Stop Inviting Unnecessary People to Your Meetings

Want to have less meetings? Stop feeding a meeting culture by inviting every man, woman, and dog along.

Last week I was invited to present my consulting firm’s services to a local government council.

I wasn’t surprised but I was still a little perplexed by the fact that there were eight people from the council present for what was a one-hour meeting.

Only, it wasn’t really a one-hour meeting. At least, not as far as the council’s outgoings are concerned. It was in fact an eight-hour meeting. That’s how much time and taxpayer money the council effectively spent on what was an inconsequential, introductory meeting.

Were all eight people required? No. Given what was being discussed, there should’ve been no more than two key people on the call. Instead, they were flanked by a suite of passengers.

Ironically, one of the services I was pitching was about our better ways of training.

So, why were so many people present on the call?

1) The principal-agent problem

“It’s not my money, so why should I care if I invite eight people along to this 2-hour meeting?”