June 25, 2024
A Guide to doing it right.
Meetings are an essential part of our professional life. They help teams collaborate, share ideas, and make informed decisions. Let’s face it though, meetings are meant to be canceled for unforeseen emergencies, scheduling conflicts, and evolving priorities. Sometimes canceling a meeting is the greatest thing you can do that day to serve your team and your organization, not to mention yourself. Afterall, an email is a suitable alternative to most meetings.
There’s plenty of online chatter about ineffective meetings, and we’ve all heard the phrase, “this meeting could have been an email.” But we seem to be forgetting about the art of canceling one, most likely because we’ve prioritized speed and our own comfort over the integrity of our work relationships, and it’s having an impact. People might not tell you this but they’re pissed and for good reason. We hear all kinds of things in the trenches:
“They wasted the time and effort I invested into preparing for this meeting.”
“They disrupted my workflow and daily schedule.”
“They don’t respect me or my time.”
“They missed a golden opportunity to collaborate.”
“They left us in the dark and didn’t even offer a reason.”
“They don’t keep commitments.”
“I could have used this time for other conversations had I known sooner.”
“My productivity is clearly not their priority.”
“I’m not sure if they’re disorganized or simply don’t care.”
Canceling a meeting might be necessary and even helpful but it doesn’t have to be a chaotic or frustrating experience for everyone involved. There’s a right way of doing it, that serves others and maintains their respect and appreciation of you. Try this:
We hear the word “integrity,” and think “morality,” but maintaining the integrity of our work relationships isn’t about being a good person. It’s about being effective, and learning how to cancel a meeting the right way is essential to keeping those relationships intact to accomplish your short- and long-term goals. They have a saying in the army – “don’t piss off the people that keep you alive.” Enough said.
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