Meetings of the Minds

Do you love meetings? It seems a day doesn't go by without a meeting on the schedule. As you climb the leadership ladder you find yourself immersed into more and more meetings. Meetings for this project, meetings for that projects, even meetings to discuss the meetings. It can get tiring attending meetings. Sometimes they are also not necessary.

Today as part of the leadership language series I would like to look at meetings. Meetings are part of the leadership language. It is a way for the minds to come together and share ideas and brainstorm. Knowledge exchange is good and helps in driving the success of the ideas.

Meetings are also held unnecessarily. Some people schedule a meeting when a simple phone call or email would suffice. Here are some guidelines on determining whether a meeting is necessary or not.

• Does your idea or project require brainstorming or knowledge exchange? (You should have a meeting)
• Do you need to present an idea or results of a project. (You should have a meeting)
• Do you need to discuss and train a group on a new process. (You should have a meeting)

• Do you or someone else want to discuss an issue that was in an email. (You don't need a meeting)
• Does someone want to talk about setting a schedule for upcoming meetings. (You don't need a meeting)
• Is someone looking for clarification on an idea or project. (You don't need a meeting)

Think about the time spent in meetings before scheduling one. Use some common sense. Everyone is busy so if you can spare a meeting don't schedule one.