Take a Risk, Decline a Meeting

The madness of meetings is real people! Back-to-back, over lunch, with no time to even go to the bathroom.

We keep hearing meetings have overtaken everyone’s schedule: things are moving fast and we have to stay aligned and connected. But how much faster could things move if we didn’t have to listen to hours and hours of “keep you in the loop” messages.

The truth is…the calendar is owning us, instead of us owning our calendars. We accept meetings because we think we have to…but we don’t.

Leadership is taking ownership of your goals and ensuring you spend your time and energy to achieve them.

Lately, several clients have taken huge risks in tackling their meeting problems. For one week, they have attempted to do it differently.
I can report that some have got their hands slapped (but survived), none got fired!, and many have changed their lives forever!

Here are some of the experiments they have tried for just one week:

• Decline every meeting scheduled over lunch: This client reports most people pick up the phone with a 5-minute discussion or they move the meeting out a week.
• Decline 20% of meetings on Sunday night: The client reviewed their calendar on Sunday night, prioritized meetings, and declined 20%. They replaced these meetings with blocks on their calendars. Yes, one person called and insisted they attend…but that was just one person. Win!
• Gain a meeting twin: Identify someone who is in most of the same meetings as you. Schedule a 30-minute meeting on a Friday with this person and review the next week’s list of meetings. Divide the meetings up so only one of you attend at a time. Schedule a 30-minute meeting the next Friday to share meeting notes and divide up the next week of meetings.

I can’t guarantee that these tactics work in every organization. But why not try for a week and see. Or maybe get your bosses perspective before you try by sharing this article with them?