Can We Please Do Meetings Better?
The problem at work isn't that we have too many meetings. The problem's that we don't do meetings like the humans we are. Or should be.
Recent social science says we’re holding roughly three times the meetings we used to. Derek Thompson writes that “The meeting-industrial complex has grown to the point that communications has eclipsed creativity as the central skill of modern work.”
But wait whut? We’re being too communicative at work? Too relational? Too connected? Too interactive?
Does that track?
We Mode/Switchers take Thompson’s point. Cal Newport’s made similar arguments in the world of email, calling it “communication overload.” But these minimalist approaches to human interaction—Slash the meetings, burn the inboxes!—neglect the ways that meetings could be so much better than they are.
Joining us for another intergenerational conversation, as our guest Josh Samarco reps for Millennials teaches the rest of us what “Bar” means. Ken’s speaking for the Boomers, arguing that work should be about meetings today. I’m Gen-X-ing it like usual. Emily’s here for all of you who don’t feel like you fit your assigned generation.
We’re here to help you do the meetings like the human you are.
But we’d also love to hear from you: Are you on Team Too Many Meetings? Or are you down for meetings if we could just do them better?
-craig
Every week on the Pod, you hear us doing a feature called Spell It Out, in which we take some murky feature of workplace culture and unmurkify it. The music for this feature comes from Andrea Munday. You should check out her album Theories of How We Can Be Friends.
I appreciate this episode about meetings. My meetings at work have exponentially increased this past year, and so I appreciate your perspectives, especially about how every team member needs to bring something different. Thanks for helping me think about this differently!