Why Do Meetings Get a Bad Rap?

Does the obligation to attend a weekly meeting fill you with dread? Is it a necessary evil or a valued appointment on your calendar?

For many, the former is the typical reaction to a meeting, whether a meeting is a recurring event or a one-off related to a project or program. Meetings often run long, they cut into individuals’ working time, and attendees often veer from the agenda topics. Workers frequently categorize meetings as unproductive. The meme “This meeting could have been an email” is popular because it is true in many situations.

“The data are clear,” said Dr. Joe Allen, I-O psychologist and meeting scientist. “One bad meeting leads to at least three more meetings to clarify or fix the bad meeting. No wonder we dread going to meetings!”

Meetings are, in fact, necessary for workplaces to function. Either regular or impromptu meetings provide an opportunity to:

• share necessary information or updates,
• brainstorm or strategize as a group,
• solve a problem,
• resolve a conflict,
• make a decision,
• create or amend policies,
• provide a platform to include a variety of workers and enable collaboration,
• socialize, sometimes with coffee or food provided by the employer.

If meetings deteriorate into a state of lacking any resemblance to the set agenda, the tendency to regard meetings as unproductive, and even painful to attend, is not completely unfounded. If employees must then work longer hours on individual projects to make up for time lost sitting in a meeting, the negative feeling will exacerbate. That feeling can lead to overall fatigue among employees and impact how they feel about their roles, their coworkers, and their employer as a whole.

“Interestingly, the solution is relatively simple to identify but sometimes difficult to deploy,” Dr. Allen said. “The solutions are a laundry list of many little things (e.g., meet with a purpose, start on time, politely cut off the monologues, etc.) that add up to either really good or, in their absence, really bad meetings. However, like weight-loss diets, the results are not seen immediately, and so people often give up before they see or feel any difference.”

For more information about how I-O psychology can improve meeting culture and effectiveness, register for the SIOP Work Smart Series workshop on the Science of Meetings.