I once suffered through an hour-long meeting on the topic of.... how we could have fewer meetings.
I wish I was kidding.
I don't know anyone who enjoys meetings, but that's probably because most meetings at work aren't productive or value-added.
In Why Your Meetings Stink-and What to Do About It, University of North Carolina Charlotte professor Steven G. Rogelberg challenges managers to make positive changes to meetings by objectively assessing and improving their own meeting skills. If you're a manager, this is worth a read. (If you're not, print out a copy and discreetly slip it on to your manager's desk.)
And if that doesn't work, try this absolutely incredible Meeting Ticker, which calculates in real-time how much money is being spent every second the meeting continues...
- dp