Cut Your Biggest Time Waster: Roundtable Status Meetings
85% of a Roundtable Status is Wasted
The roundtable is one of the most popular kinds of meetings because it requires no preparation, and is easy to run. All you need to do is show up and say something like, “I don’t really have anything formal prepared, so let’s do a quick round table!”
The problem is that more than 85% of the time in a round table is wasted. In a roundtable, each person speaks for about 5 to 10 minutes on their status. Before each person speaks, all their attention is focused on what they intend to say. After a person speaks, they relax and start to check their e-mail. Only during their own soliloquy does anyone really pay attention.
“Building Off the Discussion” Doesn’t Work
People say they like roundtable meetings because it lets people “build off the discussion”. That’s fine when the point of the meeting is to discuss a specific topic, but when the meeting is about status, nothing is really off-topic, and so it’s difficult to have a coherent meeting, especially when each person can potentially start a different discussion.
When each person is allotted 5 to 10 minutes to speak, there really isn’t time for unexpected discussion. Is it any wonder why these meetings always seem to run long?
Spin Forum
Everyone’s status update will have some spin to it — it’s natural to describe what we do in a positive light. Roundtable meetings tend to amplify this spin because no one likes to report bad (or even mediocre) news in front of their manager and peers.
The layers of spin tend to color things in an overly rosy light. This creates a false sense of security for a manager and tends to obscure real issues. If the manager doesn’t work to decode the spin, issues may fester for weeks.
Be Thoughtful With Your Meetings
Meetings should have a point. They should help move the organization forward. They should be used as part of a change strategy. They should be used to course correct and re-align teams. They should be used to communicate goals. They should be used to make work meaningful.
When you say you “didn’t have anything prepared”, you’re admitting that you didn’t really think about the meeting — you were literally being thoughtless with people’s time.
If you don’t have anything to say in a meeting, cancel it until you have a chance to rethink it. If you don’t have time to rethink your meetings, that’s a separate problem (we’ll go over that in a future post).
Be thoughtful with people’s time. When you can do this through your meetings, you show respect to the people on your team. It’s one of the ways that you can build mutual respect and trust. It’s worth doing.
FYI: Tom Peters has a post/video on thoughtfulness that’s worth checking out.
