My 3 Favourite Tools To Avoid Pointless Meetings
Ross Stevenson
Chief Learning Strategist @ Steal These Thoughts! I help L&D Pros improve performance with tech + AI, and share lessons with 4,000 + readers.
Look, time is our most precious resource.
It is non-renenwable. So, you should do everything possible to protect it. Do you know the biggest enemy of your time? Meetings. Yes, meetings - I said it.
The working world has trained us to believe that meetings = productivity.
This is BS!
As a society, we've taken something useful (at one point) and turned it into an ego-driven event to make ourselves feel relevant.
Let's fight the good fight and reclaim our time from pointless meetings.
The only meeting toolkit you'll ever need
Here are the best tools to do just that ??
1/ Harvard's Meeting Cost Calculator
Those Harvard folks are pretty smart.
So, who better to turn to when in our time of need? This meeting calculator speaks in the language that everyone understands - money.
Use this tool to calculate the average cost for your meeting. Both in time and money.
2/ The "Why do you need this meeting?" Decision Tree
If you put in a meeting with me, be prepared for judgement with this decision tree.
领英推荐
I've kept this in my 'managing-self' toolkit for the last decade courtesy of the folks at Atlassian .
3/ The "could this have been a DM or email" framework
Most meetings should never have been meetings.
DM's and emails are here to save us, folks. Plus, it's never been easier to send videos, voice recordings or emojis to get your point across.
This framework from Grammarly (btw, thanks for making my writing better ??) is the minimalist tool you need to show wherever you do your work. Also, feel free to shamelessly pollute your team's Slack channel with this as a reminder.
Ok, folks. Steal these and reclaim your time.
Make meetings count. Your time is finite!
Before you go…
I share tools, tactics and frameworks for the modern L&D pro to build a rewarding career in?my weekly newsletter???.
Subscribe here??? to get a dose of these thoughts every Tuesday morning.
You can check out my?website?for more content too.
Eliminating Pointless Meetings
1 年I believe companies may also be losing their most talented people due to bad meeting culture. Ross Stevenson we are working on a tool that leverages AI to reduce meeting waste by driving behavior changes in the company. Would love to discuss with you.
I coach high achievers to live a life meaningful to them by asking better questions. Facilitator and Coach | DiSC Certified Practitioner | Zumba Instructor
1 年A rule for me, if a meeting organizer doesn't include an outcome or if there is no information about how the meeting is relevant to me, I'll reach out to ask if it is necessary for me to be there. I've gotten a lot of time back simply by asking the question, "Am I needed in this meeting?" If it is something I'm interested in but it isn't necessary for me to be there, I'll just read the post-meeting email.
My new book is out now! Get it at Amazon - 1500 Coaching Questions: What to ask in any situation | Founder of MTD Training & Skillshub | Speaker | Entrepreneur and L&D Awards Winner
1 年“I have the power!” to say no to useless meetings
Training and Content Coordinator/Specialist | eLearning developer | Collaborative problem solver | Creating engaging training and learning solutions aligned with state of the art adult learning principles.
1 年When will we see a generational shift in unnecessary meetings, you think?
Death to the useless meetings! ??