of progress and activity, but they’re often just a way to avoid making decisions.

I was in one today that was borderline bizarre — the jargon police would have arrested the entire gathering. I kept asking, “But does this mean we do? What do we need to do? What does ‘doing’ look like?” Made people uncomfortable but finally got something done — a meeting to decide what “doing” looks like. Sigh.

Good post.

My biggest thing is the illusion of Communication.
It seems that most managers these days confuse “information” with “communication.”

They dump data, charts, and other meaningless things, clap their hands together and just presume they’ve done their jobs.

It all comes down to, as you said, simplicity.

It takes a little work and thought to boil things, to keep them from being ‘confusing,’ but its a management imperative.

David
http://www.redletterbelievers.com