“The elephant in the room” is a saying that refers to an obvious truth being ignored, “based on the idea that an elephant in a room would be impossible to overlook; thus, people in the room who pretend the elephant is not there have chosen to avoid dealing with the looming big issue.” [Source: Wikipedia — since you wouldn’t really question this assertion, would you?]
Our workplaces are littered with elephants, especially in meetings. Ignoring them only allows disrespect to fester, time get wasted, and cultures to rot.
This is exactly the sort of thing we’re looking to end at Do. We want to build a company that helps people do work they love.
In order to save our company cultures, we need to first identify what those are elephants are and then chase them out of the conference room — ASAP.
So, what elephants are in your conference rooms?
Elephant #1:
The meeting title is so vague, so everyone is clueless about objectives.
When people are setting up meetings, very little effort is put into actually setting the meeting up. In other words, calendar invites are the end of the process — leaving an agenda and objectives to be guesswork.
Indeed, people tend to be bad at inputting 5 minutes of effort now to save them 60 minutes later. It’s human nature. Look no further than the Marshmallow Test to believe this.
Usually finding a good meeting time is so hard, it makes the whole process so painful that the last thing you want to do is put in more work. So usually “Infrastructure Chat” or “Marketing Catch Up” suffices in the moment — but it leaves everyone clueless about the meeting objectives. Indeed, 63% of meetings do not have a prepared agenda — so you’re not alone ☺
Tip: Be thoughtful about your meeting titles and make them actionable.
Imagine if a meeting agenda looked like this instead…we can do it!
Elephant #2:
Your boring 10 person meeting is Joe’s excuse for avoiding “real work.”
Executives average 23 hours a week in meetings. Meetings are conflated with work. Just as the “busy” trap article in the New York Times in 2012 said about being busy…
“It is, pretty obviously, a boast disguised as a complaint. And the stock response is a kind of congratulation: “That’s a good problem to have,” or “Better than the opposite.”
Sometimes, yes, meetings are great manifestations of work. But given that at least 50% of meetings are considered to be a waste by employees according to a 2005 Microsoft Productivity Survey, all of that time in meetings can’t possibly be a good thing.
So, call it what it is. Unless you make your meetings actually productive, meetings can be just an excuse for folks to talk about how busy they are!
Moreover, (unproductive) meetings can be symptomatic of larger problems in an organization, such as the need for a new team or redefining roles.
As my old boss @ Yammer (boss’s boss’s boss actually ☺), David Sacks, who was the original COO @ Paypal, said…
…if a dozen people from product, marketing, sales, etc, are meeting to hash out international issues on a frequent basis, perhaps it’s time to create an International team dedicated to solving these issues. Or perhaps people are meeting excessively because it’s not clear who owns an area.
Tip: Don’t reward people for being meeting-goers.
Elephant #3:
“Circling back” rarely happens.
Meetings are like a performance, as we discussed in a recent interview with Inc. Magazine. This is informed by the work of contemporary sociologist Erving Goffman in The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. You’re different with your friends, and your spouse…and even yourself.
So, if meetings are like a performance, you and your coworkers are actors. And things ought to have a happy ending. So of course, as the meeting ends, people say “I’ll email you the report!” or “Let’s circle back in 3 weeks.”
Sometimes they do. Sometimes they don’t. Followups get dropped all the time, and if you’re not going to do what you say, why meet in the first place?
Tip: Be honest about what you actually will and won’t do. IT
…If you can confront these elephants, you can conquer meetings.
It’s not easy. What’s easy is “Untitled meeting.” and “RSVP: Yes.” and “Let’s circle back in 3 weeks.” But this rarely leads anywhere constructive.
So, trusty reader and “Doer”, we challenge you to confront these elephants in your conference room and Do your part to ending bad meetings today!
PS — If you’d like a platform that helps you towards this goal of ending bad meetings, we suggest you check out Do.com ☺
