Meetings as a Spectator Sport

In talking with people about their work lives, one complaint we have often heard from employees is about sitting along the wall in a conference room while others discussed the business at hand…in other words, watching other people have meetings.

Though you want to be careful not to overdo it when it comes to having meetings, they really can be helpful sometimes, mostly for discussions and information sharing rather than for actual decision making. But they are typically only useful if you are participating in them. Having your employees sitting there watching other people have a discussion is usually pointless, and a waste of their time, time that could be spent being productive for you and your firm. There are few things in life that seem more worthless to someone than sitting there watching other people talk when you are getting nothing from the experience.

You might think your employees need to hear the information that comes out of a meeting, and that is why you invite them in. But think about that. If they really need all the details because they are such an integral part of what is being discussed, they should be in a position to contribute, not just sit and listen. If they DON’T need all the details, but just need the results, then you could probably give them the highlights later instead of making them sit through the whole thing. Part of your role as a leader is translating the big boss’ guidance for the worker bees, so maybe they don’t need to sit through 3 hours when you could give them a 10-minute post-meeting report instead.

Your employees are highly talented professionals (at least, they should be, if you are hiring properly). If their project is being discussed, they should have a voice. On the other hand, if the discussion does not really concern them or require their presence, you should be using them more effectively by having them do the work you pay them to do, not sit around trying to keep their eyes open while someone explains a simple concept with 500 PowerPoint slides.

Bottom line: meetings are not a spectator sport. Unless, of course, you have great donuts.