Meetings they are a fact of our business lives. And while the number of meetings and the amount of time you spend in them may vary based on your job title, it is hard to argue that they are a significant part of business life today.

Anything that consumes a major chunk of our time is ripe for analysis and is likely a great source of productivity improvement. And meetings are no exception.

Even a casual conversation about business life will soon get to the frustrations and challenges people experience in meetings. You will quickly hear things like:

They are such a waste of time.

We never seem to finish anything.

We just spend too much time in meetings.

How can I get my work done when I spend all my time in meetings?

Im not sure why I was at that meeting.

Ill bet youve said or thought one or more of these things yourself.

In my experience, there are several questions we can ask to help improve the effectiveness of our meetings. But one of those should clearly come first. It is the question we should ask at the very start of planning any meeting. Answering this question carefully is the fastest way to improve our meetings.

The First Question

Do we need a meeting?

Too often people dont ask this question. They have information to share, a problem to solve, or a question to consider and so they do what they always do they schedule a meeting. We do this for many reasons, including:

- Wanting everyone to be involved

- Not wanting someone to feel left out

- Wanting everyone to buy-in to the results of the meeting

And the most common reason, habit.

We schedule meetings because that is what we have always done.

How to Answer the Question

The first hurdle is to ask the question. Once you have asked yourself the question, you need to know what to consider when answering the question. Think about:

Geographic location of information/participants. If your whole group is located together this is less of an issue, but it is a definite consideration if your people are spread out or travel regularly.

Number of people affected. If the number of people affected by the issue or information is really large, the method of sharing information might be different, alternatively if the number affected is small, getting them together might be the best answer.

Complexity of the issue. If the issue you are thinking about meeting on is very complex or highly emotionally charged, then you probably want to get people together. Issues that are more simple might require less or a different form of input meaning that a meeting might not be required.

Goals is this one-way information sharing? Many meetings end up being one way information sharing. If that is the case for your meeting, you might consider other ways of disseminating the information. If you really want dialogue or conversation about what is being shared, then a meeting is more likely your best option.

Need for independent thought from individuals. While meetings give us the chance to discuss things openly and thoroughly, sometimes stronger individuals in a meeting will dominate. If you really want each persons input independently, you might substitute one-on-one meetings for your originally conceived group meeting.

Cost. The costs of having a meeting are huge. And no, Im not talking about the coffee and donuts. When you consider the real cost of putting people in the conference room (calculate this by estimating the cost/hour/person in the room) you will be shocked. This factor alone can help us really think more carefully about whether a meeting is our best option.

Other Options

Asking this question may lead us to having fewer meetings, but the need that prompted the question still exists. So if you have a need but have determined not to have a meeting, how do you meet you need?

You can always have face-to-face one-one one conversations, use email or voice mail, or even have phone calls with people if you cant catch them face to face. Each of these options gives you ways to share information, and to request input in return.

Final Thoughts

Meetings while sometimes tedious and not as effective as we would like, are an amazing tool for getting work done. Asking this initial question - Do we need a meeting? is one of the single best things we can do to improve the success and productivity from our meetings.

Discipline yourself to ask this question every time you start to schedule a meeting.