Meetings are essential for the success of any business. They allow people to collaborate and share information, keep updated on company news and make decisions together. Then why do most employees absolutely hate to attend meetings? And what should management change in order to have truly effective meetings?
One-on-one meetings are the soul of any startup. In essence, they’re a superlative form of supervisor-employee connection. And without a doubt, they are very advantageous. To list, they connect, inspire, motivate, boost communications, and enhance cooperation.
Meetings are about to die. Particularly since collaborative work has become the staple of modern office life, they are about to die. And after they die, they will move somewhere better, virtual. Somewhere in the cloud, or in a special bundle of apps. But don’t get your hopes up high yet.
After all, there have been attempts to put new life into meetings. Some preach against inherent inefficacies. “Make meetings purposeful”, they say. Others are deluding themselves that theater methods will do. So “treat your meetings like an improv session”, they say. Seems like everyone thinks that “The Office” is a documentary. That we should all turn Michael Scott and do some improv.
All meetings are much like performance shows where people come in and take their usual roles. There’s always someone who monopolizes the conversation and couldn’t care less about your agenda, the typical colleague who never speaks up, or the one who would literally agree to anything you say, right? That’s because each team gathers a wide variety of personalities and communication styles. So how can you encourage all attendees to engage in the conversation and contribute within a given time frame, so that when the meeting is over you have a clear outcome?
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