Conducting effective meetings tip #2

 

Albert Einstein said, “A theory should be as simple as possible, but not simpler than that”. 

Similarly, a meeting should be as short as possible, but not shorter. People hate meetings because many of them go much longer than needed. I recently heard of one meeting where the chairperson asked several people to come and told them to expect a 2-hour session. That's not a meeting. That's several people coming together to argue and work at the same time. 

A meeting is for discussing difficult issues and coming to agreements, so that everyone can move forward with their work. Focus on what needs to be decided, and let people go back to their work.