by Steve Adubato, PhD

After Memorial Day is a perfect time for businesses to consider how they handle meetings. Many organizations hold meetings just for the sake of it. I call them “routine” meetings—your “routine”, 8:00 a.m., Monday morning meeting. You hold it just because that’s what your team has always done. The agenda is the same. The communication pattern is predictable.

by Steve Adubato, PhD

We are in the midst of an information and communication explosion. There are more ways than ever to share information and communicate with others. Yet, this doesn’t mean there have been dramatic or significant improvements in communication effectiveness.

by Steve Adubato, PhD

Meetings. They can be productive, engaging and extremely useful. They can also be boring, de-motivating and steal valuable time.

The problem with meetings hit me again this past week as I was working with some clients who were complaining about the “meeting culture” in their organization. One top executive said she spent between 40 and 50 percent of her time in meetings while another guy told me he spent almost 75 percent of his time in meetings. When I asked why so many meetings, I was told things like; “It’s just what we do here”, or, “All these meetings are a part of our culture”, or finally, “It’s the way we share information” with our team since we all run in so many different directions.

by Steve Adubato, PhD

It can happen at an annual shareholders meeting or at a presidential press conference. It occurs when a manager meets with his or her employees around a difficult subject or at a sensitive parent/teacher meeting. Consider this: A tough, direct, and probing question is asked of someone in a position of leadership and he is absolutely stumped.

by Steve Adubato

A few columns ago we explored the problem of a VP of customer relations who monopolized 26 minutes of a 30 minute sales presentation. Yet, this is not the only mistake made by those who go out and pitch prospective clients on their products or services. There is another aspect of sales meetings that often gets overlooked. Exactly who should be included in a sales meeting?

by Steve Adubato, PhD

You can tell a lot about a workplace team by observing its meetings. Do people look forward to the weekly staff meeting as an opportunity to brainstorm, make important decisions and share valuable information? Or, do employees dread these meetings as a huge waste of time?

by Steve Adubato, PhD

In his book, “Death by Meeting,” best selling author Patrick Lencioni quotes a mythical corporate manager saying, “If I didn’t have to go to meetings, I’d like my job a lot more.” Lencioni goes on to write about professionals lamenting how much they hate meetings. Lencioni asks, if we hate meetings so much why don’t we work harder to make them better. It’s a great question.