It may come as no surprise, but we all do better when we have fewer meetings.
Don’t get me wrong; I’m not saying that holding zero meetings is the answer. As the chief development officer of a fast-casual burger franchise, I go to meetings all the time. But as a rule, I think we need fewer of these get-togethers.
That doesn’t sound revolutionary and appears to be common sense, but in a world in which meetings have gone amok, it almost counters how corporate culture works. After all, there are good arguments for meetings, and you’ll often hear business experts say that it’s a bad sign if people you’re working with don’t want to meet. If they don’t want to engage in person, maybe they don’t care much about meeting with you. Or maybe they have something to hide.
Both of those could be true. But there are several reasons I’d argue that too many meetings can hamper a franchise organization and even send a message to those you work with that you don’t care.
So, if you’re looking for reasons to hold fewer franchisewide or companywide meetings and fewer group meetings, keep these guidelines in mind.
Time is money.
Especially when you meet in another city, you’re spending a lot of time just getting to and from your meeting. It’s undeniable that when you do meet, there’s a human element -- a personal connection that you can’t access through texts, emails and even video chat. So sure, on some levels, you’re benefiting from meetings even if nothing really gets done, but there’s no denying that you’re squandering resources if a meeting goes awry.
As somebody who works with franchisees who are all running their own businesses and have their own families and work-life balances to maintain, I’ve become very cognizant of the fact that if you’re asking people to disrupt their schedules, it had better be for some amazing reason. Even better, if you hold an annual convention the way we do, you might want to alternate and hold it every other year and then hold regional business information meetings the next. That way, people don’t have to travel as far. For instance, if you can travel to your franchisees’ neck of the woods or close to whomever you’re meeting with, that's all the better.
The best meetings offer your people a chance to get a close look at how your company is faring and what’s new on the horizon, as well as the opportunity to register complaints or praise for what’s working and what’s not -- and when they leave, your people should leave with a renewed commitment to grow the company.
The worst meetings, of course, fall way short of that and can often have the opposite of the intended result -- where people leave wondering what they learned or if they learned anything at all.
Holding fewer meetings is a sign of respect.
Again, you shouldn’t never meet. Even with video meetings, phone calls and texts, that personal connection can be invaluable and strengthen bonds, and if somebody never wants to meet, you do have to wonder about their commitment to you and the organization. But at the same time, the more mandatory systemwide meetings you put on the calendar, the more you’re suggesting not only that you don't value your franchisees’ time, but also that you don’t fully trust them. That may not be how you feel, of course, but that may be the message you’re sending with too many meetings.
You also might be tacitly pushing a message that your business model isn’t to be trusted. You should be able to go on indefinitely (again, I'm not recommending this) without all of the leaders in your franchise or organization ever having to meet. You built your infrastructure. It should be able to run just fine without you ordering your troops to assemble.
More meetings can slow the company’s engine down.
If you have a big, sprawling operation, like a franchise or a company with numerous offices around the country and world, and if you’re sending your brightest and best to one location to plan and prioritize, that means that every location you have is lacking its leader. All at once.
Meeting once a year shouldn’t hurt the productivity throughout your organization. If you’re meeting much more than that, however, remember that every time you all meet, you are bringing in all of your generals off the battlefield -- or your star quarterbacks off the field, if you prefer a sports analogy. Meanwhile, it’s inevitable that little problems, from scheduling employees to handling customer service issues, are going to come up when your most important players are stepping away from their posts. So, think what that might do to your franchise or company multiple times a year, year after year.
A lot of little problems that happen sporadically probably won’t be a big deal, especially if the meeting is truly worthwhile and productive. And of course, you should have plenty of capable people in place to run the show while your leaders are convening elsewhere. But, still, you could be banging up your company unnecessarily every year.
And, again, you risk slowing down your franchisees’ progress multiple times a year -- while perhaps speeding up the operation as a whole. It’s good to speed up and grow the entire operation. You want to do that. But remember that your priorities aren’t always everybody else’s priorities. And chances are good that if the leaders you work with are growing and building their part of the business and achieving their priorities, they’re going to ultimately achieve your companywide priorities.
So, if you agree and think your company is meeting too often, you may want to hold a meeting on that. Or, on second thought, don’t.
