No Meetings Scheduled For Thursday Afternoon? Good! Let's Have One!

"No Meetings Scheduled For Thursday Afternoon?""Good!"?"Let's Have One!"
by George J. Downs, Jr.

How do you feel on Sunday night knowing you're already scheduled for 22 hours of meetings this week; you have a key person on vacation; you have people being scheduled for training; and you don't have enough people to run the office.

Sound familiar?

Welcome to the world of management and the normal life cycle of the way things are in most businesses. It's like the old "up to your waist in alligators while trying to drain the swamp" scenario.

Any organization that truly lacks empowered management probably suffers from this problem. In many cases we get too caught up in consensus, synergy, and the old two-heads-are-better-than-one mentality. There are some managers, even organizational cultures, that want to form committees to meet about everything from the company Christmas party, to the setting up new procedures on how to put out the trash. Granted some things need groups and committees. But in most cases, we go too far.

Research has shown that if you empower someone to accomplish something, it will usually get done. It will certainly get done faster, and in most cases better. Have a meeting about it and all you'll do is schedule more meetings about how best to do it.

This is 1994! We have wonderful communication devices like three-way calling, conference call capability, voice mail, e-mail, internal LAN networks and all sorts of other assorted goodies that, in some cases, could see to it that we almost never need call or attend most meetings again.

Some larger organizations are now really getting into tele-video-conferencing, saving on time and travel cost, eliminating the need for many to leave their individual offices. As the years click by there will be even more things that will allow us to work smarter, not harder. Devices, like those mentioned above, will even do wonders to cut down on stress in the workplace. Imagine that-working smarter and cutting down on stress at the same time!

As you're reading this you might be thinking?"Well, this all sounds wonderful, George. But here at First National Bank of Whatchamacallit we don't have such fancy devices, so what can we do to restore order and sanity?"

First, before a meeting is allowed to be called, or a committee formed, ask one or two questions. Is it possible that we can assign this responsibility to one person? This means empowering them to contact whomever, make the necessary decisions, and then come back with the final recommendations. If that isn't possible, then the second question is, "Can one person be designated to manage the task through individual meetings and conversations, primarily over the telephone, or by doing the necessary travel, and in so doing not pulling all sorts of folks away from their watch?

In probably seventy-five percent of the cases one of these methods will keep things more manageable. If you really can't work it this way, then consider the following:
Appoint a chairperson
Limit the committee to seven people
Have a 90 minute meeting time limit
Declare a maximum of four meetings
Consider rotating the meeting locations
Have an agenda in each attendees' hands prior to the meeting
Nothing added to the agenda during the meeting
Have a "gatekeeper" keep people on topic and agenda
Demand that everyone contributes
Always start on time
Try to uses consensus?not "The ayes have it."


If at all possible, avoid meetings and committees, but if you must have them they need to be very structured and fast moving. You must start on time, never taking the time to review what has happened so far for late comers. People just can't come late! Buck Rogers, the retired and well known sales manager from IBM, would lock the door when his meeting started, and they always started on time. If you weren't in the room when the meeting started, you didn't get to attend. You might not need to be that forceful, but people must respect each others' time.

The size of the group is very important. The ideal size to get the best synergy, yet maintain a level of control, is seven. As the number of members increases the likelihood of things running smoothly decreases. If the group is smaller than seven the possibility of one or two individuals dominating becomes more likely.

The above "rules" for running a meeting can go far beyond the meeting held during the day at your financial institution. Apply them at your meetings at church, or parent-teacher organizations, or in your town meetings. Nothing is more boring or time wasting that meetings that drag on forever and accomplish nothing.

The ideal way, of course, is no meeting at all. People have tremendous ability if we encourage them to reach beyond their individual "comfort zone" by empowering them to take charge. You'll do yourself a favor, more will get done-and you'll probably sleep better on Sunday night too!

George Downs, a Quality Service Consultant, has developed a series of seminars and workshops pertaining to motivation, interpersonal, and leadership skills. He can be reached at Downs & Associates, Folcroft, PA, (610) 583-4735

Copyright © 1994 Bankers' Hotline. Originally appeared in Bankers' Hotline, Vol. 4, No. 11, 6/94