I wrote awhile back of the Importance of Meetings and how you don’t know what you’re missing if you don’t attend them. However, I have been a part of many meetings that have had absolutely no purpose. Some of the reasons these meetings have had no purpose to me:

• A meeting to prepare for meeting
• A series of meetings to prepare for other meetings
• No agenda
• Asked to attend yet do not know what your purpose is for being there
• Invited with the thought that you will be an attendee only to find out that you are somehow the focus of the meeting thus leaving you…
• attending a meeting completely unprepared.
•  etc.

What are some reasons you feel meetings have no value?

Have you ever felt like doing this?

While I often loathe meetings, I do realize and appreciate the importance. There are things that will not always be effectively accomplished over the phone, on a conference call, in a WebeEx, or with certain individuals not able to be present or involved.

The Value in having a “Meeting”

I think the real value of “the collective congregation of people in the effort of accomplishing business”, or simply defined as “a meeting”, is to make sure that those people don’t miss the opportunity to hear or speak on something critical.

The cartoon does illustrate the irony of the dinosaurs missing the boat. They missed out on continuing the existence of their  species! But it also reveals what the boat missed out on… the existence of their species!

Deliver Value, Bring Value, Share Value

So while you have meetings to disseminate information, do not disregard the more important value of allowing others to be involved to engage and share their own ideas of what will and won’t work!

Without the exchange of ideas we all have the potential for good ideas and works to become extinct!

I still get annoyed by some meetings

Has this happened to you? You put your time and effort into getting people and leaders what they need to be more effective and they don’t give the common courtesy to recognize it.

• Are your leaders lazy?
• Worst of all are you, as a leader, lazy? 

Management is preperation, time and effort. Leadership is putting good people in good situations for them to be more effective. Often, those who are in roles as managers and often looked to as leaders, are just giving in to pure laziness.

Don’t be lazy!

What makes the most effective Leaders; whether it be at the front line, shop floor, middle manager or the glass ceiling is simply…

…The Ability to LET GO!

The only way to become more effective at what you do, to focus on the direction and the vision of your path is to let go of the things that keep you from moving forward. This means:

1. Delegating to those around, under and above appropriately,
2. Dumping anything that is absolutely non-essential to what you absolutely need to focus your time on which will allow you to start
3. Doing the things that you must absolutely do that no one else should be held accountable for. These can also be the things that are actually in your capability, skill and potential.

This is not easy. While I and all of you are most likely overwhelmed, overloaded and overworked; an exercise to help figure out what you must (1) Delegate, (2) Dump, and (3) Do is even more essential then ever.

An Exercise for Delegation

Take a moment to list all of the activities you perform in your role. Then take each thing and categorize it under one of the columns. You may realize how much you need and don’t need to DO, what you should DELEGATE to help those around you become better, and then focus on what you absolutely need to DO!

SELF ASSESSMENT

Now it is time for your to assess how much you hold onto. Follow the instructions below and think about what you listed and what you can realistically prioritize! Good luck.

Try this! After you do it let me know what you thought, took away, or maybe even changed!