More meetings please !

It is very trendy to be against meetings. At least once a week I read some blog that makes anyone who participates in, let alone organizes, meetings feel like a managerial dinosaur. Meetings are bad. They are a waste of time and they don’t do anything good. I once bought a book, “Death by meeting”, by Patrick Lencioni, just because of its title. Cool title but a complete waste of paper.

In my recent experiences, I found that the key ingredient missing for teams to work efficiently together, was the lack of … meetings. Meaningful meetings that is. Meetings where people actually talk. It seems that the only meetings that exist are like the old-fashioned (and out-dated) university lectures, where The One Who Knows All stands in front and teaches to the scribbling (these days iPad-ing) masses.

But what about the meeting where people sit around a table (or better still, stand up where the issue occurs) and talk intently and in a focused way about the organization’s problems, what to do about them, and who will do what to move forward. Meetings where opinions are exchanged, views are challenged and people work together to improve the way the organization functions. Meetings where people talk to each other (not about each other), look each other in the eyes and commit to actions. Meetings where problems and issues (the things the entire organization is gossiping about, but remain unaddressed) are tackled and ways are found – even by trial and error – to move forward. Meetings where a follow up is organized to evaluate the progress and readjust if needed.

What are the alternatives ? Emails ? Please, no more. Emails seem to have become a substitute for  people talking to each other. We now need apps to deal with the continuous useless flood of emails (the best app is called DEL). Coffee-machine or water-cooler conversations ? These are good for the “what’s-new-in-your-world” chatter but they often reinforce the gossip, are clique and not team-based, and rarely lead to action. Outside retreats ? Fun to do but you don’t generate team cohesion by working on a team twice a year.

If anything, I see too few meetings. Too few meetings like the ones described above. Meetings where people work in a focused way, make decisions and hold each other accountable for results and commitments. Something to think about before shooting off another email to ten people.