Are Meetings really important?

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Posted by Radhika

I often hear many of my colleagues and friends complaining about meetings. Any organisation which indulges in regular meetings may have its employees backlashing merrily at the time and effort it consumes without any consequence. Come morning, the manager has a mouthful of words and commands followed by long drawn dreary pictures of low performances, ended up with a bleak motivation that is almost negligible. I am sure it sounds familiar.

I would not criticize the need for meetings but I believe that its frequency and agenda is something which can be rearranged. A meeting must begin with a certain objective in mind but if it meanders the destination is lost. Instead, I feel companies must indulge in other processes that help in triggering thinking, encourage participation and make the process more fun and lively.

Brainstorming is one such session which is a useful tool to produce some innovative as well as concrete results. It leads to different people indulging in different though processes, using distinct creativeness to converge towards one direction. It also compels the members to be accountable and take ownership of their job role rather than shifting the whole onus on the manager. Regular sessions might also mould employees to think more proactively and use novel methods to achieve their targets and if the sessions reap results, motivation is automatically achieved.