Do not cancel your project team meetings
Cancelling project team meetings is tempting and can feel like an efficiency in a time-strapped workforce. But cancelling team meetings sends subliminal signals to the team, usually amounting to:
This project is not very important.
Getting an update from you is not very important.
Holding you accountable for your tasks is not a priority.
Convening the team for collaborative sharing, updates and problem-solving is not a priority.
The project team meeting is one of the key tools in a project manager’s arsenal for driving momentum, maintaining progress and directing focus. The time slot needs to be both protected and maintained as somewhat sacrosanct. It’s the project version of having a regular a training regimen if you are an athlete.
If you do cancel project team meetings, it very quickly descends into regular non-attendance at the ones you do hold, last minute apologies from invitees, and before you know where you are, no meetings are happening at all.
That being said, there are times in the life of a project where it feels like the hour-long weekly team meeting for the entire team seems like overkill – not enough has happened since the last one, and you, as PM, are already well up to date on where everything is.
On these occasions, rather than cancel the meeting, here are some other ways to achieve the same goal of expediency.
Shorten the meeting on the fly – if you get to the end of the agenda within 15 minutes, end it there. You don’t need to fill the hour if it isn’t necessary.
Let particular individuals know that they aren’t needed this week, and that they needn’t attend for this particular one. This shows respect for your team’s time, and that you are organised enough to know what you want your agenda to cover that week.
Chop the meeting up into 15 minute segments for different workstreams. This saves all attendees having to attend for the full hour.
Re-purpose the slot for a particular topic that is pertinent to where you are in the project