Managers at every level almost universally complain that many of their meetings are a waste of time. It's an old story, repeated over and over: "We didn't have an agenda." "We didn't manage the time well." "We didn't have the right people to actually make any decisions." It's a long list of dysfunctional behaviors that are familiar to just about anyone who has worked in an organization.
Of course the really dysfunctional thing about this litany of misbehavior is that everyone knows these activities impede progress — and everyone knows what's needed to do things right. The "secret tips" to effective meeting management are not very secret. Just about every manager has been exposed to them at one time or another — in standard management training programs, on posters, even wallet cards and trinkets. Yet despite all of this investment, meetings are still a problem, forcing companies to periodically run campaigns to make them more productive.
To read the original article: The Hidden Side of Meetings - Ron Ashkenas - Harvard Business Review
