When email trumps a meeting

Uh oh. It’s printed on a coffee cup. That means it’s a ‘thing’.


Just out of another meeting that could have been an email.


Our inboxes are overflowing but we’d welcome another email over a pointless meeting. 

Talk about a choice between two evils.

And it looks like we’ve reached tipping point. Over 55% of remote workers in the US think that a majority of meetings could have been an email, according to meeting statistics compiled by Zippa Careers. 

I know how they feel.

I just made it to a Zoom call with an IT supplier who had promised to show me how to make sense of a baffling piece of software.

Phew! I keenly awaited an enlightening discussion.

‘You can’t do it the way you want to. You can only do it this way.’

No demo. No need. It was a straightforward piece of information.

THAT COULD HAVE BEEN CONVEYED BY EMAIL!!

Sorry for all-caps shouting but I’m still not over it.

And when I came across the latest meeting statistics, my blood boiled again.

It’s not just the meeting. Let me recount the – wasted – time to get to the Zoom call.

  1. An email exchange about the problem, that ended with ‘let’s set up a meeting’.
     

  2. Booking the meeting. 
     

  3. Sending reminders about the meeting (him).
     

  4. Confirming attendance at the meeting (me).
     

  5. Rushing to the meeting (what did I leave undone? What work did I interrupt? What call could I have made? What cartoon could I have drawn?).
     

  6.  A pointless meeting.
     

  7. Write report about unhappy customer after the meeting (him).
     

  8. Record a video ‘rant’ about the meeting (me). Got to get something productive out of it!
     

  9. Countless minutes, if not an hour, to calm down after.
     

  10. Writing this blog. Okay – I can see that this could be helpful. Hopefully for you, if not therapy for me. 

I imagine this is what those remote American workers endured, although I doubt many would have done a social media post or a blog about it. 

Let me repeat. More than half of us—what the hell, let’s extrapolate the American stat—think most meetings could have been an email.

Lament: why, oh why, are we still having meetings to ‘tell’ people stuff? 

When there is video. Email. And a plethora of groovy, whizz-bang internal communications platforms that are supposed to keep staff in the loop. These cost a lot. Use them. 

A few seconds. That’s all it takes to ask ‘why are we having this meeting?’ It might take a little longer to answer that question. Good, the ‘why’ is important to nail. But if the immediate response is ‘to tell’ ‘to inform’, that’s your answer. 

Don’t meet.

Or be honest about the reason. 

You’re on a power trip.

You don’t have enough work to do.

It makes you feel important.

You bill by meeting minute.

As with every grey cloud, there is a silver lining.

I have not yet received an email asking me to rate the support I received from my IT supplier 😊

Have you got a ‘that could have been an email’ story to share? If I get a few, that’ll be a chapter in my book. Just comment below and vent!

🎁 SPRING OFFER! 🎁

If you’re a leader or in a leadership team, I’m offering a complimentary ‘lunch and learn’ about effective meetings – online or in person. In 30 minutes we cover:

✔️ The signs of effective and ineffective meetings
✔️ And what might need to stop, start or change (or not)
✔️ The value that we want to get from meetings

It’s fast, thought provoking and leaves people with things to try. You definitely leave with food for thought.

To take up this offer you need up to 15 leaders in your organisation who are meeting in person in Melbourne or online anywhere else in September.

Just email me with ‘SPRING’ in the subject field and your phone number and we’ll book a date.

Jacinta CubisComment