A book worth reading: Death By Meeting, Patrick Lencioni

Would you rather go to a movie or a meeting?

I'd be willing to bet that 100% of you would say a movie. And for good reason.

But consider this: a meeting (work or otherwise) has the potential to be far more interesting and engaging than any movie. Don't believe me?

Yet another great read during my Barnes and Noble escapades.

As the title implies, Patrick Lencioni tackles an ongoing and widespread business issue: meetings. I'm not sure I know one person who hasn't said at one time or another that they have to go to too many meetings that never begin or end on time and don't feel like they accomplish anything. This can be death to a company or organization. But here's the twist: it isn't the quantity of meetings, but rather the quality.

In fact, Lencioni makes the argument that more meetings with strict and well-defined purpose results in happier, more engaged participants who are excited, not only to set goals and strategy together, but also to actually attend the meetings.

I've been fortunate enough to work in an organization that did meetings "right" - they didn't start off that way but with a little effort and buy-in from the leadership staff, they got "there" - to that sweet spot where people actually wanted to attend. I must admit that I knew at least one of my colleagues at the time had read this book and applied it to his meetings.

On the other hand - I've worked in some organizations that simply did not get meetings. The worst part is that we were constantly in meetings. Some of the worst were the all-staff meetings, which were lengthy and often felt forced - like they were grasping at things to fill the meeting. The glazed looks in my coworkers eyes said it all. There was always someone who forgot to turn their cell phone on 'vibrate' and people would walk in and out of the meeting with no regard to who was speaking or what was going on. Simply put: no engagement whatsoever. My most memorable moment was at one meeting when someone answered their phone...and loudly said "Hello?...Right, I'm in a meeting." Hung up and put the phone back where it was. Just as if it was perfectly normal to do such a thing. (Note: Some of my other colleagues and I just about lost it right then. It took everything in us to keep our composure.)

This is a quick read. A page-turner, if you can believe it. The story, set as a fable, opens with CEO of fictional "Yip Software" bracing himself for a meeting that will make or break his career. The rest of the book is the back story, telling of the events that lead up to that point.

The book provides a fabulous explanation of a great meeting strategy for any organization - information can be found at www.tablegroup.com. Granted - some people just "get" how to run an organization and utilize meetings...but that's a rare CEO. So check it out. Read the book - I believe you will be invigorated to change your view on meetings and inspired to make changes to your approach.

How about you, do you have any good meeting stories?