How to Hold an Ineffective Meeting

Whether you work for pay, do volunteer work, or manage a household, meetings are a fact of life; unfortunately, they’re often an extremely ineffective fact of life. There are meetings for the business, social and volunteer organizations to which you belong; meetings at work; meetings with household service providers such as architects, lawyers or accountants; civic meetings; and meetings at your child’s school. This month I’ve noted some ways to make sure that the meetings you attend continue to be ineffective, with the intention that you’ll be inspired to take charge and do something to make sure your time and that of all the other attendees is more highly regarded at future gatherings.

Call a meeting when one isn’t necessary. Rather than have a telephone conference call or use web-based technology, make sure everyone has to spend time and money getting to the meeting. This works especially well when the cost to hold the meeting is greater than the actual benefits of the meeting.

Call a meeting when the timing isn’t right. Make sure invitees don’t have time to adequately prepare for the meeting. If you can schedule it when critical deadlines or projects are looming, when key people aren’t available, or when there are conflicting obligations, so much the better.

Don’t have a written agenda. Meetings with no expressed purpose are especially ineffective. Attendees won’t know the issues to be addressed and will be unable to prepare for the meeting (see above item). Discussion can ramble on indefinitely without ever knowing if the meeting’s objectives have been achieved.

Invite the wrong people. Be sure to invite people who are either unaffected by the meeting’s outcome or are not in a position to decide on the issue at hand. In addition, invite people at the highest pay level when people on their staff are fully capable of being effective contributors.

Don't set a time limit. With no limit on how long each topic will be discussed, you can be sure your meeting will drag on interminably. This is ideal for people who love the sound of their own voice.
Don't limit discussion to the topic at hand. You can find out amazing things about people when you let them ramble on about whatever subject they choose.

Don't clearly identify outcomes and takeaways. With no written record of the resolution of the issues discussed at the meeting, you can enjoy the fun of misunderstandings, as well as missed deadlines and opportunities. And better yet, you'll enjoy the chance to have another meeting since no one can remember what got accomplished at the first one.