Let’s NOT Meet! Strategies for Eliminating Meetings
By Michael Wilkinson, CMF
Managing Director, Leadership Strategies, Inc.
Adapted from The Secrets to Masterful Meetings
Meetings take time and tie up resources. Therefore, if a quality result can be achieved without holding a meeting, this is often preferred. It is important to recognize, however, two basic meeting types: status meetings and working meetings. The meeting type is determined by whether the primary focus of the participants will be reviewing or creating.
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“Status” Meeting |
“Working” Meeting |
| Meeting Focus | Review | Creation |
| Meeting Flow | Primarily one-way | Primarily two-way |
| Typical Products | Information update, idea generation, feedback | Decision, issue resolution, action plan |
| Group Size | Unlimited | 3–16 |
| Typical Length | 30–90 minutes | 1–3 hours |
| Typical Frequency | Weekly, monthly | As needed |
Questions to Ask Before Calling a Meeting
- What is my purpose in calling the meeting? What is the product to be created?
If you can’t determine the purpose or a clear product,DON’T MEET!
- Is it possible to achieve the purpose and create the product without a meeting?
If your answer is yes,DON’T MEET!
- Is the purpose worth the time and resources that the meeting will consume?
If your answer is no,DON’T MEET!
How to Eliminate Status Meetings
- If the meeting is truly “information only,” consider distributing a memo instead or using voice mail. DON’T MEET!
- If little action has taken place between status meetings, consider making meetings less frequent. DON’T MEET AS OFTEN!
How to Eliminate Working Meetings
- Make analysis assignments and perform the analysis outside of a meeting.DON’T MEET TO DO THE ANALYSIS!
- Document a preliminary decision in written form and circulate it for comment. DON’T MEET IF YOU HAVE AGREEMENT!
Interested in learning more facilitation techniques? Check out our course, The Effective Facilitator.
Michael Wilkinson is the Managing Director of Leadership Strategies – The Facilitation Company, and a much sought after trainer, facilitator and speaker. He is a Certified Master Facilitator and a Certified Professional Facilitator. As a past president of the Southeast Association of Facilitators and a board member of the National Institute of Facilitation, Michael is a national leader in the facilitation industry. You can get more tips from either of Michael’s books, The Secrets of Facilitation or The Secrets to Masterful Meetings. You can receive a signed copy through our website.
