Does having Friday Meetings make any sense? I recently got into an argument with an aquaintence on how she hosted a Friday 5pm meeting with her team. I thought that was the rudest thing. Nothing good happens on a Friday afternoon meeting.
As an employee and manager, I don’t like having meetings on Friday. Here is why:
Fatigued Audience
A meeting on Friday gets you a fatigued audience. Most people put in their hours during the week. Come Friday, people are trying to wrap up tasks, clean off their desks, and start thinking about the next week. Are they actually focusing on the task at hand?
Weekend Warriors
People tend to enjoy logging off and leaving work early on Friday. People have last-minute errands to run before the weekend or have dinner plans to get ready for. They may have already put in longer days to enjoy the benefit to get their work done on time.
Manic Monday’s
Monday’s may be hectic. The last thing left in progress on Friday, may not be the top priority on Monday. Progress gets lost and create inefficiencies in getting back the train of thought.
Could this just be an email?
Some people forget that email exists. Meetings are a forum for discussion when decisions need to be made. I think a rare exception is for team building to create a friendly atmosphere. Emails can be used if a declaration needs to be made (do this from now on). Emails allow future references to be made. The message can be forwarded to others.
Ways to Compromise
Send a teaser to the team on Meeting scheduled for early next week. If something needs to get discussed, send an email; it is on your mind anyways. Ask the team to make notes and to come ready to discuss next week. This allows the members of the team to independently work on this and create a more fruitful discussion.
Meeting Free Day
More and more companies seem to have meeting free days. MIT Sloan Management Review’s analysis of 76 companies with Meeting Free Days notes, “when one no-meeting day per week was introduced, autonomy, communication, engagement, and satisfaction all improved, resulting in decreased micromanagement and stress, which caused productivity to rise.” Friday seems like a great day to make it meeting free!