5 good work reasons to miss a meeting

With the average employee having 62 meetings a month, you’d be forgiven for missing the occasional one. But missing an important get together needs a good reason.

Here are the 5 best reasons for missing a meeting…

1. No organisation
It might be hugely important – but so is your time and if the organiser of the meeting hasn’t told you what it’s about, how long it’ll last for and what’s on the agenda then why should you attend?

All meetings should be well-planned and cover relevant topics. Without knowing what’s happening in the meeting, you have every reason to not attend.

Reply to any request for such a meeting by asking for further details, adding that you’ve got a lot on your plate at the moment and you can’t commit unless you’re certain you could add to the meeting.

2. Lack of warning
Even if it’s important, a last minute call into a meeting could come at the wrong time. Interruptions at work can have a huge negative impact on your productivity, with some studies suggesting they cost the US economy $588 billion a year in lost working hours.

If you’re on a roll with a certain project or expecting a call, let the person who invited you to the meeting know. They might be able to rearrange it for a future date or postpone it for a few hours until you’ve finished whatever it is you’re working on.

3. Clashing diaries
With so many meetings going on every week, there’s a good chance you’ve got something else planned already.

This could be another meeting, an important call or a deadline.  While it’s easy to say yes to everything, you’ll end up getting nothing done.

You’ve got to learn to prioritise your work – sometimes hitting deadlines or attending other meetings is more important than the one that’s happening right now.

4. Tech fail
There’s a lot to do to get a meeting set up, especially if you’ve got remote workers. But if the person organising the meeting has not bothered to set up video conferencing, then they shouldn’t expect you to bother coming in for it.

If you know in advance that you’re going to be away from the office on the day of the meeting, let them know and say you’ll be able to attend remotely. Provide them with all your contact details so they have no excuse.

5. Last minute requests
With the best will in the world, you could still be forced to miss a meeting because something important has come up.

The business world is an unpredictable one and while you may have had the meeting in your diary for weeks, a client might phone in with a quick request or disaster might strike in another arm of the business that you need to deal with.

Posted by Ashleigh Sharp