To think most meetings only exist to make managers feel needed?

[OneGreyCrab]

Half of my meetings could have been:

“Please read this.”

AIBU to think meetings are used more for performance than productivity?

I’m a manager and often call meetings because I’m lonely 😢.

or because it’s easier to explain things and see reactions and comprehension face to face and check timelines and am I being realistic with expectations.

Except people don’t (read this). And they always have questions which it’s best to answer then so that they know rather than thinking they understand when they don’t. And if it’s done in a meeting then you know they and their peers have heard and understand.
Yes, I’m a manager of people in a career for which a post grad qualification is essential, and I did the job myself for many years.
For every person who understands what is required, there will be at least another one who doesn’t!

People don't all respond to information in the same way. Some just want it written down, some need it explained verbally in more detail. Loads of people do not read emails in detail. So it's better to do more than one thing if the message is important.

Yeh some meetings could be emails - if people could be trusted to read, understand and remember simple explanations / instructions. But they can’t. 🤷🏼‍♀️

I'm a manager and YABU to a point. MY meetings feel useful. Those I have to attend... sometimes not so much.

In my manager's case, YES! We dread his meetings. He waffles on about nothing (sometimes for up to two hours), to the point that most of us end up staring into space or almost falling asleep. It's more interesting when you learn about what he doesn't tell us, so even people who've been there for 30 years have been kept in the dark about things!

If you're happy to work in a place where communication flows only downwards, where you are only ever provided with information and instruction and never given the opportunity to share your ideas and knowledge, where the only person you ever want to learn from is your line manager, and the only opinions you care about are their's, by all means call for meetings to be replaced by emails.
However, if you want to be heard, to hear the views of your peers, to discuss and contribute, then meetings are the way to go.
"But..but...the meetings aren't like that! The manager just talks...."
So take some responsibility. Ask questions. Chip in. And if the manager tries to shut that down, then is the time to politely suggest everyone's time could be saved if the instruction was given via email.

It’s a tough balance though. As much as pointless meetings are annoying, so is having an absent manager who isn’t engaged or supportive.

Why don’t you give some constructive, gentle feedback? Maybe they feel you benefit from it? The average person hates meetings so deep down they may be grateful to reduce them.

At my last job I used to outright tell my manager this could have been an email. Fortunately she had a sense of humour, and I understood that meetings are just part of her job that she has to do whether anybody wants them or not.

I can believe a lot of managers hate the meetings as much as the attendees.

Yes.

There are some really good managers out there and equally some quite piss poor ones.

Imo my manager falls into the somewhat crap category, but then they replaced someone in a quick reshuffle when someone gave their notice, so they kind of had to hit the ground running. That was in 2021, though, so 4 years have flown by and they're as crap now as they were back then. I started at the company whilst they were still in university, so there's quite a gap in experience.

I have been assertive when they've waffled on, but my remarks are generally flicked off the shoulder, so I just sit back and let them crack on.

Shouldn't be an issue for me come March 2026 as I'm due to welcome my first baby into the world.

Not always. In my line of work teams need to gather periodically to discuss how to approach a task, to divide out responsibilities, to brainstorm. You can't do all that by just handing stuff out on an email.

I do think, though, that meetings are over-used and frequently are done as a kind of power play by senior staff, with little respect for the impact they have on the time and capacity of more junior staff. They need to be used sparingly.

Most people don't read things. That's why meetings get called instead. And then people just daydream through them and don't listen.

No absolutely not. That’s not the purpose of most meetings. Your company clearly doesn’t understand meeting need or governance.

Meeting I have are considered. prepared, useful and needed.

I think anyone who thinks like this isn't ready for a management role yet.

I’m a team manager and I have so many meetings that end up being a waste of time with our management team. The meetings usually end up descending into pointless chat. I do not give a shit what someone is planning for dinner, or what their kid has got up to over the weekend. I have so much admin to do and I’d rather use my time to do that or spend it with my team. We always have to arrange new meetings as we rarely end up achieving anything. Then the senior managers moan about how busy they are.

No, meetings are easier. No one needs an overflowing inbox.

My manager works remotely from his whole team. He is exceptionally good at finding out what the real deal is, beyond what is written in an email as being finished. Digging in within a meeting uncovers regularly things that have been missed. 2-3h meetings are common. It’s fairly hellish if you are in the spotlight but honestly I don’t know how the place would function without the meetings.