What would it be like if your company had no mandatory meetings? What if every single meeting was optional? A number of companies are moving towards the "all optional" strategy for their meetings and the results are intriguing.
Some well-known companies have interesting rules about meetings. Intel does not allow meetings to be held unless there is a clear purpose. Lenovo allows staff to stop any meeting that begins to wander. Semco has made all meetings optional. Project eMT has abolished the idea of having meetings - they aren't even allowed to have a meeting.
Other companies, like Crankset Group, are allowed to have meetings to solve specific problems. However, they only have one scheduled meeting per month.
Additional tips for making meeting worthwhile and effective is to have a clear written agenda, have a hard-stop at 15 or 30 minutes, and to avoid solving problems in large meetings.
For more information about this new way of thinking, read the full post on Inc.com.
