Comment on time-wasting

There is something that makes certain people believe that if they attend loads of committee meetings that they are actually doing something useful. Whereas the truth is that all they are doing is attending loads of committee meetings.

There are loads of jokes around about people who set up committees to set up committees and then boast about how much work they are doing attending all the committee meetings. The sad part is that such people exist.

They boast about how their boards and committees are wonderful because they have had even more meetings and that they now have plans to meet more regularly.

Ever walked into a committee meeting, looked around at the faces and had that thought – what on earth are these people on about?  Then you have had to deal with that question – what am I doing wrong with my life to want to spend any more time with some of these people.

Leadership is a strange thing to many people. It involves taking decisions and at times taking a few risks. It is definitely not about setting up committees to discuss every issues imaginable.

Occasionally leadership requires making decisions to set a new direction not just waiting for a range of committee meetings to agree on how to discuss what is to be on the agenda. It is about having a vision of what you wish to achieve and a clear line of what decisions and actions will be taken to deliver on that vision.

In this context people who set up loads of committees are often that ones who wish to flood the workplace with distractions so that no-one will notice that real leadership is absent.

My advice to anyone who is interested in doing something useful is to avoid committee meetings as much as possible. If you are  valued leader, the work of most committees will be of little value.

People who love committees and love setting up committees and boards and attending such time wasters need to be put in a museum so that we can all go along and take photos of these strange and useless beings.

click!  I hope you were not in my photo.

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Paul Costigan