But as Peter Drucker noted, an abundance of meetings is a sign of a diseased organization. If you conduct effective meetings, they will become shorter and less frequent.

Here are a few guidelines for conducting effective meetings:

• Always clarify the objective of the meeting before you begin. Every meeting should have purposeful direction.
• Not all meetings are created equal. Different issues require different time constraints and team members. Don’t block off an hour for something that can be knocked off in ten minutes.
• Have a meeting moderator that guides the discussion toward the desired end goal.
• Make meeting preparation a requirement. When participates come unprepared to a meeting they waste your time and theirs.
• Use de Bono’s Six Thinking Hat method as an effective way to take individual personalities out of the equation, keep meetings running smoothly, and generate more ideas.
• Read Aaron Shield’s Creativity in the Workplace and learn how to facilitate powerful brainstorming sessions with your team. (It’s free and available on audio and pdf.)

Conducting more effective meetings will give you more time to be effective in your job—more time to focus on the needs of your customers.

Related posts:

1. Introverts and Meetings
2. Excessive Meetings = Ineffective Organization
3. Seven Qualities of an Effective Coach

Some executives believe back-to-back meetings define the modern business world. But as Drucker explains, “Meetings are by definition a concession to deficient organization. For one either meets or one works. One cannot do both at the same time.”

Some executives are forced to work on weekends to get their “real work” accomplished.

“As a rule, meetings should never be allowed to become the main demand on an executive’s time. Too many meetings always bespeak poor structure of jobs and the wrong organizational components,” says Drucker.

Meetings are obviously necessary because different people are responsible for different roles and job functions. They must cooperate and share information to get specific things done.

But if you’re spending most of your work week in meetings, how are you supposed to contribute to the organization and produce results?

Make meetings the exception, not the rule. Value the results your organization achieves, not the time spent discussing them.

Related posts:

1. Conducting Effective Meetings
2. Five Habits of the Effective Executive
3. Introverts and Meetings

True organizational results are achieved on the “outside” because everything “inside” is related to effort and cost, not profit. These outside results positively impact your customers.

From this perspective we can better understand the need for clear direction—to an ultimate vision—within any enterprise. Without a clear end picture, effort and cost will spiral upward as the company’s employees lack focus and direction.

As a leader, your job is to provide a clear vision for how your business will serve your customers better than anyone else. Companies with this obsessive focus win. They build extraordinary internal cultures that attract people who want to join in their mission.

A few examples:

• Netflix effectively dismantled Blockbuster (and fought off Wal-Mart) with laser focus on serving their customers with high integrity and dependable service.
• The Motley Fools has become an oasis of honest financial commentary in a sea of Wall Street spinsters and celebrity commentators.
• Zappos built a legion of loyal shoppers by delivering world-class customer service 24/7, 365 days a year with free shipping both ways.

The single purpose of a business is to create a customer. Cultivate a culture that respects and lives this reality and you’ll join the ranks of strong brands that build sustainable, profitable enterprises.

Related posts:

1. The Human Side of Business
2. The Key to Building a Profitable Business
3. Five Powerful Decisions to Transform Your Business