The BIGG Successs Show
12 Ways to Make Your Next Meeting Your Worst Meeting
A guide to wasting everyone's time. Read our show summary at biggsuccess.com.
Welcome to The Big Success Show. Today, we'll talk about 12 ways to make sure your next meeting is your worst meeting. The Big Success Show with George and Mary Lynn. One of the things that go along with many of our jobs, we all know it's the old M-word. Meetings. That really can be a bad word, can it? And studies have shown that we spend about 15% of our work week in meetings. And that's if you're lucky. That's right. And many of those meetings are a huge waste of time. So today, we thought we'd talk about our 12 elements of a bad meeting. How to make sure you plan the worst meeting ever. Number one, call a meeting even if you don't have anything to discuss. Or just call a meeting on the fly because an important issue has come up for you and you need answers now. It's important to you so it must be the most important thing for everyone else. Number two, if in doubt as to whether or not someone should attend the meeting, invite them. Or one up that, make it an all-staff meeting, even if it only affects a small percentage of the group. Just because it's peripheral to their jobs, they should hear it anyway. Number three, make your agenda so vague that no one knows what the meeting is really all about. Don't distribute it in advance so people can come to the meeting prepared. Keep them in the dark about what's going to be discussed. And the best way to do this? Don't have an agenda at all. That's right. Number four, don't start the meeting on time. Better yet, don't even be on time for your own meeting. Doesn't matter if everyone's waiting for you, your time's way more valuable than theirs. Number five, kick off the meeting on a negative note. Tell everyone how bad things are. Look for scapegoats and call them out in front of their peers. Number six, don't stick to the schedule or don't have a schedule at all. Who really cares when this meeting will be over? Nothing is more important than your meeting. Anything else has anything to do? Number seven, don't defer a conversation to a later date. Even if the point of discussion starts eating into precious time, keep it on the table. It was on your agenda so it's got to be dealt with today. The meeting can either go long or you can just give the other points less attention. Number eight, do most of the talking. Don't plan for participation. People love to hear you talk. Dominate the conversation. There's no need for you to listen to someone else during a meeting. That certainly won't help solve any problems. Number nine, when someone presents an idea or comment, be quick to shoot them down. There'll be no free flow of ideas in your meeting. You're in control. Who do they think they are anyway? Number ten, no matter how long the meeting runs, don't give them a break. People love to just sit and sit and sit. It's best to introduce new ideas to your staff or try to find the solution to an ongoing problem after they feel lethargic and unenergized from a lack of activity. And of course, no one ever needs to use the restroom. Hey, it's speaking of breaks. Let's take a quick one here and we'll come back with two more elements of the worst meeting ever. Today, we're discussing things we hate in meetings and we've gotten through ten so far. Number eleven, you know that guy or gal who loves to hear himself or herself talk. Let them talk and talk and talk. Don't cut them off. Don't bring the meeting back to its focus. And number twelve, the final one, when the meeting is finally over. Make sure that there are no plans for action, no decisions have been made, no follow up is scheduled. People just love sitting around in meetings that don't accomplish anything. Well, that sure was a load of bad meeting practices. Boy, it was, Mary Lynn. Sad thing is, I don't think we've hit them all. I think you're right. Tell us what your meeting pet peeves are. What do you hate about meetings? And leave them on our blog today in our comments at big success that's big with 2gsuccess.com. That's also where we have a written summary of today's show, that whole list. Let's get our big quote for the day. Quote today comes from Steve K who said, "An employee who needs permission to buy a box of paper clips can spend tens of thousands of dollars worth of employee time on bad meetings." Waste is waste, whether it's paper clips or time. Next time we'll offer some suggestions on supplementing your income. Until then, here's to your big success. Big Success Show at B-I-G-G Success.com. [MUSIC]