Meetings

I've been in a lot of meetings this week.  Some have been back-to-back-to-back affairs that have left me pretty exhausted.  But I find myself not too put off by them.

As a general rule, I REALLY don't like meetings.  Well, let me clarify that, I loathe meetings!  I developed this loathing over the years because many of the meetings I have attended have been poorly organized and even more poorly executed.  I end up wishing that I had a book to read or my laptop to do some work or maybe a major server disruption to rescue me.*

* When I got my iPhone and later my iPad, I found I could get some work done and while trying not to be so obvious that I was not paying attention. 

When I think about it, I really don't loathe meetings in general, I loathe unorganized and poorly planned meetings.  Those that are well run and unorganized don't bother me so much.  This little epiphany or "what alcoholics refer to as a moment of clarity"* came about after reading "How to Run a Meeting" by Antony Jay (published back in 1976).

* Never thought I would pull something from Pulp Fiction into a blog piece about meetings.  If you don't know the line, watch the movie.

In the article, Jay gives great advice for those planning to or who are now running a meeting or meetings.  Hey talks about various reasons for having a meeting in the first place and reasons why some meetings should just go away.  There should be an objective for the meeting and things ought to be planned out in advanced.

I don't know if it is just me who hates free-for-all meetings or ones that just go nowhere.  But I now know my preferences and will strive to run my meetings in the fashion presented in the article.  I have read the article more than once and plan to refresh my memory with it from time-to-time.  I hate my time being wasted and I would hate to be guilty of wasting someone else's time.

I will buy a copy of the article and give it to one my colleagues. Not because he is guilty of running poor meetings, rather he is learning to be a manager.  I want him to at least be exposed to what I consider to be a "best practice" for running a meeting and let him figure out what works and what doesn't.

Getting back to my meetings in Kenya, as I said, they have not given me cause to complain. The are better organized, more focused and moderated so we keep on point.*

* I can deal with back-to-back-to-back meetings so long as I have time to get some caffeine in the form of a Coke (or two).