{"id":3200,"date":"2012-08-29T18:30:00","date_gmt":"2012-08-29T18:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/2012\/08\/29\/lots-of-meetings-no-action-here-are-solutions\/"},"modified":"2021-07-06T08:51:44","modified_gmt":"2021-07-06T12:51:44","slug":"lots-of-meetings-no-action-here-are","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/lots-of-meetings-no-action-here-are\/","title":{"rendered":"Lots of Meetings, No Action? Here Are Solutions!"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Prior to founding Next Level Purchasing, I worked at some big companies.\u00a0 Today, I regularly visit big companies to discuss how they can improve their procurement results.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t miss updates on Procurement & Supply Chain, Subscribe here!<\/p>\n

As I walk through the mazes of cubicles, offices, and conference rooms at big companies, I notice something that I used to take for granted but, upon reflection, find quite interesting:\u00a0 almost everyone is in meetings.\u00a0 From every doorway comes the yakity-yakity-yak of people talking, talking, talking.<\/p>\n

And yet when I meet with management at these companies, I hear some common refrains:\u00a0 \u201cWe are struggling to meet deadlines.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cWe are understaffed and don\u2019t have the resources to do what we need to do.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cThere is more work than ever.\u201d<\/p>\n

In short, it isn\u2019t easy to accomplish the mission.\u00a0 Or \u2013 let me rephrase that \u2013 it feels difficult to accomplish the mission.<\/p>\n

It seems like there are lots of meetings, but not enough action.<\/p>\n

What are some solutions to this problem?<\/p>\n

Here are a few ideas\u2026<\/p>\n

Well, the first idea may be oversimplified, but it shouldn\u2019t be overlooked:\u00a0 have fewer meetings!\u00a0 If you\u2019re talking about working, you\u2019re more than likely not actually working!\u00a0 And, unfortunately, most meetings are not true \u201cworking meetings.\u201d<\/p>\n

Next Level Purchasing teaches the concept of value analysis in a procurement context, where materials, services, etc. should be evaluated to determine the viability of substitution or elimination in an effort to match function with cost and, ultimately, reduce costs.\u00a0 A similar concept should be applied to meetings:\u00a0 where the value of the meeting doesn\u2019t exceed the investment, it should be eliminated.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s funny to think why some meetings occur.\u00a0 I only have to look at myself to find a shining example of how meetings affect productivity.<\/p>\n

We have several regular, themed meetings each month here at Next Level Purchasing.\u00a0 Several of these meetings occur for one reason:\u00a0 because I want them to.<\/p>\n

Have you ever been to a meeting that existed solely because a manager wanted it to?<\/p>\n

Well, as I was strategizing recently, I wasn\u2019t sure that a couple of the semi-monthly meetings were delivering value that matched the investment of time.\u00a0 So, I reduced the frequency to monthly (i.e., eliminated one meeting per month for each of the two meeting themes).\u00a0 Now, this move didn\u2019t degrade our performance at all.\u00a0 But it did have an impact on our costs and productivity!\u00a0 When I considered the \u201ccost of a meeting\u201d in terms of employee compensation for time spent in meetings, I saw that the \u201csavings\u201d of eliminating those meetings was almost 2% of payroll!<\/p>\n

How awesome is that?\u00a0 While some companies have to lay off employees to achieve savings equivalent to 2% of payroll, I was able to accomplish the same thing with a much more \u201chumane\u201d approach. Now, because Next Level Purchasing is a rapidly growing organization, no employee\u2019s hours got cut \u2013 they just now use that time more productively than spending it in meetings!<\/p>\n

The business world has created for itself a culture that indicates that meetings shouldn\u2019t be questioned.\u00a0 You get an Outlook invite, click Accept, and you are committed to a meeting.\u00a0 I see many of our students who ask for extensions of their access to our online purchasing courses claiming to not be able to \u201cfind the time\u201d to complete their training, yet they always find time for a meeting.\u00a0 There\u2019s something \u201csafe feeling\u201d about blocking out time for meetings on your calendar that just doesn\u2019t feel as right when blocking out time for other things.<\/p>\n

So, if you are in a position to influence meeting frequency \u2013 or even to do away with certain meetings completely \u2013 consider it!<\/p>\n

Onto my second idea\u2026<\/p>\n

Now, we all know that getting rid of meetings completely isn\u2019t going to happen.\u00a0 However, there is a way to increase the productivity associated with meetings.\u00a0 Here\u2019s how.<\/p>\n

Meetings are often used to set plans and distribute action items.\u00a0 Then, follow up meetings are held to determine the progress on said action items.\u00a0 And these follow up meetings too often reveal that people have done absolutely nothing related to their action items since the last meeting!<\/p>\n

Why not?\u00a0 Probably because they were too busy attending other meetings, right?<\/p>\n

Regardless of what was being done between meetings, it wasn\u2019t working on the action items.\u00a0 Look, you know a meeting is going to last a certain number of minutes or hours.\u00a0 And you can reasonably expect to have action items assigned to you.<\/p>\n

So, just do this:\u00a0 every time you put a meeting on your schedule, block out the half hour immediately after the meeting to dedicate to working your action items.\u00a0 Get them out of the way as soon as possible before the all-too-familiar \u201ccompeting priorities\u201d come along and sabotage your chances of progress.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re in a leadership position, try this out and, if it works for you, get your staff to do the same.\u00a0 You\u2019ll be surprised at how much can get done!<\/p>\n

