Advice

The Real Reason Your Meetings Are Terrible (And It's Not What You Think)

I watched a senior partner at a Melbourne law firm spend forty-three minutes explaining why they needed a meeting to plan the agenda for next week's planning meeting. The irony was completely lost on him.

After seventeen years of sitting through thousands of corporate gatherings, conference calls, and "quick catch-ups," I can tell you the problem with your meetings isn't the usual suspects everyone blames. It's not that they're too long, too frequent, or poorly scheduled. Those are symptoms, not the disease.

The real problem? Most people running meetings have never been taught how to actually facilitate one. We just assume because someone has a fancy title or loud voice, they know what they're doing.

The Meeting Epidemic Nobody Talks About

Let me share something that might ruffle a few feathers: most Australian businesses are absolutely terrible at meetings because we're too bloody polite to call them out. We sit there nodding while Sarah from HR drones on about "synergistic outcomes" and "leveraging our core competencies."

I've worked with companies across Sydney, Brisbane, and Perth, and the pattern is identical everywhere. The person calling the meeting rarely has an agenda. When they do have one, it's vaguer than a politician's promise. "Let's discuss the project" isn't an agenda item—it's a cry for help.

Here's what really gets me: we spend more time planning our weekend barbecue than most managers spend preparing for a meeting that involves eight people and costs the company roughly $2,400 in salaries per hour.

The mathematics are staggering when you actually break it down. If your average meeting attendee earns $75,000 annually (that's about $38 per hour including super and overheads), a two-hour meeting with eight people costs $608. Most meetings I've observed could be resolved with a five-minute phone call or a well-written email.

But here's where I'm going to lose some of you: I actually think meetings are essential. They're not the enemy. Bad meetings are the enemy.

What Actually Works (From Someone Who's Been There)

The best meeting facilitator I ever worked with was actually a time management trainer from Brisbane who completely changed how I thought about group dynamics. She started every meeting the same way: "What specific decision are we making today, and who needs to make it?"

Brilliant. Simple. Revolutionary for most corporate environments.

See, here's what nobody wants to admit: most meetings aren't called to make decisions or solve problems. They're called because someone feels important when they're talking to a room full of people. It's organisational masturbation, and we're all pretending to enjoy it.

I learned this the hard way during my consulting days when I realised I was calling weekly team meetings purely out of habit. We weren't achieving anything except keeping everyone away from actual work for ninety minutes. Once I cancelled them, productivity increased by about 23% within a month.

The Australian Way Forward

Now, before you start thinking I'm some anti-social hermit who communicates exclusively through passive-aggressive emails, let me clarify something important. Good meetings are like good coffee—they energise everyone involved and leave you feeling like you can tackle anything.

The difference is intention and preparation.

Start with this radical concept: only call a meeting when you need collective input on a specific decision or when information needs to be shared that requires immediate discussion. Everything else can be handled asynchronously.

I've seen companies transform their entire culture by implementing three simple rules:

Rule One: Every meeting must have a specific, measurable outcome written down before anyone walks in the room. "We will decide between Option A and Option B for the client proposal" is measurable. "Let's brainstorm ideas" is not.

Rule Two: The person calling the meeting sends out relevant materials 24 hours in advance. If you haven't read them, you can't contribute meaningfully to the discussion. No exceptions.

Rule Three: Start on time, end early when possible, and finish with clear action items assigned to specific people with specific deadlines.

Sounds basic, doesn't it? Yet I'd estimate 87% of Australian businesses don't follow these elementary principles.

The Hidden Psychology Nobody Mentions

Here's something interesting that emerged during my work with various Brisbane and Sydney firms: the people who complain most about meeting overload are often the same ones who feel lost without them. Meetings provide structure and social connection in increasingly remote work environments.

This is where I might contradict myself slightly from earlier. Sometimes the "inefficient" small talk at the beginning of meetings actually serves a crucial psychological function. It builds rapport and trust that makes the actual business discussion more productive.

The trick is being intentional about it. Allocate five minutes for relationship building, then transition clearly into business mode. Don't let it accidentally consume forty-five minutes because nobody knows how to redirect the conversation.

I particularly appreciate how companies like Atlassian have approached this challenge. They've created structured formats for different types of meetings—decision meetings, information sharing meetings, brainstorming sessions—each with specific protocols and time limits.

What Your Meeting Reveals About Your Leadership

If you want to evaluate someone's management potential, observe how they run meetings. Do they prepare? Do they keep discussions on track? Can they manage dominant personalities while drawing out quieter voices? Do they end with clear next steps?

These skills translate directly to how they'll handle client relationships, project management, and team development. Yet most companies promote people to leadership positions without ever assessing their meeting facilitation capabilities.

I've watched brilliant individual contributors become terrible managers simply because nobody taught them how to orchestrate group decision-making processes. It's like expecting someone to conduct an orchestra just because they can play violin beautifully.

The Remote Work Revolution (That Made Everything Worse)

Video calls have amplified every existing meeting problem while creating entirely new ones. Technical difficulties, audio delays, the guy who forgets to mute himself while making coffee—these aren't just minor annoyances, they're productivity killers that compound exponentially in group settings.

But here's what I find fascinating: the companies that were already good at meetings adapted brilliantly to remote work. The ones that were struggling before COVID? They're still struggling, just with additional technical complications.

The fundamentals haven't changed. Clear objectives, prepared participants, skilled facilitation, and decisive follow-through. The medium is different, but the principles remain identical.

What has changed is the tolerance level for wasted time. When you're staring at a computer screen in your home office, watching someone fumble through an unprepared presentation, the absurdity becomes impossible to ignore.

Implementation Reality Check

Now, if you're thinking "this all sounds great in theory, but my organisation would never change," you're probably right. Cultural transformation is difficult, especially when it involves admitting that current practices are fundamentally flawed.

Start small. Take control of the meetings you can influence. Be the person who comes prepared with clear objectives and relevant materials. Ask clarifying questions when discussions drift off-topic. Volunteer to document action items and follow up on commitments.

You'd be surprised how quickly other people notice and appreciate these behaviours. Leadership often emerges from competence, not titles.

The beautiful thing about meeting facilitation skills is they're completely transferable. Whether you're coordinating a construction project in Perth, managing a marketing campaign in Melbourne, or running a small business in regional Queensland, the ability to guide groups toward productive outcomes is universally valuable.

The Bottom Line

Your meetings are terrible because nobody taught you how to make them excellent. It's not rocket science, but it is a skill that requires practice and intentionality.

Stop accepting mediocrity as inevitable. Start demanding better from yourself and others. The people stuck in your conference room will thank you, your projects will move faster, and your business will become more profitable.

Most importantly, you'll reclaim hours of your life that were previously wasted on organisational theatre masquerading as productivity.

Trust me on this one. I've been there, made all the mistakes, and learned what actually works in real Australian business environments. The transformation is worth the effort.