All Talk and Less Work Makes Mike a Dull Boy

Wait, wait.

This is all wrong. It is supposed to be ”…all work and no play…” and in the reality of life, I would agree with you.

I would much rather spend my day mountain biking, running, swimming, climbing, playing sports, SCUBA diving, you name it — if I could be outside, sweating bullets, that is where I would rather be. 

Yet unfortunately, it is a choice. I can choose to do those things I just described without receiving income, or I can choose to work and earn money to afford those things I want to do. The balance struggle begins. But I digress….

“why are you all swimming in circles? get to work!” photo by Pascal van de Vendel on Unsplash

We work because most of us need to. When we work, we are expected to carry out tasks and activities to be remunerated for our efforts through cash, stocks, bonds, or horse trading. So how do we complete those activities? Good old-fashioned labor. Nose to the grindstone.

Get. Stuff. Done.

Humans are social beings and we love to gather together, have a chat, smoke and joke, and carry on like cackling hens. There is always a time and place for social activities like that, yet work is not the best of those places. Yes, relationships matter, but so does productivity and effectiveness. Especially if you want your business to survive or if you depend on that paycheck. We learn to be effective by completing the tasks we must get done.

“more meetings” by Akson on Unsplash

However, each week we bemoan the fact that we have this meeting and that meeting. How do those meetings help the business? How many of you this past week sat in a minimum of five meetings? 

How about ten? Or fifteen? I bet some of you have even sat in twenty-five meetings this past week. 

What did all those meetings really accomplish? Of those meetings that you attended, how many of you had input, had a response and said something during the meeting that added value? If you are not engaged and not adding value, why did you even attend it? Is it FOMO?

In my original statement, “all talk and less work make Mike a dull boy” really means that all these meetings, with no action or no results, does not allow me to shine. The opposite of dull, of course. These meetings with no actions take away from the time available to complete assigned actions. These meetings do not allow me to complete the activities clean off the table, to make it bright and shiny and start anew with another project.

Please realize that I am all for meetings, however, I do not want to have a meeting just for the sake of having a meeting. What if you found the one person you needed the answer from, and you picked up the phone and asked them the question. Or you visited them in their cube or office and asked the questions you needed answers to, received them, and proceeded to finish your activities. Without calling a meeting?

“This Must Be The Place for a meeting” by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

Let us say we need to have a meeting. We need more participants involved. We need those stakeholders to help provide direction and receive status updates of preceding actions. How many times do your meetings fall into the default one-hour category that your productivity software automatically assigns for you? How many of you deviate from that standard one-hour and choose a 45-minute meeting or even a 30-minute meeting? How many of you take the time and energy to create an agenda with specific talking points? And hold to that agenda? How many of you take notes and send those meeting notes out after the meeting with actions owned by specific people with due dates, so who does what by when?

I have certainly held my share of meetings where they were ineffective, those meetings that tend to wander aimlessly before eventually returning to the original topic (if you are lucky). It certainly happened earlier in my career, but now as I get older and less complacent, more urgent, I find it necessary to complete projects sooner and be more effective with my time. Not only with my time but also with the time of everybody else in the room? That lightbulb hit me one meeting when I did the quick math of everyone’s time in that meeting and it was northwards of $2,000 per hour and the actions that were the result of the meeting were trivial. That forces you to ask yourself, “do I even have the right people in the room?” Are the necessary decision-makers there? Are the owners of actions there?

Again, meetings can have value if managed properly. They do have a function, but like everything else, they need proper planning, a defined agenda, and explicit actions that need completion, questions answered, or problems solved during that time. You need to get stuff done.

Be ruthless.

Have your agenda defined to the minute. Stay on that agenda. Start on time. Even if all the parties are not there. If they are not there, they can catch up with the notes. Having a timekeeper assigned will ensure the meeting remains on task. Be sure to have a notetaker to capture the salient points of the meeting so it can be shared at the close. Always assign tasks and actions that need to be done BEFORE the next meeting. I urge you to assign tasks to those that were late (yes, that is passive-aggressive).

As a note, it would be good for you to practice feedback to those on an aside if they are late. “John, when you are late to a meeting it causes disruption and forces the team to retrace their steps, causing delay, please be ready to participate and on time for the next meeting, it will be better for everyone. Thank you.”

“task list and calendar — get stuff done” by STIL on Unsplash

Remember the tasks that need completion need to be done before the next meeting. Not at the time of the next meeting. That will require you to follow up through the slack time between that meeting and the next to ensure that people remain on task. It is called “management.” During the day or the week leading to that next meeting. During the meeting, staying on task to the agenda forces the conversations to remain in line with the problem being solved.

If your conversations deviate from the agenda, parking lot them. Put it on a topics list that needs to be addressed later. Do not allow that conversation to derail the purpose of that meeting.

Get. Stuff. Done.

This is hard work. Sometimes hard work is not fun work, but it is the most effective work you can do. Proper planning is necessary. Take the time to plan the work and actions and follow through with those actions. Do not allow yourself to become dull. Be shiny.

Go forth and be brilliant.