This morning I checked my daily schedule and had over 15 meetings scheduled. Some were overlapping and with some triple booked slots. People live meetings but are they effective? How do I decide which ones I need to go to? Why do we have meetings?

It is quite simple, in reality, there are two reasons that we have meetings.

Information

We have meetings to relay information. That means as an attendee we either are there to receive information or we are there to give out information. Some times both.

So do we know what the information is? If we do not understand the information we are meant to be relaying or we are not properly prepared with the information, then why have the meeting?

Decisions

We have meetings because we need to make decisions. Do we understand what decision we need? Who needs to be present to make the decision? What inputs do they need to make the decision?

If the attendees do not have the right inputs to make a decision (or not enough time to review the inputs) then why have the meeting? If there are not the right people present to make a decision - then why have the meeting?

Push Back if Not Ready

So the answer to sorting out which meetings to attend is to measure how effective they are. Do they have a purpose that is centred around information and decisions? Is it clear what is required from the meeting? Are the right people there? If not - decline.

I visited a company the other day, the only decisions they made in their meetings was that they needed a follow-up meeting to discuss the problems and make a decision. These types of meetings are not focused and are wasting your time.