The first step to getting out of the mandatory meeting cycle: Don’t call meetings if you were planning one-way communication

In my previous posts (here and here), I discussed why calling “mandatory” meetings is a bad idea.  It doesn’t work at getting more attendance and it creates contempt for the meeting before it even started.  Yet, many meetings are still called “mandatory”.  This blog post is the first in a series dedicated to help you break the cycle of making meetings mandatory.

As explained in the prior posts, if you feel compelled to make a meeting mandatory, then it is an indicator that the meeting isn’t worth having.

So the first question should be: Is the meeting format even necessary? 

If you were planning to convey information to your team or group – and had no plans for additional interaction — then the meeting format isn’t necessary.  This is also true of other “guest speakers” you may have planned.  If they were planning to talk in front of the group – and nothing more—then the meeting isn’t necessary. Read more