I make no claims to be an expert at this, but here are some of my thoughts around meetings that I have gathered over the years. None of this is based off of one particular experience, but rather a collective of perspectives I have borrowed and learned from others over the years. This is not prescriptive advice, either, it is just how I think about meetings when it comes to productivity and companies. It is also a work-in-progress…none of these thoughts are crystalized.
In general, I have found work-life to be full of meetings. Even as a junior person at a company, you are often roped into meetings of which you are not sure why you are there. This is extremely ironic in the sense that you are never taught the best way to run a meeting. You are never taught how to be the best meeting attender. You hardly learn about the “right way” to run a meeting at school, especially engineering school, yet, as soon as you graduate, your life will fall victim to google calendar paralysis that is booked back to back with meetings..
I am actually an extrovert for the most part, in that I do get energy from meeting new people and hearing others. I really like learning from people – yet I hate some meetings.
And I hate some meetings not because of anyone one particular person or trend. I hate some meetings because I am not sure they should all exist in the first place.
Furthermore…it feels like there is no “right way” or “standard means” for running a meeting. The result is that a lot of meeting are without format, somewhat random, and not exactly productive. This free-flowing, semi-productive time can be useful, depending on your goal.
The purpose of me writing this article is not to pretend I know how the best meetings work. What I ask for, rather, is to think of ways we can actually share how the best meetings work.
What is the format? What is the protocol?
Companies should teach this to their leaders…
Should their be a designated notetaker? Should everyone arrive early? Late?
Also published on Medium.