So, there you have it\u2026if your organization has lots of meetings and no action, reduce the frequency of or eliminate meetings and always schedule a half-hour after meetings to work your action items.\u00a0 Want results?\u00a0 Make the change.\u00a0 Before the next meeting distracts you from getting some \u201creal work\u201d done!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Prior to founding Next Level Purchasing, I worked at some […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":4036,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-procurement"],"yoast_head":"\nLots of Meetings, No Action? Here Are Solutions! - Next Level Purchasing Association (NLPA)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/lots-of-meetings-no-action-here-are\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lots of Meetings, No Action? Here Are Solutions! - Next Level Purchasing Association (NLPA)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Prior to founding Next Level Purchasing, I worked at some […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/lots-of-meetings-no-action-here-are\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Next Level Purchasing Association (NLPA)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/NextLevelPurchasing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-08-29T18:30:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-07-06T12:51:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/11\/nlpa-images-045.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1067\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Galo Matagay\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@nextlevelpurch\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@nextlevelpurch\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Galo Matagay\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/lots-of-meetings-no-action-here-are\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/lots-of-meetings-no-action-here-are\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Galo Matagay\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/#\/schema\/person\/72d094fab77892483dfa6e061cb27eaa\"},\"headline\":\"Lots of Meetings, No Action? Here Are Solutions!\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-08-29T18:30:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-07-06T12:51:44+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/lots-of-meetings-no-action-here-are\/\"},\"wordCount\":907,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Procurement\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/lots-of-meetings-no-action-here-are\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/lots-of-meetings-no-action-here-are\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/lots-of-meetings-no-action-here-are\/\",\"name\":\"Lots of Meetings, No Action? Here Are Solutions! - Next Level Purchasing Association (NLPA)\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-08-29T18:30:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-07-06T12:51:44+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/lots-of-meetings-no-action-here-are\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/lots-of-meetings-no-action-here-are\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/lots-of-meetings-no-action-here-are\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Lots of Meetings, No Action? Here Are Solutions!\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/\",\"name\":\"Next Level Purchasing Association (NLPA)\",\"description\":\"The Next Level Purchasing Association\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Next Level Purchasing Association (NLPA)\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/08\/NLPA-logo-small-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/08\/NLPA-logo-small-1.png\",\"width\":149,\"height\":50,\"caption\":\"Next Level Purchasing Association (NLPA)\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/next-level-purchasing-association\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCrNZYjcLcaNA4xMKQHEGamw\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/NextLevelPurchasing\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/nextlevelpurch\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/#\/schema\/person\/72d094fab77892483dfa6e061cb27eaa\",\"name\":\"Galo Matagay\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/34d4be7be9c43eeb480e7e32739c2f3f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/34d4be7be9c43eeb480e7e32739c2f3f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Galo Matagay\"},\"description\":\"Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Aenean consequat rutrum ipsum quis iaculis. Duis non porta purus, tincidunt tristique mi. Cras eleifend tincidunt mollis. Aliquam egestas velit vitae interdum egestas. Aliquam vel lorem egestas lectus porttitor volutpat nec sit amet enim. Nullam bibendum vestibulum imperdiet.\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Lots of Meetings, No Action? Here Are Solutions! - Next Level Purchasing Association (NLPA)","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/lots-of-meetings-no-action-here-are\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Lots of Meetings, No Action? Here Are Solutions! - Next Level Purchasing Association (NLPA)","og_description":"Prior to founding Next Level Purchasing, I worked at some […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/lots-of-meetings-no-action-here-are\/","og_site_name":"Next Level Purchasing Association (NLPA)","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/NextLevelPurchasing\/","article_published_time":"2012-08-29T18:30:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-07-06T12:51:44+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1600,"height":1067,"url":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/11\/nlpa-images-045.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Galo Matagay","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@nextlevelpurch","twitter_site":"@nextlevelpurch","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Galo Matagay","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/lots-of-meetings-no-action-here-are\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/lots-of-meetings-no-action-here-are\/"},"author":{"name":"Galo Matagay","@id":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/#\/schema\/person\/72d094fab77892483dfa6e061cb27eaa"},"headline":"Lots of Meetings, No Action? Here Are Solutions!","datePublished":"2012-08-29T18:30:00+00:00","dateModified":"2021-07-06T12:51:44+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/lots-of-meetings-no-action-here-are\/"},"wordCount":907,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Procurement"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/lots-of-meetings-no-action-here-are\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/lots-of-meetings-no-action-here-are\/","url":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/lots-of-meetings-no-action-here-are\/","name":"Lots of Meetings, No Action? Here Are Solutions! - Next Level Purchasing Association (NLPA)","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-08-29T18:30:00+00:00","dateModified":"2021-07-06T12:51:44+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/lots-of-meetings-no-action-here-are\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/lots-of-meetings-no-action-here-are\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/lots-of-meetings-no-action-here-are\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Lots of Meetings, No Action? Here Are Solutions!"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/","name":"Next Level Purchasing Association (NLPA)","description":"The Next Level Purchasing Association","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/#organization","name":"Next Level Purchasing Association (NLPA)","url":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/08\/NLPA-logo-small-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/08\/NLPA-logo-small-1.png","width":149,"height":50,"caption":"Next Level Purchasing Association (NLPA)"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/next-level-purchasing-association\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCrNZYjcLcaNA4xMKQHEGamw","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/NextLevelPurchasing\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/nextlevelpurch"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/#\/schema\/person\/72d094fab77892483dfa6e061cb27eaa","name":"Galo Matagay","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/34d4be7be9c43eeb480e7e32739c2f3f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/34d4be7be9c43eeb480e7e32739c2f3f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Galo Matagay"},"description":"Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Aenean consequat rutrum ipsum quis iaculis. Duis non porta purus, tincidunt tristique mi. Cras eleifend tincidunt mollis. Aliquam egestas velit vitae interdum egestas. Aliquam vel lorem egestas lectus porttitor volutpat nec sit amet enim. Nullam bibendum vestibulum imperdiet."}]}},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3200"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3200"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3200\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12422,"href":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3200\/revisions\/12422"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}