Surveys show that companies waste an average of 20% of their payroll on bad meetings. And that’s just the beginning of the problem. Meetings keep people away from the tasks they were hired to perform.

Since bad meetings are so wasteful, you may wonder why anyone tolerates them. Unfortunately, many business leaders think that their meetings are just fine. They even believe that they’re experts at holding effective meetings.

Why would a person hold a meeting that wastes everyone’s time and produces nothing?

Here are some reasons:
1) They don’t know that their meetings could be effective

2) They don’t know what an effective meeting is like

3) They don’t know how to hold an effective meeting

If you want to hold a good meeting, here are things to keep in mind.

1) An effective meeting is business activity where people work together.

2) Effective meetings produce decisions that someone is responsible for implementing.

3) Effective meetings occur in a safe environment of respect.

4) Meals should be a separate activity used to build relationships, not part of the meeting.

5) Effective meetings use process tools to make methodical progress toward results.

If you are in meetings that don’t follow the above, what steps can you take to ensure you are holding productive meetings?