The problem with meetings

is not that we meet but how we meet. And that starts with why we meet.

Many meetings feel like a waste of time because they are.

When we meet e.g. to listen to info that could just as easily have been delivered as a memo, there’s no use for making the effort of putting everyone into the same room at the same time.

On the other hand, if we meet because there’s something that can’t be easily put in a mail. Or because the live interaction enables insights that would remain hidden otherwise. Or because we specifically make it about the human connections rather than the info …

So, if we meet because we actually make good use of the fact that humans are present in the same room at the same time, then this is a great reason to have a meeting.

And it shifts the “how” from a mere delivery of facts to actually making an effort to encourage and improve the human interactions. When the interactions are the reason why we meet, then the how becomes about the interaction.